His radio show "In the Mix" was the first non-stop mixed show that aired on Dutch National Radio on April 2, 1983. Early listeners were Armin van Buuren,[6]Tiësto (Tijs Verwest),[7]Olav Basoski,[8]DJ Jean,[9]Ferry Corsten and DJ Dano[10] (Daniël Leeflang),[11] who have cited Liebrand as their main reason for entering the music business.[12][13][14] "In The Mix" also spawned an annual yearmix with 100+ tracks called "The Grandmix." The first series of Grandmixes aired from 1983 till 1992. There were only two Grandmixes (1988 and 1989) that were released on limited edition CD exclusively for members of the UK Disco Mix Club.[15] The Grandmix 1990 was planned to follow, but was cancelled (after being pressed) due to changes in copyright rules in the UK.[16] The later Grandmixes from 1999 till 2018 were aired and also released on a 3 CD Box by Sony BMG records.
Music career
Early history
Liebrand began his DJing career in 1976 at the age of 16 with his mobile set-up, "The B. Liebrand Audio Studio", playing parties around his hometown of Nijmegen.[17] Two years later, when he became old enough to frequent nightclubs, he moved from mobile discos to a nightclub residency, playing in "Juicy Lucy" nightclub (1978–1979). At this point, he was still letting one record play into another without beatmixing; however in 1979, he began a residency at "The Kwien" (pronounced 'The Queen') nightclub (1979–1980). During this time, Liebrand learned the art of mixing from Kwien resident Huib Luiten.
At his longest residency to date at "The Keizer Karel" (1980–1988) played a five-hour set each night after the club first opened. He continued DJing with his sister Rita Liebrand, at "The Hippodrome" Hennef, Germany (1990–1995). His last residency was in the club "Disco Inferno" (2000–2004). Ben is still active as a DJ having specialised in doing key-mixing on 4 Pioneer CD players simultaneously.
Radio Veronica early years
On 1 April 1983, Liebrand was hired by the public broadcasting association Veronica, producing a weekly individual mix show called "In The Mix", which aired on Hilversum 3 (later Radio 3). This one-hour show played at 2 am weekly, and ran from early 1983 to November 1985. From that radio show, regular features such as the "Grandmix", a yearly mix of all important dance tracks of the year, was developed. Taking a full month to organise, mix and record, the first Grandmix was broadcast at the end of 1983, but technical complications almost ended this event before it started. Arriving at the Veronica studio, Liebrand discovered that he had forgotten the second of the two tapes on which the Grandmix '83 was recorded. But he happened to have a tape of a just finished "High Fashion Dance Mix" with him, and it was with that tape that the second part of the Grandmix '83 began. In January 1984, the 'Grandmix '83' was broadcast in its entirety. The name "Grandmix" developed into a trademark event for both Radio Veronica and Liebrand, running until 1992. Ben Liebrand registered the name "Grandmix" also as a trademark.[18]
In 1984, Liebrand also started making shorter remixes for the Friday evening 'Curry & Van Inkel show', later the 'Stenders & Van Inkel show' (both by the same broadcaster and air on the same radio station as mentioned above). His "In the Minimix" was always played at "two records past nine" (twee platen over negen) and formed an important part of the popular radioshow. These minimixes were either three/four track mixes (never exceeding fifteen minutes in total) or remixes of popular chart records at the time.
Many of Liebrand's remixes, released as singles, including Bill Withers "Lovely Day" and Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons "December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" were premiered as 'minimixes' on this radio show. In the case of Phil Collins "In The Air Tonight," however, the mix was completed and then taken by Liebrand to be part of a mix showcase at the DMC Mixing Championship Finals in London. Liebrand explained "Then I put on my remix of Phil Collins, in front of those three and a half thousand DJ’s. And I told them: "If you want to see this released? Call Virgin first thing tomorrow!" That resulted in Virgin being called by two and a half thousand DJ's, and this got the track signed and released by 1pm the day after"[19] which hit Number 4 in the UK charts.[20]
After producing the final "Grandmix" in 1992, Liebrand felt frustrated with lack of feedback that his mixes were gaining. "You didn’t know what people thought of it. 30 days fulltime working on the Grandmix in December, ten to twelve hours a day mixing. On 31 December it was finished, and the last years when I entered the broadcast studios, everybody was busy doing something else, not really interested, and only the technician who was on duty, sat with me in the broadcast room. I plugged in my gear, pressed play around six o’clock, and after an hour I disconnected it again, and took off. Having sat there for one hour, solely with the technician, it was the biggest anti-climax ever.[13] This could be compared to making a piece of art, walking up to a bridge and throwing it in the river, without knowing the people’s opinions about it."[19]
Liebrand Images
Liebrand embarked on computer-based 3D renderings and animation work, beginning his own visual company, Liebrand Images in 1991.[21] He was an official Silicon Graphics reseller and instructor for a period of time.[22] He used to work with 3D modelling programs such as Electro GIG[23] and Softimage 3D Extreme.[24] He undertook work such as commercials for clients[25] including the Arcade Compilations CDs, promotional music videos for acts including Atlantic Ocean,[26]2 Brothers on the 4th Floor[27] and Alan Parsons[28] and visuals for station idents for music TV station TMF. He designs all of his CD covers, labels and video promos himself.
Return of The Grandmix
In 1997, Liebrand released "Funky Town" and in 1998 negotiations began with Dutch radio station Radio 538 (an offspring of Veronica), the result of which was the re-broadcasting of all the Radio Veronica "Grandmixes" on the last Saturday of the month throughout 1999. The final intention was to broadcast a brand-new "Grandmix" in December 1999, a "MillenniuM-Mix", containing the greatest dance tracks of the century. Liebrand was invited to produce a mid-year summer Grandmix and an end-of-year Grandmix for Radio 538. On 31 December 2001, a three-hour "Grandmix" was broadcast, followed by a "Grandmix Disco Edition" on 23 August of that year. "Grandmixes" were broadcast in the summer and end-of-year of 2002 and 2003.
In 2004, Liebrand joined Radio Veronica for a two-hour weekly mix. He makes Grandmixes available in a new format on 3 CDs on his website and has his 'In The Mix' show on Radio Veronica.
Until 2018 Grandmixes were available on CD every year. Due to licensing problems which occurred through changes in the music industry in 2019, there was no Grandmix available on CD in 2019. Instead Liebrand changed the concept to a three-hour (2:59:33) long mix called "Grandmix Decade Edition" which covers more than 250 songs of the years 2010–2019. It was broadcast on Radio 538 and Radio Calletti on 31 December 2019 from 18:00-21:00. Listeners have been very happy with this mix returning to the fast mixing style of the early days of Grandmix free of any licensing blockages using all available material to the artists choice.
[29]
Awards
In 1988 he receives the Best Remixer Award: DMC,[30] chosen by members worldwide, of the Disco Mix Club.
In 1991 he receives the France Achievement Award 1991 - No. 1 Remixer in the World[31] from the France departement of DMC.
On November 2, 1992 [32] Ben Liebrand receives the Dutch Achievement Award 1992 for Best Dutch Dance Producer at the Dance Connexion Gala.[33]
On October 19, 2017[34] Ben Liebrand was the first to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Nightlife Awards on the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE).
On March 9, 2020,[35] for his many years of dedication and contribution to the music industry, he received the Dutch Buma Gouden Harp Award.[36][37]
Personal life
Liebrand is married to Brenda van Raam. They have two sons and a daughter.[38] Liebrand and his son Sascha released two mix cd's in 2010, which they made together.[39]
In 2010, they moved from their monumental estate Villa Roozenburg[40] in Weurt (Beuningen, Gelderland), The Netherlands to Okotoks in the province of Alberta, Canada.[41] From there he continues with his activities.
