Diving deep into the world of Ronald Christoph (Interview)

Ronald Christoph is a highly educated musician, prolific music Producer and Live Performer. An impressive career spanning nearly three decades has seen Ronald release his music and co-productions on vinyl and digital format with fellow international artists including Miyagi, DJ Good Groove, Tyree Cooper, Elbee Bad, Coyu, accruing tens of millions of streams and downloads in the process.

Over the past two decades, Ronald has released his music on world-class record labels including Cocoon, Mixmag, Evamore, PuzzleProjectsMusic, Kater Mukke, Midnight Riot, Third Ear, Exploited, Acker Records, Paper Disco, International DJ Gigolo Records (by DJ Hell) and many more. As a Live act, Ronald has performed shows at some of the best clubs across Europe including Space Club in Ibiza, Tresor, Wilde Renate & Suicide Circus (Residency) in Berlin, Supermarket in Basel, Switzerland, U 60311, Waagenbau & Docks in Germany, Sala Be Cool in Madrid & Jubilee in Italy.

2021 sees Ronald continue to collaborate and release productions with artists including Steve Cole & Danny Russell and a recently formed partnership with artist and PuzzleProjectsMusic Label boss Ben Spalding – the duo have struck up a prolific and exciting partnership which will see them release multiple EPs of peak-time house & techno-charged club music over the next 2 years. Ronald Christoph was able to spend a little time with us and we had a pleasant interview.

Please tell us a bit about your musical journey? When did you get into electronic music and into production?

Before I made electronic music, I was a keyboard player and singer in the rhythm`n`blues band WATCHFOOLS. But we already had an experimental side there too. For example, we worked with two drummers and with technoid riffs. Dave Bronze, who was about to join Eric Clapton’s band, said at a gig: “Eh guys, you’re crazy and cool. You do African rock’n’roll techno.” 🙂 When the band and also the follow-up project FRAGILEKEEPDRY finally broke up, I was completely alone for the first time. I then sat for days and nights in our former band studio in Berlin’s Funkhaus Nalepastraße, a huge claustrophobic post-war building, ..

…and began to conquer loneliness with productivity. And that worked out very well.

What’s special about your viral hit “Ronald Christoph – Take Off, Baby! feat. Orlando (Original Mix)” on Can you tell us something about the making of it and why did you decided to release some new remixes ?

In my opinion, there is no track that compares to “Take Off, Baby!”. Orlando, who actually lives in Ghent in Belgium, spontaneously dropped by the studio after an excessive Berlin party night. We knew each other because he had booked me there.

I was working on an aeroplane ethmo for a dub album with laser harp.

In less than an hour we did the lyrics and the vocal recording. The rest was my composer and producer work. But that took a lot longer. After all, it had to be really good 😉


Which was the most impressive club you could play in or let’s say where did you have a very special night?

As a man, I was most impressed by a queer party in Turin. I played under a huge penis. Yes, that was impressive. Of course, there were also lots of great little wicked clubs where sweat dripped from the ceiling and huge halls whose echoes continued to impress you for the whole following week. But also open-air stages with 10,000 people. It’s hard for me to praise one thing more than another.

And in which mood do you produce the best?

The important thing is to be able to switch off your head.

Dieter Bohlen from Modern Talking once said: “If someone thinks the thing has a lot to do with thinking, he’d have to disappoint him.” Well, I can’t quite subscribe to that. You just have to know the traps you can fall into. But there is a lot of truth in this statement.

Do you have a certain defined studio routine or time frames?

I like to work during the day and also in the morning.

Do you have a guilty pleasure kind of music outside the electronic sphere? What do you listen to when you get away from the studio?

There are the typical sins of youth.

That which remains from the time of the sensitive phases. What your parents and big sister heard and what you therefore never forget. And what you miss from time to time when you think back to your first love. These are Santana, Joe Cocker, Queen, Blondie, Brian Eno, The Rolling Stones etc. Personally, outside the electronic context, I have found artists like Helge Schneider, Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Waller. Since I play the piano and also try to always develop myself, good pianists are my favourite…

Which track will you play at the first big rave after Corona?

That depends more on the dancing crowd.

Maybe the new track with Steve Cole “Scout” coming out in January. This is also the premiere of my new label Gottart.

Finally, what can we expect from you in the next months?

On Christmas Day, 24 December, my EKO Opus 1 remix of “Take Off, Baby! (feat. Orlando)” hits the online stores and streaming services. This version is a bit slower and therefore more discoid. After that, it continues at the end of January and in mid-February with two tracks by Steve Cole and me.

These tracks are again at home in classic techno. After that, at the beginning of March, an oldschool house song with Ben Spalding will be released. The title of the release is “Lost Soul”. In spring, things continue melodically. “More Reactive” is a track with vocoder voices and a Detroit chord line.

What comes after that is still a secret.

Beatport | Spotify | Bandcamp