Exclusive Cinthie interview

Ahead of her set on 27/12/15, we caught up with Berlin based DJ, producer and Label owner of Beste Modus - Cinthie. 

1. For people who aren’t too familiar with your music, how would you best describe your sound? 

My sound is pretty deep and raw. At the moment I love lowered toms instead of baselines in my productions to give it that extra raw ant dirty feeling. When i’m djing i usually take it easy to start with and play some deeper house tunes, followed by a few raw and old school tracks and end it with some more techno or dubbier tracks.

2. As you made your breakthrough at such a young age, and now being a well-known figure in the house scene, what skills and personal attributes do you think are most important to being successful?

For me personally it helped to work my ass off, be patient and try to keep the ball rolling. I'm always digging for new tracks and try not to play what everyone else is playing. between thousands of DJ’s you have to try and stick out a little bit. I always played records even when everyone else was changing to laptops and CDs, I still sticked to it. And you need to know your records. It’s one thing to mix a record into another, but doing it with a little bit of timing and on point to create a flow that’s another thing… that separates good DJs from jukeboxes. Being honest and a person to rely on is definitely something you need to be successful. Being friendly is also a plus :)

3. Who were your main influences when you were starting out as a DJ?

I’ve been very obsessed with Masters at work, Frankie Knuckles, K-hand, Chez Damier, Kerry Chandler , all the house heroes, but also people like Laurent Garnier, early Carl Cox or local DJs from Berlin and Frankfurt.

4. For DJs who are looking to start their own record label, what advice would you give to them?

Don’t listen to other people and you never try you never know. 

5. Would you say your sound changes often? What track never leaves your set?

I mostly play some groovy stuff, which ranges from house via minimal to a bit more techy stuff… I guess I always sticked to that. I don’t have a special track I always play, as I’m buying too many records every month, but I think I played this untitled track by Liam Geddes on the second Music is Love Lovebox compilation quite a long time. It’s actually just a drum loop but it really does the job.

6. How would you describe the Berlin music scene in comparison to the London music scene?

I’d say it’s a bit more relaxed in Berlin as we don’t have closing hours and people are less in a rush of going out. 

7. Do DJing and producing help you to run your three labels (Beste Modus, Unison Wax and the young Beste Freunde), how do you manage to keep some time for yourself and your family?

Yes it definitely helps, especially djing, because it keeps you up to date with music and you know what works best on the dance floor. My schedule at the moment is crazy, but family always comes first! 

8. What are your top 3 tracks at the moment?

1.      Jinxed - Hold on on strictly rhythm

2.      Mike Dehnert - Back to the raw 

3.      EMG - On

9. Tell us where you are in your career at the moment? Is there anything fans can be looking forward to?  

I’m still at the very beginning but I’m growing fast as well as the label does. and next year i decided to be a bit more selfish and concentrate more on my own music. let’s see what’s gonna happen next year and how far it will bring me!