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interview by Max
Michaels / questions by Craig Harvey
As a producer, Paul Van Dyk is constantly on the
cutting edge of a very distinctive sound. Hailing from Berlin,
Germany, his influential style is ever changing and his tracks and his
remixes reflect his seemingly unlimited talent. His latest album,
"GLOBAL", is a musical documentary of his worldwide journey filled
with house, trance and breakbeat. He has always captivated listeners
with his diverse style and this new album is surly the finest is the
PVD catalog. Paul was kind enough to take a few moments out of his
very hectic schedule to give us an interview.
Paul Van Dyk
makes his Florida appearance
at ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL in Miami, FL
on Saturday March 22nd.
With such an extensive body of your own work to choose from, how
did you pick what tracks to use for your Global release?
I chose the ones which I believed people actually seemed to relate to
most of all. I wouldn't say hits, ya know, but the big ones...
basically tracks which have been relevant from my career in the last
ten years.
What part of Germany are you from?
Berlin.
How is the scene over there?
Fine, everything's cool.
Does it seem to be getting bigger or smaller?
Um, progressing naturally. Everything absolutely naturally. So people
are having fun and people are enjoying themselves.
I know over here in America we have a lot of problems with drugs
and the police raiding clubs, and rave parties getting shut down and
such. Are you experiencing problems such as this in Germany?
Well it seems to be that the authorities in Germany, they sort of have
a slight better understanding that this is not about using drugs or
something, that this is about a youth culture. And that very
obviously, with every youth culture there has always been some drug
issues with it. There was with punk there was with rock and roll, so
there is some stuff going on with electronic music, but that this is
not the main purpose of that music. So they rather are trying to
prevent kids from doing stupid things rather than closing clubs down.
What type of prevention methods do they use?
Well, you know, there are certain organizations which provide
information of what actually happens to your body when you take
ecstasy. It's not kind of, under the carpet sort of stuff. People know
that there is a problem like this, you know, but this is not a problem
which is related to club culture, this is a problem which is related
to the whole society. And people take as much ecstasy at a hip hop
concert as they do in clubs, and therefore I believe that it is a
problem from all of us if we see it as a problem. And therefore it is
not down to closing clubs, it is really sort of down to giving people
the information they need to make their decision rather carefully.
You are currently working on your next artist album of original
music?
Yeah. I'm actually having a deadline on Thursday, so therefore I'm
kind of running tight with timing and stuff. ::laughs::
Yes, I know! Seems like you've been kind of going hectic. How's
that doing on you personally, are you finding yourself at your wit's
end, or are you holding it together pretty good?
Well, the things in term of recording this album and everything,
everything is absolutely amazing and really cool. I feel really
comfortable doing it, you know, although I always did. I do sort of
whatever I like doing without any compromises. And obviously this is a
lot of fun. But also the whole sort of technical side of all of it,
like having deadlines in mind, the right format of whatever sort of
technical thing needs to come here. It's kind of tricky sometimes and
it's a little bit exhausting, but it's so much fun to work with music,
so I'm not complaining.
I see there's some material on Global that were taken from a
Mexican film?
Yeah, there's one track actually.
Did they just commission that song because they liked it for the
film?
No, actually I did the music for the whole movie. So it is like
basically all those little sequences within the movie I did, as well
as the full length album, as a soundtrack from the movie as well.
So you scored the whole thing?
Yes.
Have you done any music for other films?
I'm working on another project right now, It's called One Perfect Day.
There's a trailer on the DVD as well so you can sort of see what it's
all about. That's a really interesting project because I'm not scoring
the whole movie, I'm writing the main title song together with a
classical composer which is a rather interesting thing.
That's great. When you're composing your own music in the studio
are you using more computer based synth software, or do you prefer
standard hardware synths?
Um, actually, It's whatever comes to my mind. When I'm the studio I
have this sort of atmosphere in my head that I like to bring across
with a certain song. And I also know which machine is able to do what
sound therefore I just sort of use whatever I think is needed. I have
both, I have a lot of actual hardware synths to use as well as a lot
of software stuff.
When you come home after many months of extensive touring do you
find it hard to just relax, or are you constantly working on something
new?
Usually when I come back from a tour I'm so exhausted that I am very
very able to come down and sleep and relax as well. Usually I always
have a lot of energy anyway, so sometimes I just wonder myself, but I
keep going.
Are you pretty much a perfectionist or do you kind of let some
things go here or there?
No, I never make it easy on myself. ::laughs:: I think that's one of
those problems.
What do you do in your off time if you're not making music? What do
you enjoy doing?
Wondering. ::laughs:: I don't know. The last couple of months I didn't
really have any time off in terms of just chilling out or something.
If I have some time off I just do what everyone else does. You know,
maybe just go to dinner with a few friends or watch a movie or stuff
like that.
So you've spun Winter Music Conferences a few times before, like
the one that's coming up at the end of this month right?
Yup, uh huh.
How has that been for you?
Well, amazing. I think it's like the fifth or sixth year that I'll be
going down to Miami for the Winter Music Conference. It's… I don't
know!... I know it and it's a lot of fun and it's exciting. You know?
We always come back.
Is there anywhere in the world that you've played that you'd
qualify as the perfect club experience. Is there any one night maybe?
I had many experiences which have been absolutely outstanding really.
I cannot really point one out because for me the thing about DJing for
me is to have a very clear idea about my own sound and to be aware of
what I like to bring across and like to play in front of people. And
at the same time be able and open minded enough to interact with the
crowd. And therefore there's always some kind of like magical thing
going on, however. Somehow it always works out.
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