ABOVE AND BEYOND | Paul van Dyk on recording In Between
Oct 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Ken Micallef
Paul van Dyk may be the world’s No. 1 DJ, but the Berlin-based producer and philanthropist cares about a whole lot more than what goes on in the DJ booth
Is Paul van Dyk the hardest-working man in the DJ business or what? As seen in 2003's “PVD/DVD” Paul van Dyk: Global (Mute), this 36-year-old producer/remixer is in constant motion, playing to festival and club audiences on his home turf in Berlin, as well as in Bangkok, Barcelona, New York, San Francisco, Mexico City, Thailand and back again, with barely a baggy eye to show for his travels.
As with many a superstar DJ whose name is practically a brand in itself, the Grammy Award-nominated van Dyk is many things to many people: He oversees several charitable organizations for underprivileged children and AIDS awareness (including Rückenwind, the Akansha Children Education Project in India and Safer School), runs the Vandit Records label and maintains two weekly radio shows (Vonyc.com in the U.S., Radio Fritz in Berlin) and still finds time to remix singles for Justin Timberlake (“What Goes Around…Comes Around”) and Depeche Mode (“Martyr”). Chalk up four artist albums, a film soundtrack (Zurdo, Universal, 2002) and his latest triumph, being voted No. 1 DJ in the world by DJ Times for the second year running, and you truly have the ultimate DJ machine. What makes Paul van Dyk numero uno?
“As a musician, I don't make any compromises,” van Dyk replies from his offices in Berlin. “This is why I am believable and convincing when I am in front of my audience. On the DJ side, I have a very clear idea about my own sound and the music I like to bring across. And I am not a snobby-ass DJ who just plays whatever he wants to play. It's all about the interaction with the crowd. That makes it very intense. And I don't have a faked image; I am just the way I am. I think that is what people appreciate.”
RADIO FREE EUROPE
Paul van Dyk's latest artist album, In Between (Mute, 2007), proves that Berlin's best refuses to be tied to expectations, or even genres. Though the album draws from the typical currency of the globetrotting DJ (massive synth pads, house beats, tsunami-like climaxes), In Between isn't a trance record, to hear van Dyk tell it.
“My music includes elements of proper techno, breakbeats, house music, even chill-out elements, as well as the trance sounds,” van Dyk insists. “I don't want to be limited. My background is absolutely electronica and in the dirty basement clubs of Berlin. But I see so much and experience so much, it all has an influence on how my world sounds. Those elements come from everywhere, banging techno as much as some soft trance-y stuff, even poppy elements and something from the rock world.”
Growing up in East Germany before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the young van Dyk listened to radio broadcasts that were strictly illegal and dangerous for his family, but which eventually conditioned his mind and trained his ears for his life's work. Van Dyk focused purely on the music — star-maker machinery and pop affectations be damned.
“My way of getting into music was very different and therefore very important to my musical approach,” van Dyk recalls. “My musical education came purely through the radio. I could never read any pop magazines or buy a record of my favorite artist, so I never had the whole pop-star fixation. For me it was purely the music. I still have that pure, even virgin approach toward music. I don't care about all the surrounding stuff. When it comes to how I make my music, it has more to do with the person I became after the wall came down.”
Paul van Dyk may not think In Between is typical progressive trance, but beginning with the first single, “White Lies” (featuring Pussycat Dolls' Jessica Sutta), to the final, David Byrne-assisted stunner, “Fall With Me,” the album certainly touches on every sonic trademark one associates with the trance genre. Sure, there are detours into ambient chill-out, Brit-pop vocals (“Talk in Grey”), techno (“Stormy Skies”) and even a surprising orchestral segue (“Détournement,” with 24 string players from the Berlin Philharmonic), but In Between will fit nicely into the trance category of most fans' iPods, thank you.
LAPTOP TWINS
A couple of factors give Paul van Dyk a signature style that separates him from the other DJs traipsing the world in search of fame and fortune. Beyond his recognizable face (a slightly humorous, passive expression typically outlines his features) and superstar cachet, van Dyk has serious skills. And as of late, he has abandoned vinyl-only turntables and CD spinners in favor of two Apple MacBook Pros and minimal hardware. Lots of DJs are using laptops live, but van Dyk is taking it to a new level of creativity and functionality.
“Both laptops are driving Ableton Live,” he explains. “One laptop is full of audio material, the other is completely stuffed up with software synthesizers and MIDI sequencers. Both laptops are linked up through a custom interface, and I have an Allen & Heath Xone:3D mixer, which has a complete template that is also custom-made. I have an Evolution UC33 USB control surface, an Akai MPC2500 and an M-Audio MIDI keyboard to play all the things I want to play.
“The great thing about the 3D mixer is that it combines the possibilities of the fantastic Allen & Heath Xone:92 DJ Mixer with being a complete MIDI controller. Everything has an impact on how I use Ableton — certain buttons, certain faders, certain knobs — they all have a function that basically triggers something in the program.”
Using Ableton Live via the two laptops and various synths allows van Dyk to not only remix his classic tracks (“We Are Alive,” “Tell Me Why,” “For an Angel”) in real time, but to improvise and create new songs on the fly. He can remix old club favorites and mix and match new tunes from In Between — the possibilities are endless.
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