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Interesting Tiesto Article
taken from taiwannights.com, he answers alot of hotly debated issues concerning him... i just copy and pasted it for your convenience
'If I am not happy, how can I make other people happy?'
In and Out of a Slump - Interview with DJ Tiesto @ SpringLove, Sat. 15 April 2006
DJ Tiesto was back in Taiwan last Saturday, playing @ SpringLove 2006 and proving that he is still a master behind the decks. He turned the place into the greatest rave Taipei has seen so far, flowing in and out of his typical trance sound, mixing it up with more housy material - which is also the sound of the album he is promoting, In Search of Sunrise 5. TN's Bernard Pol and Rob Near were able to do an exclusive interview with Tiesto - who's a classy guy and a pleasure to talk with. He sat down with them until 10 minutes before he had to quickly grab his records and hurry into the DJ booth.
R: How's Asia going, by the way, Taiwan's what, your third gig?
T: Taiwan is my last gig on this tour. Malaysia was yesterday... only Indonesia. But so far, it's been really impressive, the whole tour. We've been to China, Thailand, Malayasia, all over the place, Singapore. All of them have been really, really good...
R: In Europe, the trance scene is quite developed, North America is still behind, where do you see Asia? Still developing?
T: Almost on the same level of Europe, really. Depends on where you go, though. China in some places they really love it, other places it's still developing. And here in Taiwan, trance is definitely bigger than in Europe.
B: You've been here, how many times? You were here, like, two and a half years ago? At MOS and the World Trade Center at the time...
T: Yup, second time...
R: So you're here this time in support of In Search of Sunrise Vol. 5. Vol. 4 was released in 2005, why'd you feel it was necessary, or why did you want to follow up with Vol.5 in 2006 so soon after the last one?
T: I just wanted to do one CD once a year. And it's a DJ mix, so it's much easier than all my own productions. I wanted to do it before the summer because I wanted to make a summer feel kind of CD. If you release it after the summer, a lot of people are like 'Well it's winter now... so it's no good.' So, yeah, that's why I decided to do it a little bit earlier.
R: A lot of people associate you with trance. You know, Tiesto: trance.
T: Trance! (yelling and laughing)
B: Epic trance! (laughs too)
T: Epic trance guy! (still laughing)
R: But you've always described yourself as having your own sound. Tiesto sound. You can't really label it progressive, you can't really call it trance. In Search of Sunrise 5 is more chill... in 2006, where do you find your sound? You've said before that it's been slowly progressing, where is it now? How's it been progressing in the past year?
T: Trance has always been the red-line in the music. The so called 'trance', you know, but anyway..... it's just melodic music that I like. Now it's getting more housey. Housey trance.
B: Two and a half years ago one of the things we talked about was that you were looking for a new sound. Moving away from your typical, epic trance sound. One of the things you mentioned was that you were looking for new technology to make it possible. Has anything related to the technology that you use changed in the past two and a half years that you really see as a breakthrough?
T: Not that much yet. I've been looking at Ableton Live, but so far I'm not that impressed yet, with the whole program.
B: Why?
T: Because it doesn't sound that good. Basically, so far...
B: So what do you do? Do you make something in Ableton live, listen to it, and you're not that impressed? Why?
T: The midi clock inside is really bad... so it's hard to make everything tight. So, the sound isn't that good. The mixing, too. It isn't that tight. You lose creativity in the mixing too because everything is perfectly stepped. Yeah...
B: So what do you do to innovate? You're still on top of your game, very much. How do you stay there?
T: Well, it's coming more from the inside, nowadays, instead of from the productions or the tracks. Nowadays, people accept more and more, me playing all kinds of different stuff. If you listen to the new CD, there's very housey tracks on there. People are surprised, but they still like it. That's the huge difference between now and then... two and a half years ago. Less trance, more house. Yeah, I'm still developing the sound. In half a year, I'll know where I'm going. The question is half a year too early.
B: Do you work with a lot of people around you? Producers? Other DJs? To keep your sound flowing?
T: No, I always work with the same guy. For seven years. That's the main guy. I don't work much with others... The one time, I worked with BT at the beginning of this year. That was really inspirational for me. He's a brilliant producer. He's one of the best in the world, I think. He's such a, you know, multi-tasker. He's doing, like, ten things at the same time.
B: So, how did he change your productions?
T: Well, he hasn't yet. But he's going to. I've been touring for the past three months. Straight. I was with him in January, February. I'll be back in America in May. And I'll be back in June. And then, I'm going to really start working on my own productions again.
B: When can we expect to see your own artist album?
T: A new track in September. It's already half finished.
B: Anything you can tell us about it?
T: No, it's not finished yet. (laughs)
B: Any hints?
T: Yeah, it's going to be interesting. I've worked with a very famous guy on it.
B: Keeping it vague,eh? (laughs)
T: Yeah (laughs). But what's interesting about it, the money, it all goes to charity
R: What charity?
T: It's called Dance for Life. It's a community education program. At the schools. They learn, the kids, to raise money for AIDS. And how to educate other kids how to prevent from getting AIDs. Like in Africa or in China.
R: Cool. We were talking about innovation just now. And I was reading a lot of reviews on In Search of Sunrise 5, and a lot of people were surprised by the CD; with the emphasis on vocals, but especially the way you structured the mix. Some people thought the tracks could've been put together in a different way... how do you choose your tracks?
T: It's very funny, nowadays, people. On the internet they can talk about the mix, about the way - they talk about how I should mix the CD. It's so weird to sometimes read stuff like that.
B: Do you read up on things regularly?
T: Well, not regularly, but I read sometimes. I like to read up on stuff like that because it's very interesting. Because they say 'the mix from track 1 to track 2' is horrible. And I'm listening to it, and I'm like, 'Well, yeah, it's maybe on the edge. But that's my way of mixing. I always mix on the edge, you know?
R: That's another big, thing: a lot of people say that you're a risky mixer. You take a lot of risks in your mixes, rather than making it smooth. Do you see yourself as a risky mixer?
T: Yeah, I see myself as a risky mixer because I think if you mix very clean, that's great for like 3% of the audience, but the other 97% who don't have a clue about mixing tracks, they want to hear the mix. So, I like them to hear the mix, so they know there's a new track coming in.
R: Do you do that for yourself as well? Because staying on the edge is more exciting than doing the same, smooth mix?
T: Yeah, I like to mix like that. And I make mistakes, you know... every night. Every night I play I make, like, three or four, five mistakes.
R: When you play six hours I think three or four mistakes are allowed.
T: [But] on those communities, if you make three, four, five mistakes, you're the worst mixer on earth.
R: But they've never done it themselves.
T: Yeah, well I remember this sentence: "Criticism only hurts when it's true." And that's why I can read whatever they write. It doesn't effect me at all. I know what I want.
R: Yeah, you're in such a prominent position, that everybody has something to say about you. And some people are, naturally, jealous. How do you deal with that jealousy?
T: Well, you need to be strong for yourself. You need to know exactly where you are. If people criticize me for the right reasons, then I appreciate that. And then, try to work on that.
R: Well, how do you judge what're the 'right reasons'?
T: Well, I know where I stand myself. But sometimes you just read stuff, and it's total bullshit. And then, you look at what kind of people write it. You know, somebody who's a dedicated fan of, say, Sasha. Of course he hates Tiesto! It's not his music, right. It's like me talking about, uh, Dolly Parton. (laughs) It doesn't make any sense. On the internet, you have to look at who writes it and for what reasons.
B: What're some critics or sites you really read up on? Can you give us any examples?
T: I try to read on some websites, like tranceaddict.com.
R: Yeah, I was reading that website today, actually. You're a very controversial figure on there.
T: Ahhh, good. It's good to be controversial. But most of the time, to be honest, if I'm on tranceaddict, I look at the reviews of the tracks. That's basically the only part I read there. And my own website because I think that the diehard Tiesto fans, they're writing on my website, as well. And the mixing, it was a big topic, I was checking out... what does this guy mean, 7 beats here. I wanna hear what he means. You know, maybe he's right, but that's just my style of mixing...
R: Take it or leave it.
T: Yeah, and if you listen to all my CDs, they have controversial mixes on there. Some people love it, some people hate it.One of the things I did get from the website was, a while ago, people were saying 'Oh, he is always so arrogant. He leaves right away from the gigs without signing autographs.' But most of the time, I can't do that because the security tells me, 'You have to go out'. They freak out if I go in front of the stage, they're like 'That's how riots start, people fighting'. But now I try to change that, do a few autographs on the side. So, that's an example that I try to do something about....
R: To a lot of people, you live a glamorous lifestyle. Fly all over the world, live in good hotels, be a VIP everywhere, etc. A lot of people want that, but you have it. What would you say to those people who want it so bad. Is it worth it, all the material things?
T: I'm not a very materialistic person, so I don't have a Ferrari or that kind of stuff. But what I do like about this lifestyle... every country you arrive in, they put you in the Presidential suite of a five-star hotel, give you the best food they can find, take you to the best sight seeing places. All that stuff, I love it. And that's definitely worth it. That's the only stuff I use. I still have the same car that I had three years ago. Audi A4, it's a good car.
B: I discussed the same topic with Ferry Corsten when he was here, how much does your success influence your music, your productions? How much do you allow it to? Or is it still like when you were an unknown DJ, trying to make it to the top?
T: Well, it's definitely changed a lot. When you start, everything is new and refreshing, like scoring a goal. But after you've scored 200 goals, then, it's hard to get the same feeling.
B: How do you deal with that? You try to keep it exciting it for yourself, I'm sure.
T: Well, yeah, I've been in a bit of a slump. You know, after the Olympics, my motivation has been less because I felt like I fell into a gap. I achieved everything I wanted, three years #1 in DJ mag, etc.
B: So then what?
T: Then you fall into that gap, and then you're like, what's next? And then you wait, and you think about it. But now, after L.A. I'm fully inspired again. I'm on the way back, in terms of creativity. And in June, I'm back in the studio. I really love DJing.
B: So, what happened during that gap, you kept doing your shows... was it on automatic pilot?
T: Yeah, some shows are on automatic pilot, because during some shows people expect you to play on automatic pilot. You do some gigs, they always expect you to play the hits. But the diehard fans from back in the days, they want to hear new, fresh music.
R: How do you try to please everyone?
T: That's in my nature. To try to please everyone, as a DJ. That's what's very hard for me... trying to find a balance.
B: How do you find your balance? How do you keep it creative?
T: I just focus on myself. If I just be myself and do what I feel then I can't go wrong. If I'm not happy, then how can I make other people happy?
[with Bernard Pol and Robert Near]
___________________
Albert Einstein, who, like many other scientists, held religion to consist of a reverence toward the universe as best as we can understand it, not worship toward a supernatural creator
"Show me a person without an ego and i will show you a loser" Donald Trump
ALL LIFE AND PROSPERITY
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