A pioneer in the music world, DJ-turned-songwriter/producer Paul van Dyk has been on the cutting edge of electronic dance music for 15 years. With five studio albums to his name (with a sixth on the way later this year) and over 3 million copies sold - and a couple of Grammy nominations to boot - the 37-year-old van Dyk’s best days are still in front of him.

Obviously, as an artist that often performs with laptops on stage with him, the German-born van Dyk is no stranger to technology, and while some of his tracks have been licensed for videogames before, van Dyk has never written music specifically for a videogame… until now.

In what amounts to a very quiet coup for EA Sports, the talented van Dyk was tapped to create the music for Grand Slam Tennis, a task that the technologically-minded musician tackled with aplomb. On Friday, with the famous Wimbledon tennis tournament gearing up in London, I had the opportunity to sit down and have a candid telephone conversation with one of electronica’s most notable artists and discuss what happens when the digital music and videogame worlds collide.

***

Shawn Drotar: Thanks for taking the time to sit down and talk about your latest projects.

Paul van Dyk: Hey, no problem at all. Thanks for having me.

SD: You’ve been part of the electronic music scene for the better part of two decades now, and the technology to create this type of music has become more and more accessible all the time. How does that free you as an artist, and how do believe it promotes the growth of electronic dance music as a whole?

PvD: Well, I think we have to start at the beginning. First, it started as a small subculture, and (now), it’s like the biggest music culture in the world. You can go wherever in the world and find people being excited about this music and loving this music. It’s even growing with the masses. The whole, general sound on the radio has become more and more electronic. I think that has something to do with the accessibility of that equipment. You know, it’s so much easier now than it was - let’s say, 15 years ago - to go ahead and be creative and do something. It might not be perfect, what’s coming out, but then again, record companies and A&R managers (artist & repertoire: think, “musical scouting and training department” - SD) will listen to it, and if they see the potential, they support you. They give you the possibility of working in a proper studio, and I think that has always been part of what electronic music is. Electronic music has always been about breaking the boundaries - not just on the creative side but also on the way it’s done - by using the latest technologies. Therefore, whatever growth we see in the electronic music world is always directly connected to the technology that’s involved in it.

SD: You’ve dabbled in many technologies; you even have a DJ application available for the iPhone; a toolbox, if you will, for budding DJs. How does that fit in to what you’re doing now, musically?

PvD: I had the opportunity of DJ’ing in the early 90s, and I realized that this is what I want to do. Based on that, I had the chance to actually start working in a studio. This is a lot of what I do; develop. I have a very clear idea about how things should sound and what I want to do with it. Then again, in the beginning, I didn’t have a lot of skills, so I started to learn and got really into it. I learned how to produce, learned how to use all these electronic sounds and make it sound good. Plus, on the musical side, I learned to play piano, play guitar and all that stuff in order to actually create music. I just kind of grew into it; if you would ask me now, I’d say that first of all, I’m a musician. My favorite music happens to be electronic music, and the most common way of presenting it is by DJ’ing, but I kind of grew out of the pure DJ’ing experience.

SD: As a producer over the years, and leading into your iPhone application and getting into videogaming, you’ve taken what seems to be an unusual approach for many musicians, one almost like a mentor for those you follow you. Is that a conscious decision you’ve made, or is it just a secondary effect of the way that you work?

PvD: (laughs) Well, I guess it’s just a secondary effect of the way that I work. Let’s talk about the gaming world. I had a few tracks licensed into a few games, and then last year I was approached by the EA people to remix the main theme song for the Mirror’s Edge game, which was one of their biggest hits last year. Based on that - they said they really enjoyed what I did with the Mirror’s Edge theme - they asked me if I’d think of being involved in actually scoring the whole soundtrack for a game. So I did the EA Grand Slam Tennis game that’s out now. It’s not so much that I’m thinking, ‘OK, I’m on the forefront of something here.’ I’m taking it on as the next project; the next challenge. Something that’s inspiring me as an artist. With the iPhone app as an example, our techie guy said, ‘Listen, Paul - there’s so much potential to do something that’s really cool with the iPhone. We should have a go at that.’ Then we were sitting together, and I said, ‘Well, I just don’t want to have one of those random players where you can mix five or six tracks into another and then out again. That’s something you maybe use once or twice; I want something that is fun and useful.’ And so we came up with the DJ iPhone app, where you have things on there that are fun gadgets, as well as very helpful stuff, and it kind of develops out of those ideas.

Well, you know that these games are much more popular than the actual tournament these days. If I actually write the theme for Wimbledon, probably more people will hear my Wimbledon theme than the regional Wimbledon theme of the (real) tournament. That’s a big challenge.  — Paul van Dyk

SD: In the videogame medium in particular, when you took on the Grand Slam Tennis project to score the entire game, what attracted you to that concept? What particular things came up as a challenge? Did you find a new way of thinking about scoring a game as opposed to an album?

PvD: Well, when I do an album, nobody tells me what’s going on. I just have a general idea and I actually produce it, 100 percent the way I want it. I have to say that I had a very free hand with making the (Grand Slam Tennis) music, but then again - and I have to say it was very helpful - I had a music supervisor to give me some guidelines on where to go and where not. As an example, when I did the theme for the U.S. Open, it was really banging, electro-house. And they said, ‘it was kind of too tough for us, we need something a little more easy’. This is something I wouldn’t know. They have the bigger picture in mind; they see the bigger project, and therefore it’s good to have a supervisor in this case. It was kind of a big challenge to create… well, you know that these games are much more popular than the actual tournament these days. If I actually write the theme for Wimbledon, probably more people will hear my Wimbledon theme than the regional Wimbledon theme of the (real) tournament. That’s a big challenge. With Wimbledon, I tried… well, London’s pretty famous for their cool, underground bassy beats, and I had some drum and bass stuff and created the beautiful summery breeze to add to it. I imagined how it would be to be there.

SD: Did you find the entire experience to be more rewarding or more challenging? It’s obviously quite different than the way you normally work.

PvD: It’s a challenge, but I also learned a lot from it, so I guess it was rewarding too.

SD: You’re also in the process of creating your next album. Is there anything you’d like to share about that, something to look forward to?

PvD: Right now, I’m basically in the early stages of actually writing the music. It’s not so much that I can tell you what it’s going to sound like; I’m in a very much traditional singer/songwriter style now; sitting down and making little notes, recording little bits and pieces of melodies and sounds here and there. I will be in the studio in August to start hammering it out.

SD: How has your music changed from when you started, from the late-90s and early-2000s? How has your experience been reflected in your music?

PvD: Generally, it’s progressed. It grew more detailed. Now, I’m actually making my music - I don’t have a production team; I’m just sitting in the back, saying, ‘that’s a cool sound’. I like that I actually make it; I have direct input in what you’re going to hear at the end. As I’ve grown up and gotten more mature and self-confident, my music grew with me. I had to (have) the balls to do something that, back in the day, they said, ‘You should not do. You shouldn’t work with rock musicians in the electronic world. You shouldn’t use guitars.’ All that kind of bullshit. I don’t care about that; I just make music - there’s a very electronic view to it, and that’s probably what people can expect from my next album, too.

SD: What I find fascinating is that the Mirror’s Edge theme and the score for Grand Slam Tennis is still distinctly… you. It’s still clearly Paul van Dyk music, even though it’s in a completely different medium than many of your fans might expect.

PvD: I would hope so. I put my soul, I put everything I have into my music, and if that shines through, even in a completely different context, that makes me think that I pulled it off somehow.

***

Below is the video for Paul van Dyk’s “For An Angel 2009″, a remastered version of his breakthrough 1998 hit.