His incredible quality productions are what gave Sean Tyas his well deserved industry respect amongst the trance elite. Remixing for artists such as Christina Aguilera, Pink, Moby, Christina Milian and others, Sean Tyas is just as talented behind the decks and has shared his euphoric, energetic and thumping sound with every corner of globe now totaling 30 countries spread across 5 continents! His growing loyal fan base has seen him enter the DJ Mag Top 100 poll as a new entry at number 54 last year!
Trance.nu: Hi Sean, where in the world do we find you?
Right now, I am sitting in my studio working on a new original of mine (well, it's actually a complete remake of a little known track of mine from about 5 years back, 'Remember'), now called 'I Remember Now'.
Trance.nu: Love the remake title! Why are we not surprised to find you in your studio! Two brand new tracks 'Melbourne' & 'Rulebook', a string of new remixes for the likes of Adam Nickey, Signum, Ben Gold, Talla2XLC and the massively successful collaboration with your good friend Simon Patterson, 'Something's Up!' You clearly love your job!
Usually it is true love for sure!! Though sometimes things get really out of control workflow-wise and I flip out, but somehow something always happens to snap it back into place. I am thrilled to finally be getting back onto redoing this track.
Trance.nu: You are one of those incredibly talented individuals who are just as talented behind their MIDI controller as you are behind the decks! You put some amazing destinations on your DJ passport last year. Will there be more global visits this year, more time in the studio or a careful balance of both?
Certainly a balance. Last year, more attention was put to gigs, and the year prior, more attention put to productions. But now even though last year was really important for my career as a DJ, at heart I still love production more than anything, so I really need to maintain a very high momentum in the studio.
Trance.nu: Congratulations on a musically successful 2008! What were some of your highlights of 2008?
The biggest highlights were all the Godskitchen Global Gathering festivals, especially the main one in UK. Unbelieveable to be able to share a stage with the likes of Above & Beyond, Ferry Corsten, Armin van Buuren and Sander van Doorn!
Trance.nu: You smashed into the Top 100 at number 54 in last years DJ Mag Top 100 Poll! How important do you think the annual poll is for the EDM scene?
Thanks a lot! Was really pleasantly surprised about the #54! I think it's less important in USA and Europe then certain other places, like South America & Asia. From what I hear, a lot of bookings happen in these regions solely based on the placement, so I am very interested to see how it affects my gigs in these spots throughout the year.
Trance.nu: Where do you feel was your big break into the trance DJ'ing and producing elite?
My big break was probably one of two things. 'Lift' was picked up by basically all the top trance guys and it was hammered away at all the summer festivals of 2006, especially in the UK. This helped my exposure immensely by reaching a much larger audience that I had since had no access to. The other factor around this time, was winning the Sander van Doorn remix contest for "Punk'd". Out of over 250 entries, I feel really proud to have won that, and that has also helped gain a lot of attention back at that time.
Trance.nu: It was 'Lift' that introduced me to the name Sean Tyas! Personally I think 'Lift' will go down in Trance music history as an all time anthem! Did you know you were onto Trance gold when you were producing the track?
Not at all!! I was trying to make a track that took me back to those basic melodies I used to dance my ass off all night to back when I was a raver at New York's Twilo, not caring who was looking and not caring what the hell the ID of the track was! It was only about letting go and not caring back then...Just pure fun! And that's all I wanted out of it.
Trance.nu: I'm an aspiring producer myself, so for all the bedroom producers out there including myself, give us an idea of your current studio setup? Which is your favourite piece of current equipment?
Well a lot of people think I use my Virus TI all the time, but sadly, I think it's one of the most overrated pieces of hardware out there, and overpriced. In fact I have had issues with the note-timing when using heavy unison at times and Access's tech support was "ah it was designed like that". Idiots! Who designs a synth to fluctuate the note timing as if the notes are not quantized? But I will say its great for sounds where timing is not so important. My favorite synth I use every day is the Logic ES2: simple, very powerful, and sounds terrific, while it is always very easy to mix it into almost any production.
Trance.nu: Could you choose a favourite passion between DJ'ing and producing?
Producing. Though I absolutely love to be out there playing for people, it is in the studio where I am most comfortable.
Trance.nu: The Sean Tyas podcast looks to be going from strength to strength! The show is now an hour and a half, includes a "best demo", "producers time-out" and the occasional guest mix. How successful a project has the podcast been?
The next episode at the moment will be Episode 19, and since the start of it, I am thrilled to see the exponential increase in subscribers! It's actually really cool! I also like the fact that I can put the track list of each show into the Podcast itself, as it plays. You simply can't do that on my internet shows.
Trance.nu: It seems like there are a lot of talented bedroom producers out there? The 'Melbourne' remix contest is a fantastic initiative for all those producers, could you tell us a bit more about it?
Well Discover came to me with the idea about doing this, and it really seems like it has been embraced by many people already! It's so interesting to see how many different approaches people are taking on this contest, and if you want to know who will be getting my votes, it¡¦s simply whoever approaches the remix differently from the rest and does it well, possibly introducing something new or changing it completely while retaining the vibe. Good luck you guys, it's so cool that so many of you are entering! (www.seantyasmusic.com)
Trance.nu: Your sound is definitely more around the hard trance sound, has that come from your various influences and experiences before you became a professional DJ or was it a transition you made as part of your DJ'ing and producer development?
It's very easy to see where the majority of my production and DJing influence came from... Paul van Dyk. But before that and even before I decided to try and write music at all, my life was governed by the sounds of the Prodigy, Moby (the 90s stuff), Pop Will Eat Itself, Nine Inch Nails, and other things like that.
Trance.nu: Ah yes, The Prodigy's albums can be found in every EDM fans CD collection! With a lot of the top Trance legends now dominating the scene for over a decade, who do you see as the future legends of Trance?
Obviously John O'Callaghan is well on his way to becoming timeless, as are Aly & Fila, Simon Patterson, and Tom Colontonio. Everyone has their heads in the right places and each of them knows exactly what they want. As long as they all stay focused, they are locked in!
Trance.nu: Your new track 'Rulebook' is definitely on the dark side of trance and with hard dance legend Lee Haslam putting his spin on 'Melbourne' are you looking to spread the Sean Tyas name into the hard dance scene as well?
Actually I wouldn't mind that at all, having played over at the Tidy Weekender this past fall, and seeing the massive scene that really is there, I was really impressed by it all! This, of course, is not the only direction I want to expand into though. I want to go a bit in both directions, faster/harder and more percussive/intricate.
Trance.nu: You mentioned earlier that you will be keeping up the hard studio work, is there an artist album on the horizon?
100% definite! Starting as soon as I finish this last bit of projects now, probably April. Comprised of basically all new material (and not all trance, I can simply make a mix compilation for that).
Trance.nu: Seeing that you are equally skilled both behind the decks and Logic Pro I think a great idea would be to launch your artist album as a double disc with one disc being your artist productions and the other being a display of your mixing and compilation skills in the form of a mix compilation of some of your favourite tracks!
That's certainly one idea I am tossing around for it! happy Another is a second disc as more of a "how it started" idea, tracks of mine that were never signed at the beginning of all this, to show the development of the point A to B over the last several years.
Trance.nu: Could there be a global tour to go with this new album?
I am sure the gigs ensuing during the album release time will use the album release as an extra push for gigs, not sure if it will be an officially branded "album tour" though. Because essentially, the whole year is a never-ending tour! happy
Trance.nu: So with all that touring and travelling is an airport still an exciting place to go for you with your destination awaiting you or do you feel like you're losing valuable time with all the waiting?
That's why I always have my laptop. In fact my whole keyboard panel is all cracked up (a known issue with Macbooks that is entitled to a free warranty repair, but I just won't part with it for a week!). Though in fairness, I'm not on my laptop writing any significant things, just doing emails in offline mode, or catching up on TV shows which I just download and save for airport viewing.
Trance.nu: Do you have any tips or tricks for the other globe trekking DJ's out there that you've learned with regards to air travel?
Bring as many things as you can that keep you busy!!! I don't leave without gear mags, iPhone, iPod, PSP, ear bud headphones and Sennheisser HD 25's when things get more serious happy Oh and be extra nice to passport control people and always act stupid, they love that!
Trance.nu: So you've started where most bedroom producers start out which is as a fan on the dance floor and now you're where you've always dreamt of being which is behind the decks of a dance floor filled with fans of yours playing your tracks! It is what every aspiring DJ and producer dreams of! What is your advice to these EDM lovers?
Don't make excuses, don't say "yea next year I'm going to buy this to make this, or next month this comes out, and that will allow me to make this". BULLLLSH*T! You can do anything you want right now. All the tools are already available. Get crackin¡¦! Trust me, you really can, it is not rocket science, and it's so much fun!
Trance.nu: It has been a pleasure chatting to you and I'm sure all trance and hard dance fans the globe over are looking forward to what's to come from Sean Tyas in 2009, best of luck. Keep the passion.
Thank you Craig, really great interview, and hello to everyone at trance.nu!
Links:
www.seantyasmusic.com
Written by:
Craig Patterson
