DJ tyDi Interview by OOC 百大DJ獨家專訪

tyDi (pronounced tai-dee) , DJ/producer from Australia and currently residing in LA, came to Taiwan for the fourth time! This time, OOC(OutOfControl) grasped the chance to get a better glimpse of tyDi right before his performance in Room 18.

tyDi（音：泰迪），是一位來自澳洲、現居洛杉磯的DJ/編曲家（tyDi介紹可到....）。這是他第四次來台灣，然而這次有所不同，透過Room18接洽機會，讓OOC帶領各位更深入地了解tyDi。

Q1: You have been to for Taiwan like three times now. What do you think of the Taiwanese crowd and their music tastes?

(問題一:你之前已經來過台灣三次。你對於台灣觀眾的本身以及他們的音樂品味有什麼看法？)

TyDi: The crowd is getting more musically educated, which is a really good thing. Every time I come here people are knowing my new tracks and they are understanding the different genres of electronic music. So it’s growing I think, and it always really fun because the crowd here is very energetic and very positive. It’s a good scene. I always play in cities that I like, you know , I don’t go back to a city if I don’t like it. If I play a show there and I didn’t liked it, the kind of scene there is, I don’t usually tour there. But this is my fourth time to Taiwan I think. I really love it here it’s also a very beautiful city.

(觀眾對音樂的理解越來越深入，這是一件很棒的事情。每次我來這裡，他們都知道我的新歌，也了解電音的各種曲風。所以我覺得市場正在成長，而且非常地有趣，因為這裡的觀眾非常有活力且正向。我只在我喜歡的城市巡迴演出，如果我不喜歡某個城市的氛圍，很有可能地，我便不會再回去。但至於台灣，這是我的第四次，我真的很愛這裡，外加台北真是個美麗的城市。)

Q2: You started off with trance in the early stages and you progressed to progressive house later on, how did that develop over the time?

(你從Trance起家，然而你逐漸往Progressive House邁進，其中的過程是如何堆疊的？)

tyDi: It was a natural evolution. I’ve been DJing and producing for 11 years. I think when you do something for that long, you naturally grow. I guess it’s like being a painter , if you started off painting beaches and oceans you don't want to do that for 11 years. You want to change and start painting girls or cities you know what I mean? My music taste just grew. I started to get more into different styles and trance is why a lot of people loved me for 8 years ago, but now in America and starting to be all around the world, people are liking more of my vocal progressive house music and I enjoy it too.

(這是一個自然的過程。我從事DJ/編曲已經11年了。我覺得當你做一件事情夠久的時候，成長是必然。這就像是當一位畫家，你不會想要連續11年都話海灘跟海洋。你會想要改變，並繪出一些女孩或城市，你懂我的意思嗎？我的音樂品味只是隨著時間成長。我開始嘗試除了Trance以外的曲風，雖然八年前我是因為Trance而成名，但現今，人們越來越喜歡我歌聲繚繞的progressive house。)

Q3: As a follow up, personally, which type of music genres do you like the most? Does your production get affected by the preferences of the crowd?

(說到這，以你個人來說，那種曲風是你最喜歡的？你的作品會因為觀眾的喜好而受到影響嗎？)

tyDi: My productions get affected not by the preferences of the crowd, but how I feel about playing songs in the clubs. So when I play certain songs and the crowds go crazy that really gets me excited to make something more like that, so I’m always chasing what excites my fans the most but it also has to excite me you know? I don’t make any songs that I don’t like personally. I think the key to staying happy in music and not being bored is to always make music that you personally love. That is why I’m open to changing and constantly evolving because I always want to keep interested.

(我的作品並不是受到觀眾喜好的影響，而是這些作品在夜店的表現。所以如果某些歌會讓群眾很嗨，我就會往那個方向邁進。但是這些作品同時也要是我所喜歡的。我不會製作我自己私底下不喜歡的音樂。我覺得製作自己喜愛的音樂是讓我持續對音樂保持熱情的關鍵，這也是為甚麼我對於「改變」保持開放的態度。)

Q4: You are always traveling around the globe, do you study the crowd before you go to each place and plan your sets accordingly or you just adjust what you play live on stage?

(你常在世界各地巡演，你會研究各地音樂喜好而改變音樂編排嗎？還是你是現場在台上做調整？)

tyDi: Yeah I adjust live on stage, it wouldn’t be a wise idea to plan ahead because you really have to see how the crowd is feeling on the night. I have a huge collection of music you know. My usb stick comes with 6,000 songs and I have them all in categories. I know all my music very well. Among that, I also have my own songs. In a two hour show, I probably play 50% or even 60% my own music, so it’s that big covered and the rest is up to how it feels on the night. Sometimes I’ll play a show and the crowd is really into techno. So my set will be my songs plus a nice mixture of techno. Sometimes there are trance crowds, so it’s my songs and a mixture of trance. And in places like California or Vegas, people like a lot more commercial . So I mix my music in with stuff that they like as well, it’s more commercial. It’s all about adapting to what the scene wants.

(我都是在台上當場調整，如果事先編排好的話會缺乏彈性，主要還是要看群眾當場的反應。我有一個龐大的音樂庫。我的USB裡有大約6,000首分類完善的歌。每首歌曲我都瞭若指掌。除此之外，我還有我自己的歌。在一個兩個小時的表演當中，我大概會有五六成是自己的音樂，然後剩下的部分則是靠當下的氣氛決定。有些演出，觀眾很喜歡Techno，那我就會加入Techno的元素。有時候會遇到喜愛Trance的群眾，此事我便加入Trance在我的歌單中。至於加州或拉斯維加斯，人們很喜歡流行歌，那我就會加入更多流行元素。這全然是看當場群眾的反應。)

Q5: Vocals are a really important element in your music. What type of role do you think vocals play in your music, like what factors go through your mind when you pick different type of vocals to use in your production?

(在你的音樂當中，人聲佔了非常重要的一席。你覺得人聲在你的音樂中扮演什麼角色？當你在選擇人聲的應用時，有哪些因素會納入考量？)

tyDi: Instead of picking vocals, I write them, I sit in a room with the vocalist and we play the piano and the guitar, and we write the song together before it’s even a dance song. The vocals play most roles of my song to tell the story. I might have a situation I want to talk about, maybe romance or anything, any kind of story in life that I want to tell, I write it into the vocals. Once I have the vocals made, I make the music around it and build the dance track around them. So the vocal is the centerpiece of the music for me.

(與其選擇人聲，我先把歌詞寫下來。我會在歌曲成形前跟歌手一起在房間裡彈鋼琴跟吉他，然後一起將歌曲寫出。在我的作品中，人聲扮演著敘述故事的角色。任何我想表達的故事、想法，我都是用人聲去表達。建立好人聲後，我的音樂便圍繞著它去完成。所以對我來說，我的音樂的中心便是人聲。)

Q6: When you produce music do you pick the vocalist first and you make the song or you made the song then you pick the vocalist?

(在製作音樂時，你會先選歌手再編曲還是相反？)

tyDi: If it’s a really famous vocalist, I like to write it with them in the room. Sometimes though, I will write a song with a friend and replace the singer with another one depending on how their voice sounds. Some people can naturally sing songs differently not just better, but they have a different quality to their voice so it depends on the sound as well.

(如果是一位非常有名的歌手，我喜歡與他一同編曲。另外，有時候我會先跟朋友一起編曲然後再找歌手替代他，此時我再依音色的特性選擇歌手。)

Q7: Which vocalist would you want to collaborate with next in the future? And what trait do you think he/she would possess?

(未來會想跟哪位歌手合作？他/她應該具備什麼特徵？)

tyDi: I’d really like to collaborate with Christina Perri. She has a beautiful voice. She has a song called Human, and also A Thousand Years. My friend David actually wrote that song with her, A Thousand Years. I just heard it, and it’s one of the voices that just make me melt.

(我會很想跟Christina Perri合作，她有著動人的歌聲。她就是唱”Human”跟”A Thousand Years”的歌手。”A Thousand Years”其實是我朋友David跟她一起寫的，我馬上被他的歌聲所吸引。)

Q8: In your recent music videos we saw you participating in the acting in the video. How did that happen? What was the story behind it?

(在你最近的MV中，你參與了影片的演出。這有什麼由來嗎？)

tyDi: My ex-girlfriend was a actress. I don’t know if you know the TV show called Big Bang Theory? The blonde girl ,Kailey is her name. Kailey Cuoco is the blond girl from Big Bang Theory. Her sister is my ex-girlfriend and we dated for a year. I always go to watch her do acting. It got me interested in it. I never aspire being a actor myself, but I learned a little bit about it. When the opportunity came from the music video, I wrote the story for the video. So I decided to play the character.

(我的前女友是位演員。我不知道你們知不知道”Big Bang Theory”這部影集？當中有位叫Kailey Cuoco的金髮女孩。她的妹妹便是我的前女友，而我們交往了大約一年。我總會去看她演出，並逐漸對演戲產生興趣。我從未想過要成為演員，但我還是學了一點點。所以當MV的機會來臨時，我當了編劇，然後決定要自導自演了。)

Q9: So you told the video crew don’t bother get a actor?

(所以你直接跟影片小組說不要找演員了？)

tyDi: Yeah I wrote the whole story with me in it and I wrote it around a girl and a guy with two other actors and myself. I know I’m not the best actor. I’m not very good. But I wrote a part that I knew I can do.

(沒錯！我自導自演，並與另外兩位演員一同演出。當然我不是很專業，但是我選擇了一個我可以勝任的角色。)

Q10: At the end of last year you released a EP called Promise. You donated all revenue to the charity what was the story behind that?

(去年年底你發表了一張小專輯叫”Promise”。你把所有的收入捐給慈善團體，這背後的由來是什麼呢？)

tyDi: When I started to make pop music. I don’t like to say the word “pop” because my fans get annoyed sometimes, but I’m not going to deny some of my songs are really pop. But I think it’s pop with quality, not cheesy. Progressive house songs with pop lyrics and pop star vocals.

I made a album called Redefine, and a lot of trance fans got a little angry about me because I made a different style. A lot of haters came, not many, I got more fans than haters. A few haters would keep writing on my page saying, “Tydi you don’t know how to make trance anymore. You should made trance. I don’t believe you even know how to do it.” At first I was a little bit upset about it. And then I thought, “okay, I’m going to prove a point.” I’ve just spent three years on a album for Redefine in 20 songs. I said to them on Facebook, I said I’m going to make five song trance EP in one month and I’m going to make best trance songs I’ve ever made. I’m going to put it on Itunes and donate all the money to charity if you promise to buy it. I turned it back on them. In thirty days I made that EP called “The Promise” and it’s five trance songs. That was the deal. It was specifically for my trance fans, for the ones who thought that I changed and I gave the five brand new trance songs. All the money goes to charity to help children in developing countries. I think it was all about turning a negative thing into a positive thing.

(當我開始製作流行音樂時，我不喜歡「流行」這兩個字，因為有些粉絲會感到厭惡，但我也不可否認我有些作品很流行風。但我覺得那些作品是有品質的流行歌，而不流於芭樂。它們是Progressive House，但用流行歌歌詞及流行歌手的方式呈現。

我發了一張叫”Redefine”的專輯，但這惹惱了我的許多Trance粉絲，因為我捨棄了以往的Trance風格。有許多酸民現身，不多，我的粉絲還是比酸民多。當中，有些到我的牆上留言說，「tyDi 你不製作Trance了，你應該回歸Trance，我們甚至懷疑你到底還知不知道怎麼做！」起初，我有點難過，然後我想，「好，我要證明一點。」我才剛花了三年的時間製作”Refine”這張專輯，其中收錄20首歌。我在臉書上回應他們，我說我要在一個月內製作一張五首Trance歌曲的小專輯，它們將會是我做過的Trance當中最好聽的。我會把它們放在 iTunes上，只要你們承諾購買它們，我就把所有收入捐給慈善團體。我把問題拋回。30天候，我發表了”The Promise”。這張小專輯是給我的Trance粉絲的，獻給那些認為我已經不復以往的粉絲。所有的錢都捐給發展中國家的兒童，我覺得一切的重點是，把負面的能量轉換成正面的力量。)

Q11: Can you talk about the story of your tattoo on your left hand?

(你可以談談關於你左手上的刺青嗎？)

tyDi: This is Blink 182. Do you know the band? They had a song called “All The Small Things.” It’s a punk band. So the story was when I was 16, I started DJing and producing but I’m also a drummer in a rock band. I was deciding if I was going to be in a band or if I was going to be a DJ and a producer. I chose to be a DJ and producer, and I moved in that way. From 16 to now I’m 28 I kept doing that for my whole life. Two years ago I was looking back I just thought one day was on the beach in Bali, drinking a Martini. I always wanted a tattoo here but I never knew what to get, and I wanted one for years. I heard a Blink 182 song on the radio and it was one of my favorite songs. It made me think if I didn’t do DJing where would I have ended up? Could I have been something else? Because you only get one shot sometimes in life. I got lucky with electronic music, I can probably really never go into a band now. But I always think I wonder if I chose that direction. If I’d ever be like my favorite band. So as a reminder of what I might have been if I did something else, if I chose to be in a band instead of a DJ.

(這是”Blink 182”。你知道這個樂團嗎？他們有一首歌叫做”All The Small Things”，他們是一個龐克樂團。所以故事是在我16歲的時候，我開始DJ跟編曲，但我同時也是一個搖滾樂團的鼓手。當時我正陷入兩難不知該投入哪個領域。最後我選擇了前者，並往那個方向邁進。從16歲一直到現在的28歲，我一直在這條道路上。兩年前我在巴厘島的海邊品嚐著一杯馬丁尼，並回顧這一切。我一直以來就想在我的左手上刺青但一直不知道該用什麼。我在收音機上聽到Blink 182我最喜愛的歌。這讓我想到，如果我當初沒有投入DJ工作，我現在又會在哪呢？因為人生只有一次。我幸運的在電音中有所成就，我現在應該永遠也無法加入一個樂團了。但我常常想，如果我當初選擇了那條路會是什麼樣子。因此我選擇在左手刺上blink 182的圖案，懷念當初年輕的自己。)

Q12: So what is next for you?

(接下來你有什麼新計畫呢？)

tyDi: I have a really big single coming up that I’m going to be releasing in August depending on the lots of things to do with Redefine and the video out. My next single will come out, it’s gonna be the best song I’ve ever made. I’ve spent more time on this one song that I have on any song I ever made. It’s a beautiful track. I think it’s better than Redefine. I wrote it with David Hodges. He used to be in a band called Evanescence and he wrote “A Thousand Years” for Christina Perri. I worked with him, we wrote this song together called “xxxx xx xxxxxx”. Hopefully that’s going to be my next single and when that comes out I thinks it’s going to be the most amazing thing for my career yet.

(大概八月的時候，我會發表一首非常重大的單曲，但還要看Redefine的進度等等。我的下一首單曲無疑會是我所做過最棒的歌曲。我在這首單曲所花的心思及時間比任何一首歌還長。我認為他比Redefine還好！我跟David Hodges一起寫的。他曾經是Evanescence樂團的一員，而他也跟Christina Perri寫A Thousand Years。我們一同寫的這首單曲叫「xxxx xx xxxxxx」。希望這是我的下一首單曲，也喜望他會是我生涯上的一個大亮點。)

Q13: To conclude it all, do you have any words you want to say to Taiwanese fans?

(你有什麼想對台灣粉絲說的話嗎？)

tyDi: It sounds cliché but I always want to thank my fans here in Taiwan because this is my fourth time here. The fans are dedicated, the only reason people keep bringing me back is because people come to my show. Without my fans I wouldn’t be coming to this beautiful country. So it’s always a thank you to everyone who takes the time to come to my shows and who believes in my music. That’s what keeps my dream lifestyle going. So it’s a thank you!

(這聽起來很八股但是我還是要感謝在台灣的粉絲，尤其在我第四次的表演中。這裏的粉絲非常投入，這也是我為何一來再來。如果沒有這些粉絲，我不會有這個機會多次拜訪這個美麗的國家。一言以蔽之，謝謝大家願意撥空參加我的演出並且相信我的音樂。我的夢想構築在你們的支持上，謝謝你們！)

PS: tyDi is a cigar fan. 泰迪非常喜歡抽雪茄