Sono passati oramai più di 10 anni da quando il giovane Tim, studente di musica alla WU University, decise di creare un suo personale radio show per dare libero sfogo a remote e viscerali passioni musicali. Dieci anni dopo Tim si è fatto uomo, è diventato uno dei più famosi e rispettati DJ della scena Newyorkese, il suo Beats in Space è tappa fissa per milioni di appassionati ed ha ospitato artisti del calibro di Nicolas Jaar, Bicep , DJ Harvey ed è proprietario di una label, la BIS Rec.
Lo abbiamo incontrato in occasione di una sua data romana, ospite degli amici dell’L-Ektrica in compagnia del buon Rodion e del messicano La Royale, dove Tim ha messo su un djset di livello altissimo, spaziando da Kink che remixa Matthew Dear, a Mickey, e finendo con lo splendido edit di Timo Maas su Enjoy The Silence che porta di diritto i nostri pollici su. Ci teniamo a ringraziare pubblicamente l’organizzazione de L-Ektrica per la splendida accoglienza e disponibilità mostrataci ,oltre che per il party coi fiocchi messo su in attesa dello Spring Attitude Festival. Big Big Up!
Hi Tim, nice to meet you! As usually we do, I ask you to intoduce yourself to our readers.
Hi! Thank you for the interview, it’s great to be in Italy, especially in Rome (it’s beautiful). I’m Tim Sweeney and I do the BIS in NY since september of 1999. I started when I arrived in NY , I was 18 and I never missed a week. Now I have the BIS Rec label and go all around the world to djing.
You are now at the #666 episode of your weekly radio show, but how did your genius mind give birth to this idea?
Well, when i was in High School I played on a couple college radio station and I really loved the idea of a radio where you can pratice the djing without the pressure of the dancefloor, so when I was in WU (NY University) where I studied music, I said “Ehy, I want to start a radio show!”. From the beginning I wanted to have different styles and focus on good quality music, even if my radio changed style in the time I always looked for good quality (what I think is good ahaha).
I am really fascinated by your Beats In Space show, would you tell us any tips from the backstage or the making of?
I invite some djs to come in, i usually meet them half hour before the show (about 10:00 pm) and I record all with a little hand-recorder; after 10:30 pm all is recorded live from NYC. I also broadcast online live, everyone usually listens to the show the next day, so I usually record all in a hard drive and at home i split the show in 3 parts . After I put it online on my website and on Soundcloud where people usually hear, but technically we have turntables, mixers , cd players and mic.
Have you ever thought to record a video of the show?
Yes, I tried once before, but i think that’s not really interesting to film in the radio station beacuse it’s not a party. I still like that the people imagine what happens in the station.
Your career is inevitably linked to your radio show. What is your BIS dream guest list?
There are a lot of people I want to have in the show. I always wanted to invite djs from Detroit as Moodyman, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Jeff Mills, Levon Vincent, there are so many people I’d really want in the show. For all these guys I tried but it’s very difficult.
The entry into the DFA roster gave a strong boost to your career. How did you get in touch with this prestigious label?
When I was in WU and I studied music, I was a studio assistant for James Murphy of DFA. I was helping him in the studio when I made his first DFA remix and productions and I was helping him in everything so in few time I enter in DFA family. I djed with everyone, and I’m on the DFA mix on magazines: this really helped my carreer because I’m representin’ the NY sound, and when DFA blows up, I can have all their previews and releases in my show.
Not many people know that you worked as supervisor of the soundtrack of the videogame GTA San Andreas. What kind of experience was it for you?
I think that working at GTA was great , because before GTA San Andreas there was GTA Vice City and after the success of this videogame everyone wanted a good soundtrack for San Andreas. It was a big deal and, because i was already spreading a lot of good music to people,when they asked me to make this I thought it would have been a great opportunity to get amazing music out for millions of people. For me it was very funny , it was a full learning experience, i found all kind of music, searched for the best music in different zones and different situations: techno, hip hop, house music. I would try to repeat that experience again.
