GRAMMY-nominated DJ/producer Paul van Dyk visited The Recording Academy's headquarters in Santa Monica, Calif., to participate in an exclusive GRAMMY.com interview. Van Dyk shared how hearing the Smiths as a child inspired him to pursue music, how the fast pace of today's music industry has altered his remixing process and his latest album, The Politics Of Dancing 3, among other topics.  

"With Politics Of Dancing 3, the music industry has changed so much, and everything is so much faster," said van Dyk. "[Now] nobody's actually sending me music seven or eight months in advance in order for me to have enough time to then remix it and put it together. So instead of taking other people's music, I just went to the studio with the people that I would've chosen to be part of the project anyway."

Berlin native van Dyk released his debut studio album, 45 RPM, in 1994. He followed with a string of albums including 1996's Seven Ways, 2000's Out There And Back, which cracked the Billboard 200, and 2003's Reflections. The latter album garnered van Dyk a GRAMMY nomination for Best Electronic/Dance Album and peaked at No. 3 on Billboard's Top Electronic Albums chart.

In 2001 van Dyk released his first mix album, The Politics Of Dancing. The second installment of the mix series was released in 2005, landing at No. 5 on the Electronics Albums chart. Released in May, The Politics Of Dancing 3 spans 14 tracks, including "Lights," "My World" and "Follow Me." The album features collaborations with artists such as FKN, Jahala, Sue McLaren, and Stoneface, among others, and peaked at No. 8 on the Electronic Albums chart.

In addition to DJing, van Dyk has produced music for video games, TV shows and films such as The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants and The Dark Night, among others.

Van Dyk is currently on an international tour, with dates scheduled through December.