We had the good fortune of connecting with Tim Janssens and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tim, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I don’t really think about risks, life is short, and either you chase your dreams or you don’t. Most people even get afraid when they get close to success. I started my music career in Belgium, and never really had any success there until I started approaching labels in other countries. We are talking late 90’s, so using internet to promote your music wasn’t really a big thing yet. And it wasn’t until radio stations in Belgium thought I was from another country (under my Sunfreakz artist name and signed with big name labels) that they started to play my music too. And after a successful music career in Europe I moved to LA to start a career as a movie composer and now also a music video director.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
When I started out as a composer/producer, I would have artists come in my studio and say “I want a song exactly like this” and they would show me one of the current top ten hits. This never worked and they got no where fast. I always try to tell them “be original, that is the only way to stand out”. I got my first success by using distortion on synthesisers, like Jan Hammer. All the Belgian record labels hated it, so I sent it to labels in other countries and they loved it. BBC radio picked up on my sound and thats how it started for me. After that the labels of major artists wanted to use my sound and I did many remixes for people like Ne-Yo and Nelly Furtado. I also got into directing my own music videos, since labels would charge a lot. For the price of one shoot I would be able to buy a professional cinema camera myself and do it better then what the labels were providing. I also ventured into movie scoring, which is the reason why I became a composer, growing up listening to Williams, Goldsmith and Horner. I love working with orchestras! And in LA I also got into concert photography, which I really love doing!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I always take my friends for a hike, and a bike trip along the Marvin Braude bike trail. Sadly the food in LA is not as good as in Belgium ;-).

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My mother always supported me 110%. She let me go study music in Antwerp when I was 18 and has been my biggest fan ever since. Also moving to LA, I really didn’t know that many people here, but now I have all these amazing friends like Chuck Wright, Mari Kawaguchi and many more. The music scene in LA is very friendly and so talented.

Website: https://www.timjanssens.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timjanssensofficial

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TimJanssensMusic/videos

Image Credits
Tim Janssens

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