Sounddesign endavours

For the last weeks I've been working full time on a soundset for the Alchemy Synthesizer/Sampler only using samples I made from a Framedrum which I got some weeks ago. I'm totally amazed about the huge variety of sounds I got out of this drum, I thought I knew it all but with each project I seem to fall deeper into this wonderland of sounds...

All sounds you can hear in the demos below were made entirely from original Framedrum samples, nothing else - 100% Alchemy:

Doktrin der Ruhe - orchestral work - live recording of the premiere

Here is the live recording of my orchestral work "Doktrin der Ruhe" for symphony orchestra, sampler and live-electronics which was performed on Octobre 27 - 2012 by the Hamburger Symphoniker orchestra in the big hall of the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg/Germany.

I only used 2 mics for the recording, did my best to pimp up the sound quality but it still sounds a bit far away, anyway the music is audible:

Aftermath

Here is a Halloween inspired Soundscape for you:

Back home...

The concert last Saturday was a great success. The premiere of my piece Doktrin der Ruhe was performed really well by the orchestra, they played it expressivley and full of dedication, some of the more difficult parts were a bit off, but I can live with that.

In the last part of the concert named "Felder" (fields) my brother Markus and I experimented with improvising together with the orchestra, we had written out 4 smaller composed "Felder" and in between my brother conducted the impro using dedicated hand signs for various textural things. I processed the orchestral sounds with various Plug-Ins and the electronic sounds were flying through the  hall adding a surreal element to all of this.

Then in the end my brother and I took over the impro and improvised together (me sitting at the mixing desk in the hall with my keyboards) which we hadn't done for almost 10 years, and at some points he brought the orchestra back into the impro.

The audience was amazed by all of this and the final applause was enthusiastic, warm and quite long.

Final applause...

some rehearsal pics

This is a waggon full of technical equipment we need for the quadrophonic amplification of the live-electronics, which process the sounds of the orchestra. They just roll it into the hall, connect the cables, setup the Mixer, install the speakers and we're ready to go - the only solution if you don't have the time to setup things in a normal manner due to the overbooking of the only concert hall in Hamburg:

71 musicians and a conductor (Jules Buckley) on one stage during the first rehearsal of my orchestral piece Doktrin der Ruhe (Doctrine of Calmness):

Concert in Hamburg

The rehearsals for the big concert next Saturday in Hamburg with the Hamburger Symphoniker orchestra have started, this afternoon we will rehearse my orchestral piece Doktrin der Ruhe for the first time and I'm pretty excited about that. I will try to take some photos during the afternoon and post them here.

Audio Teaser for my orchestral piece "Doktrin der Ruhe" (Doctrine of Calmness) produced entirely with virtual instruments which is premiered in on the 27th of Octobre 2012 with the Hamburger Symphoniker orchestra.
It's a 40-minute long composition for symphony orchestra, sampler and live electronics.

It'll be fun, I'm almost finished with writing out all the parts, an insane amount of work...

Minimal Nightmare Video Trailer

After meeting with the video artist for Minimal Nightmare - Aron Kitzig - today, we decided to publish a little teaser:

Minimal Nightmare Live

The first project Minimal Nightmare of my artist-in-residence with the Hamburger Symphoniker-orchestra has now been composed and arranged, rehearsals are starting this week, first with the band featuring Christian Weidner on Altosax, Ketan Bhatti on drums/percussion, Hannes Hüfken on bass, myself doing the live-electronics/synths/samplers and conducting and then at the end of August we will all meet in Hamburg, 16 string players from the orchestra, the band, myself and the video artist Aron Kitzig and bring this act together.

The gig is open air in a very special environment:
Cemetery Hamburg-Ohlsdorf at 10 pm on Septembre 1st - don't miss it!

Here is a little Audio Teaser produced with virtual/sampled instruments, to hear the real thing you'll have to attend the live concert.

Here is an interview I did with AAS who released my second soundset for a synthesizer named Chromaphone today.
The interview is also about my life and music in general so it could be of interest to a broader audience.

Artist in Residence...

During the next season beginning in Septembre 2012 my brother Markus and I will be artists in residence with the Hamburger Symphoniker-orchestra. Since 2 months I am composing a big orchestral piece which will be premiered on Octobre 27. It will be combining the orchestra with live-electronics and a sampler player. It's my first piece for big orchestra and I am really excited about this as a strong wish is finally becoming reality.
The first project for me though is being staged open air on Septembre 1st, music from my album Minimal Nightmare and some new pieces arranged and extended for a 4-piece band (including myself) and string orchestra with players from the orchestra. The band will feature Christian Weidner on Alto Sax, Ketan Bhatti on drums and Hannes Huefken on electric bass.
Then there will be a sound-installation including some orchestral live-musicians and a project with an actress (my wife Andrea), an actor (my old friend David Bennent), a great singer (Katja Stuber), two musicians from the orchestra and some live-electronics.
For next year I will be writing a Flugelhorn-concerto for my brother Markus (whose Flugelhorn playing I've always adored) and a chamber ensemble mainly including brass and wind instruments, myself again contributing some live-electronics.

Lot's of stuff to write and explore....

Progressions

Another track of the moment: Progressions

New track: Drowned

Here is a new track from the more hidden regions of my brain...