Interview with The Wimshurst’s Machine (Augusto Chiarle)

The Wimshurst’s Machine is an award-winning 8-member Italian chillout orchestra that plays warm, infectious, environmental music. They are: Augusto Chiarle - sax and synths, Antonio Rapacciuolo - trumpet and cornet, Massimiliano Baudissard – acoustic drums, Roberto Canone  - sax, clarinet and keyboards, Daniele Scerra – electric guitar and visual arts, Fabio Rodi – keyboards and synths, Elvis Bergero – keyboards, and Duilio Chiarle – novels, acoustic and classical guitars. Seamlessly crossing between rock, jazz, world beat and progressive electronica TWM produce themes ideal for big-screen productions. According to co-founder and manager, Augusto Chiarle, The Wimshurst’s Machine is a steampunk project developed between friends and colleagues with little time to play together in person. Thanks to modern computer technology and software packages such as Propellerhead Reason, Apple Garage Band, Symphonic Orchestra, Sound Studio Pro and Apple Soundtrack, members of the band play together and record material even when living apart. 

1. How and why did you decide on the name The Wimshurst’s Machine?

Back in 2003, my friend Fabio and I just started to think about a music project and while talking in a pub a friend mentioned this old generator from the 18^th century. I was really charmed by it, what a shame it’s such a hard name to remember. But now we are TWM and the name will stay as it is.

Fabio & Augusto

2. What is your definition of ‘Steampunk’ and how does it relate to The Wimshurst’s Machine?

Fantasy and Science Fiction are always an essential part of our albums. If you have something serious to tell, you may also do it while entertaining - just as H.G. Wells and other great writers did. Our 'steampunk' gets inspiration from the early 20^th century, mixed with some more modern science fiction. Some call the subgenre “dieselpunk” or “raygun”; we do not mind if it is steam, diesel or ray, we like steampunk in itself, all included. The main idea came from two sources: 1st, the band name. Back in 2003 we chose to name the band after a very steampunk item, one of the very 1st electric generators created by mankind. And 2nd: we always loved the fantastic mix of modernity and retro-styled fashion of certain types of science fiction. That was already the perfect combination, even if the stage costumes only came in late 2010 due to our low budget.

Steam

3. Why did you choose to create electro-acoustic music, and what do you hope to give to your listeners?

The music genre came by itself. We played what we enjoyed to listen to. It’s easier to believe in your music if you like what you play. To the people who buy our CDs, we try to give more than just a collection of good tracks or good songs; we try to build soundtracks for written stories. Every studio album is a concept-album, with a story available as a short novel - Time Traveller (2007), or Thunder & Lightning (2010), or as a podcast - The Alchemist (2005), and A Traveller Who Didn’t Ask For Glory (2004). Often they are available as free downloads from the band’s website. Next to be released is an album, which includes an entire book as a booklet - we’re already working on it. So far, band member Duilio Chiarle, a professional writer with several important awards in his career, has written all the stories. Our Cover art changes, but in Time Traveller (2007) we had a full booklet with great illustrations by our other guitarist, Daniele Scerra - great and talented artist; his illustrations were featured in hundreds of books around the world, particularly Italy, France and Germany.

Breathe

4. Tell us about your latest album, Breathe.

Breathe is a live album, our first live album. We like to do something new for every CD project - a new road to explore. The CD is not of a single concert, but a compilation of previously unreleased tracks, played in live jams, recorded between 2010 and 2011. We created a lot of electronic music in the past, so “Breathe” is also a way to say: “You see, we do play live; and we do like to jam. Our music is not just computer-generated.” We also went for the jam sessions because we wanted to give our listeners all new tracks. In Breathe, you’ll find new age, ambient and soft electronica. I believe it is a very good album, which also features the great cover art and photography of the talented Italian photographer, Natalia Ghiani.

5. Is there an underlying theme or message in your work? 

Always. Music is the only thing that has no race, no country, no boundaries and no social differences. We can all be brothers and sisters in music, no matter what. So our motto is: “Music for a better world.” We also give charity donations of 50% of our earnings from music. Unfortunately, it is never enough.

Time Traveller

6. Which musicians have influenced you the most, and how?

Personally, when I was a teen, Mike Oldfield and The Alan Parsons Project mostly influenced me; both for the soft electronic style and also for concept-disc projects. When I heard albums such as Crises or I Robot, I was immersed in a story narrated by music - this charmed me the most. Other TWM band members have different influences. For example: with Fabio, it’s Depeche Mode and Jean-Michel Jarre. With Elvis, it’s classical music, and for Roberto and Tony it’s jazz.

7. Tell us about the Hollywood Music in Media Awards.

This will be the third year in a row we got a nomination in that contest. To be there, interviewed by TV and magazines while you walk on a red carpet, is a great thing. The first year, I went alone and had a lot of fun. Last year, three of us were there and I had even more fun, especially meeting so many talented musicians from around the world, and from every imaginable musical genre. This year, I believe we will be three or even four, and I’m looking forward to it once again. A fun and interesting experience that satisfies the ego and gives some reward for the effort involved in composing music, which is never an easy task. The opportunity to meet new musicians from around the world is magic.

Thunder and Lightning

8. What do you find most rewarding in the creative process?

When you create something, it’s like having a new baby. What you’ve created is not completely yours anymore and, somehow, it starts a new life by itself. But, it gives you a good feeling. The same feeling you get when you find a good story, or read a good book. It’s somehow an expression of yourself, a slight bit of you that vibrates in the air.

9. What do you find most challenging in the creative process, and how do you overcome it?

If you want to create something good, you have to be ready to work a lot.  And, regardless of how painful it is, accept that perfection is impossible. So, when the moment comes, you have to be prepared to say, “OK, it’s good enough.” Or you will never complete anything. Saying that something is ‘good enough’ is always a difficult compromise. To compose, we let just let things flow out. So far, during the years, just a couple of us have experienced a pause in the creative flow. But, as there are many of us in the band who compose, they regained it along the way, well before it could become a real problem for the whole band. For one of us, this lasted two years before everything finally returned to normal and was fine. As with everything in life, there are times the ‘real world’ makes you loose your grip on creativity; but creativity is also a cure for the crudeness of the ‘real world’. You have to manage somehow and find a good balance between things; but it isn’t always easy and varies from person to person. At least, I noticed that it is different for each member of TWM, even if seven people don’t count in terms of statistics.

10. What have you done to promote and market your music, and what advice would you give to other artists?

An independent label distributes us; this is less remunerative, but gives us more freedom. And I like freedom, so I don’t mind earning less money. To promote our music, we mainly use podcasts, websites and Internet radio stations. Our current label, the British label, Astranova, does our promotion; but mainly, we built our own image by ourselves and are trying to gain exposure through the Internet. My advice is: if you want to go for your own artistic expression, be ready to work as bartenders, masons or whatever is necessary while you make your music in your free time. So, if and when success comes, it comes with your own rules. If you like to play cover songs or dancehall or mainstream music, well, this advice may not be for you. But it works for me, as I like to be free to play what I like the most. Oh, and don’t be in a hurry. Success comes when you do not expect it, and seldom without a great bunch of work.

Aquarius

11. Who, do you imagine, would be your ideal listener?

I believe, anybody who loves steampunk, concept-albums and the fantastic. We have also released a couple of collections: Freedom Lights (2006), and Aquarius (2009) that can be enjoyed by an even wider audience and are also featured in some chillout bars around the world. So, you see, we like to be free but at the same time we do not fill our CDs with intellectual exercises - we decided to put a limit of two ‘experimental tracks’ for every twenty.

12. What aspirations, or reservations, do you have regarding your music being used in film and television?

Our music was born to be a soundtrack. Actually, we’ve already scored several movies, documentaries and stage plays. Our best placements were: The Quiet Assassin directed by Alex Hardcastle for Channel 4, back in 2006, which used our Freedom Calls as the main title theme, and the Italian movies Avanti, sempre avanti and Polesine, where we scored the entire movies. We love to listen to our music as a soundtrack, be it for a movie, a stage play, a documentary or a novel.

13. Where can we find you and your work?

Official Website

CD Baby

iTunes

Amazon

Interview with Synergy (Larry Fast)

Larry Fast is a synthesiser expert and composer, best known for his series of pioneering electronic music albums recorded under the project name Synergy. He is also known for his work with Peter Gabriel; playing synthesiser on records and on tour, and rounding out the production team on many of Peter's albums for nearly a decade. Larry has also worked with Rick Wakeman and Yes, Foreigner, Hall and Oates, Bonnie Tyler, Wendy Carlos, Tony Levin, Nektar, Iam Siam, Annie Haslam and others. He also contributed music to the Carl Sagan 1980 television program Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, and created the soundtrack for the 1982 film The Jupiter Menace.

1. You are one of the pioneers of electronic music. How did you enter, what was once, one of the most exclusive worlds in modern music?

It really started happening for me in the late 1960s. I had been an electronic experimenter since I was a kid, building and wiring things since I soldered my first wires together in the late 1950s. I also loved listening to music and took lessons on violin and piano, and later self-taught myself guitar and bass. Couple that with hi-fi and stereo, tape recording and the various aspects of audio circuitry and I was primed for electronic music. When the Moog products evolved into instrument systems from individual modules between 1964 and 1967, I wanted to own some of them. But still in school at that time, there was no way I could afford those thousands of dollars. So I started building my own devices. Some from circuits I found in technical magazines and others that I developed myself from classic oscillator and filter circuits. One of my first oscillators was a modified Morse code practice oscillator.

By the early 70s I was building electronic devices for other musicians such as Rick Wakeman from Yes.

But I had also started to write and record, to satisfy my own creative leanings. And by then had managed to scrape together enough money to buy some genuine Moog instruments, which were superior to my own designs and construction. I used the combination of Moog and my own equipment to work with bands and on my own. After a short-lived band experience I was offered a record deal in 1974 for what would become the Synergy solo electronic project.

Electronic Realizations for Rock Orchestra

2. How and why did you choose the name ‘Synergy’?

I was looking for a project name to hide behind - a sort of fictional band. Reading Buck Minster Fuller's Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth there was a chapter called Synergy. He was describing the combined effects observed in metallurgy, chemistry and environmental sciences. But the word did apply to the effects I had observed in multi-track audio recording. And it sounded a bit like "synthesizer", so I appropriated the then-obscure term for my project. Now, about forty years later, it is a much-overused mainstream term.

3. In my opinion, Electronic Realizations for Rock Orchestra is one of the most innovative and important recordings of the 20^th Century. Tell us about the development of this album, and the technology you employed to produce it.

The earliest form of the album started shaping up as a senior thesis piece in my 20th Century Composition course at college. There is an entire section of the appropriately named Legacy piece, which was written for that course. Slaughter On Tenth Avenue was a piece that I had performed on piano as a student in junior high school. It struck me a decade later, as something that would translate well into the electronic genre. Other pieces evolved from writing sessions with a short-lived band I had on a development deal with Warner Bros. Records, which didn't pan out, and things I wrote after that band broke up.

Soon after that I signed as a solo artist to Passport Records and began putting the album together in preproduction. The technology was fairly standard for the time.  Much of it is listed in the album credits. I used Moog instruments, which on that early album was mostly Minimoog along with modules from Oberheim and 360 Systems. Recording was quite conventional 16-track to 2-inch tape with dbx noise reduction. Mixing was done in both quad and stereo. The original quad mix is encoded in the stereo mix, though the quad fad of the 1970s soon faded so few people have heard the old surround mix. The original release was on the available formats of the day which were vinyl, cassette and 8-track. There was even a quad 8-track format released in very limited numbers.

Peter Gabriel Tour, 1977

4. Tell us about your work with Peter Gabriel and others.

That is a huge topic covering more than five albums and almost a decade with Peter Gabriel alone. Session work and touring with other acts has never really stopped, but was a fairly consistent 35-year-run with so many recording dates that I can't even remember all of them anymore. Without a specific question it's difficult to know where to even begin. For the years 1976 through 1985 or so, the recording and touring cycle with Peter Gabriel was fairly constant. Many of the other recordings that I worked on like Foreigner, Hall & Oates, Bonnie Tyler and others were slotted in when there were breaks in the Gabriel schedule. After that, it was easier to get involved in special projects.

One of the most interesting projects was working with Wendy Carlos in 1997 on the live version of Switched On Bach performance at a Bach festival in New York. It was the first time that the classic 1967 album had been performed live by a synthesizer ensemble. It took months of work and was the finest all-synthesizer group that I have ever performed with. That kind of work was so different from the many rock tours that I have done that it really stands out in my experiences.

Cords

Sequencer

5. You have designed listening devices for the hearing disabled; and you own several patents for optical distribution using infrared audio technologies. Has this expertise helped you with your career in music, and if so, how?

In reality, it's the other way around. The technologies that underlie audio in the studio and synthesis are all about quality sound. For people with hearing losses, finding ways to compensate for their hearing through technology is very much related. I had already spent several decades exploring the nuances of audio circuit designs so it was not a big leap when I was charged with finding some new solutions to problems in accommodating those people with hearing losses covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act.  

The only aspect that was new to me was getting up to speed on transmitting audio over infrared light. But even that was not all that much different from the design of blinking LEDs that I had incorporated into a lot of my sequencers and computer interfaces for analog synthesizers. The one irony out of the whole exercise was that in all of my earlier years developing specialized synthesizer modules, nothing I had developed was clearly patentable. The changes that I brought into infrared assistive listening, a small side project, was patent-ready on multiple counts.

Games

6. Tell us about your new Synergy album. Why have you chosen to return to the Synergy project, after over 20 years, and what do you hope to give to your listeners?

There wasn't a conscious decision to stop doing the Synergy recordings. It was more a matter of economics. The record business has always been notoriously unstable and to some degree untrustworthy. Over the years, I found myself getting more commissions to work on corporate projects and in broadcast media, which took up as much, if not more, time to execute on a per-project basis. That left little time for making records just for art sake. That, coupled with the bankruptcy of the label I had been originally signed to, and a protracted fight to get the rights to the Synergy catalog back, put new Synergy recordings on hold for quite a while. 

What has happened recently, is that at my current stage in life (older) I can back off on the outside projects a bit. And in the current extended recession, there aren't as many commissioned projects as there once were, either. So that opens up some time for me to indulge in the Synergy project experimentation again.

The listeners are along for the ride, because I can't predict exactly where it will take us or even when it will be completed. I do know that the recordings will be high-bit audiophile digital masters, which will be down-converted to regular CDs and of course compressed audio for download sales and streaming. However, I'm actively pursuing the best way to make the audiophile versions available to the general public and in what formats. I'd also like to do 5.1 surround versions of the final mixes. I expect that I'll use many of the same creative tools, which these days focus heavily on software synthesis tools.

7. Is there an underlying theme or message in your work?

No, not really. You might pick up something from a title here and there, but I like the music to stand on its own, conveying spaces and emotions non-verbally. And even that tends to be "fiction" without a specific storyline. Think of it more as a soundtrack that doesn't have a movie attached to it.

Metropolitan Suite

8. Of the music you’ve created, is there one piece that you are particularly proud of? If so, why this particular work?

So far, the Metropolitan Suite is the most integrated collection of my earlier works. But it is very hard to have a single favorite piece. At the time any one of the Synergy pieces is being written, it is my favorite piece in the world. If it wasn't, why would I even bother to keep working on it? But after any collection is finished, some of the pieces just work better than others. And sometimes that is completely unexpected.  

The pieces I've created over the decades are so different from each other that various aspects of different pieces have strengths that are more appropriate for different listeners and in different settings. So no one piece could ever be my universal favorite for all times.

9. What do you find most rewarding in the creative process, and how do you overcome that which you find challenging?

I never quite know where the creative process is going to take me. I sometimes have a starting point with a rough idea of where I want to explore. Setting up some parameters of tempo, feel, texture and so on, gives me the beginnings of structure. Often I'll also have some kind of melodic hook or partial melody to get me started. And then it's off to that mysterious place in the creative thought process where ideas come together. I'm constantly switching between programming, arranging, writing and rewriting parts. These days it is all integrated into an ongoing recording process in the computer. Even the mixing is roughed in at this point, as the piece develops. The simultaneous job functions are somewhat of a departure from the analog days where there was a writing phase along with programming sounds on the synthesizers. But other than rough sketches on a 4-track recorder, there wasn't a whole lot more that could be done outside of the studio other than plan and note things like patch setups and the settings on the outboard equipment. Then, after all of the preparation, there was a distinct master recording phase onto multitrack tape, and then another period of time where recording was finished and locked, and mixing could begin. And the mastering for LP manufacturing.

Now many of these phases occur as part of one continuous process with the ability to revisit individual notes on any one part and make a quick change after the mix and mastering have been done on a first or second pass. I find that work sessions will last many hours with intense concentration, which is almost like going into some kind of zone. A lot gets done to move any production forward during that process. But sometimes I will hit an impasse where I can't decide which path to take, or I find that I'm unable to make some kind of decision about a musical part or a mix level or the sound of a patch. And I find it best to just leave it all for a while and stop working on it. Hearing it fresh an hour later, or a day or two later, usually makes the resolution of whatever the problem was become obvious. Often the right path is easy to get to, but if it won't resolve, then there is probably some kind of fundamental problem with the decisions that I've been making, which need to be revisited. At those points, the best thing to do is to go back a few or more steps in the process and try to re-imagine an alternate way to make the production evolve.

Computer Experiments, Vol. 1

Audion

10. What advice would you give to someone considering a career producing electronic music?

That is a difficult question because I’m not really sure that electronic music in the sense that I started working in even exists as a meaningful genre anymore. What is now called electronic music is more of a dance and beat genre using laptop software, dedicated devices and other tools, which evolved from the work done forty plus years ago. But what used to be electronic music, a composer and technologist's medium, was always a very small group of people and to some extent with limited opportunities.

My advice would be more universal to anyone considering working in the music business. Know your craft and be as good at it as you can be. Have high standards and specific artistic and business goals. And especially, learn the business side and have a good lawyer you can trust. The music business changes every week and if you don't understand how you are going to get paid for all of your hard creative work, then it's just a hobby.

Tony Levin Band, Seattle

11. Evolution is an inherent facet of modern music. What new developments are you aware of, with regards to the application of technology in electronic music production?

Of course there are always some new developments in the evolution of sound technology, but what I'm seeing now in many ways is the commercialization and affordability of many of the concepts that I was fortunate enough to experience in the mid 1970s and 80s at Bell Laboratories. The underlying technologies and concepts of digital sound and synthesis were being developed back then. But it was extraordinarily expensive and time consuming. What we're seeing now is the evolution of those ideas to become available at consumer prices and on standard computers, pads and phones. And that allows further evolution of the user interface and development of ways to use underlying audio technologies in creative new ways that are a part of the social evolution of digital music. That encompasses everything from how the music is created to the many ways that digital music is distributed.

The Jupiter Menace

12. My earliest memory of your music is from Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. I also have the soundtrack for The Jupiter Menace. What aspirations, or reservations, do you have regarding the continued use of your music in film and television?

Most of the last few decades when I have been out of the direct public eye has been spent working in broadcast media, TV, radio, advertising and special projects related to film and scoring. Being based on the east coast that tends to be a bit more anonymous than working on Hollywood projects. But I have almost no reservations about either licensing my existing work for these kinds of uses or accepting commissions to create new music in these same fields. I have probably written and recorded more commissioned work over the last 20 years than all of the earlier Synergy albums combined. As a purely economic matter for the working electronic musician as the established record industry continues to unravel, these alternative media provide a much-needed economic base to replace what the record companies once provided.

13. Tell us a little about any good electronic music you’ve heard recently.

I don't listen to music much, so I can't comment on anything new. After spending time in the studio, I find myself listening to news and talk radio in the car and watching TV in my downtime at home (or on the computer while travelling). I do keep some of Wendy Carlos' classic pieces and a lot of Beatles in my iTunes collection to remind me to keep my standards high. Those works, the earliest of which are nearly a half-century old, really defined production values, composition and in Wendy's case (as well as some later Beatles pieces on Abbey Road) the purest essence of Moog-based synthesis.

14. Tell us about your interest in photography.

That's been a hobby since I was very small. I've been documenting phases of my life, and where I've been, since I was in single digits. That's my historian side.  There's also the visual artist side, which I also express through photography. Of course for the last 15 years or so I've given up most of my darkroom work and use digital cameras and photo software.

It was only natural that I'd have a hand in both photographing some of my album art and working closely with the art directors and photographers that they brought into the projects.

Reconstructed Artifacts

Semi-Conductor

15. Describe ‘Synergy’ in one sentence.

The sum is greater than the whole of the parts.

16. Where can we find you and your work?

It is all available on iTunes as well and a number of major online download sites.  Physical CDs of some of the titles can be found on CD Baby (www.cdbaby.com).  As of this writing there are some changes underway in the distribution of the rest of the Synergy titles on CD so the best thing to do is check the updated information on the Synergy website:  www.synergy-emusic.com.

Interview with Johannes Roussel

Johannes Roussel was born in 1963. He has been a project designer, working in the research and development department of companies that manufactured home appliances. Later, he moved to marketing, within this industry, as a product manager. He published his first comic book in 1989, but only started his career as a comic book artist in 2003. His early work, in this field, was set in the British navy at the end of the 18th century. He describes it as being of the same genre as the movie ‘Master and Commander’, and the novels the movie is adapted from. His latest comics are about car racing in the 1960s.

1. Tell us about your latest album.

My last album is always my next album. I used to issue a new album every two years but my last album is from 2006. I am working on a new project, and as I composed I found out there were some tracks with a strong vintage flavour. So I decided to split the project in two albums, with the vintage one that will be called ‘Time’. I hope to polish all the tracks and release this vintage project before the end of this year. I recently uploaded a track from this new project, entitled 'Steps', on Soundclick.

2. Why did you choose to create ambient electronic music, and what do you hope to give to your listeners?

I didn’t choose to create ambient electronic music, it just came naturally; I was always attracted to electronic music. This began in the seventies when I first listened to Pink Floyd, Klaus Schulze, Kraftwerk, Tomita, Terry Riley and others.

3. Of the music you’ve created, do you have a favourite? If so, why this particular work?

Art is somehow very frustrating. I am not very satisfied with what I have created so far, and I think creation is a race to an unreachable perfection.  When I work on a piece, I spend a lot of time polishing, mixing and perfecting; but eventually, I must give up and let the baby go as it is.

4. How is creating electronic music different from creating acoustic forms?

I have no experience in creating acoustic music. I once played in a band where I had the only electronic instrument, but I was not involved in composing the music we played. I think electronic music, as it is now made with the help of the computer, gives you an incredible flexibility and the ability to make mistakes and experiment. Composing and producing electronic music was always a dream. The equipment was very expensive. Instruments were high priced and not very versatile, and you also had to buy the recording equipment and the effects. Now you can have all the equipment you need, included on your computer, almost for free. I started to compose when Soundblaster provided Midi compatible soundcards with integrated virtual synths. They started to promote their own sample format called ‘soundfonts’. I started to play with those soundfonts and created a lot of my own. I still have them on my webpage available for download. But this technology had some flaws. Midi was not a very versatile technology, soundfonts had their problems too, and computer performance was very often an issue. For me, it really started when SynapseAudio released their first version of Orion. I downloaded the demo version, and after a few hours I had composed my first track; and it was far better than everything I had composed before. The software is so intuitive that I felt it had been programmed just for me. For the first time, you had a virtual all-equipped studio. Recording, mixing, effects and synths, all included in a cheap package.

5. What have you done to promote and market your music, and what advice would you give to other artists?

I began composing my music at a time when the Internet was just beginning to provide music in the new mp3 format. I began promoting my music on mp3.com. A few months later, I was the most listened to French artist, and in the top 10, in electronic music. I had 1.2 million plays and downloads on mp3.com, before the website closed in 2003. Now I have reached 170000 plays on Soundclick, where I have my music hosted. It was easier to promote your music ten years ago. There were very few community sites, and enthusiasts hosted them. Now there are so many sites available, for you to listen to free music that your chances of being listened to are close to zero. If you want to promote your music today, I would suggest that you play your music live, and create a dedicated channel on YouTube.

6. What aspirations, or reservations, do you have regarding your music being used in film and television?

I was asked a few times to have my music used for free in small productions. I always accepted, that’s not a problem for me.

7. Tell us a little about any good electronic music you’ve heard recently.

I can suggest some artists I discovered recently:

Thomas Dvorak and the awesome soundtrack he composed for the game, ‘Machinarium’.

Ulrich Schnauss composes very dreamy music. He has a very distinctive style.

Muadhib is a French musician I discovered recently. I also discovered that he lives in the same region as I do.

Cameron Lasswell. Not only electronic but also jazzy.

Monkeybacon. Half electronic and half acoustic, with vintage textures.

I have two electronic stations on Soundclick where you can listen to music I have selected:

X-eption 1

X-eption 2 

8. What do you do when you’re not creating electronic music?

I am a comic book artist; when I don’t compose, I draw.

9. Where can we find you, and your work?

You can listen to my tracks on Soundclick. And you can purchase my albums on my webpage: http://johannes.fr

Interview with Bryan El

Born in West-Flanders, Belgium, Bryan had a passion for music ever since he was a kid. A few of Bryan’s biggest influences are Delerium, Vangelis, Sleepthief, Amethystium, Jean Michel Jarre, Ryan Farish and ERA. Through them, Bryan discovered the relaxing side of music and began his own experiments with electronic music. A nice example would be my favourite track, ‘Ascension’, from his album ‘Spiritual Evolution’. Bryan studied Graphical Arts at the Holy Technical Institute, Brugge, Belgium. One of his great hobbies is designing graphics for websites, although his passion for music exceeds even his interests in graphics. To Bryan, music is all about harmony, and dreamy symphonies that send you off into another world - hence the title of his album, ‘Out Of This World’. Music is the universal language in which he translates his feelings and shares them with the world.

1. Tell us about your album, ‘Spiritual Evolution’. Why did you choose to create this album, and what do you hope to give to your listeners?

Thanks for the opportunity, Wayne. It's a compilation of a wide variety of emotions, which I'm trying to express through music. While listening, the intensity of these feelings can get so strong that the whole world around you seems to disappear. It elevates your mind and gets you high.  Hence the name ‘Spiritual Evolution.’ It's my intention to relax the listeners so they can get in touch with themselves.

2. Is there an underlying theme or message in your work?

None that needs to be spoken, it is felt instead. I do believe, however, that through the mysterious power of sound, people can reach a state of mind that allows them to bring out the best in themselves. Sometimes I think if everybody could feel what I feel when I hear certain music, there would be no aggression and war in this world - only peace and love.

3. You studied Graphic Arts at Belgium's Holy Technical Institute. Has this helped you with your career in music, and if so, how?

Even without the graphical studies my love for music would be just a strong, although it's a nice advantage if you can create your own website.

4. Of the music you’ve created, do you have a favourite? If so, why this particular work?

Good question.  It’s hard to choose just one.  ‘Solaris’ and ‘Sunburst’ both carry the euphoric feel I love so much.  ‘Ascension’ has also received amazing feedback from listeners.  The fact it touched so many people's hearts, makes it one of my favourites.
My most favourite ones are actually among the songs for my upcoming album, ‘Boundaries of Imagination’.

5. How is creating electronic music different from creating acoustic forms?

Personally, I've never played any acoustic instrument live, although these days any descent synthesiser allows you to use any acoustic instrument electronically. Both have pros and cons, I guess.  Some electronic sounds can't be achieved with a live instrument, and some specific expressions of live instruments are hard to recreate electronically.

6. What do you find most rewarding in the creative process?

That ‘high’ feeling I get when I'm hearing my creation come to life; and, of course, the positive feedback of the people who hear it after that.

7. What do you find most challenging in the creative process, and how did you overcome it?

Keeping enough variation throughout a composition.  You need to tell different parts of a story but it all needs to fit together, and that's not always easy. I have many unfinished projects on my hard disk.  It's not something to overcome, every musician struggles with it now and then, and it can be frustrating at times. The best thing to do at times like that, is to let it rest a few days or months until you find the right moment of inspiration to continue.

8. What have you done to promote and market your music, and what advice would you give to other artists?

My label, AMAdea records, handles my promotion and marketing, so I don't have to go around begging people to listen to my music.  My advice to other independent artists would be to send demos to labels, and make a website to present your music.  There are great websites that allow you to expose your music, like Myspace, Last.FM and online radio stations. But, most importantly, don't spam people about your music - everybody hates spammers! If your music is good, your listeners will do most of the advertising for you.

9. Who, do you imagine, would be your ideal listener?

I believe my music will appeal the most to calm and sensitive people who have an open mind - the dreamers and deep thinkers with a big imagination.

10. What advice would you give to help others build the confidence required to produce electronic music?

Personally, I don't think confidence has anything to do with producing music. The required elements are passion and creativity.  If you love what you do, the sky is the limit.

11. What aspirations, or reservations, do you have regarding your music being used in film and television?

People frequently tell me that my music would be excellent for films; but then again, I'm not a soundtrack composer.  Unlike composers such as Hans Zimmer, Thomas Newman and James Horner, I never know what my project will turn out to be like.
I don't think I could bind my creation to a specific pre-determined theme.  My creativity is much too wild for that.

12. Tell us a little about any good electronic music you’ve heard recently.

I'm in love with Amethystium's latest album, his song, ‘Treasure’ takes me to higher places. And I discovered this jewel of an album by Jon Hopkins called ‘Opescalent’; I'm in awe of its genius. Mike Oldfield's album, ‘Songs Of Distant Earth’ is still among my favourite albums ever composed. Then, of course, I can't get tired of all-time classics like ‘Theme from Antartica’ by Vangelis, and ‘Equinoxe’ by Jean Michel Jarre. But, believe it or not, electronic music is not the only genre I listen to. The list of my favourite pop, rock, trance and dance is so long, I wouldn't know where to begin.


13. What are you doing now?

Answering these questions. Just kidding! I'm currently working on my next album, ‘Boundaries of Imagination’, and I believe it will exceed the intensity of the previous albums. Listeners should prepare themselves for another mind altering experience.

14. Describe ‘Spiritual Evolution’ in one sentence.

A world of intense emotions that can elevate your mind to a higher state of awareness.

15. Where can we find you and your work?

http://www.bryanel.com

Related links:

Myspace
Last.FM
Facebook
YouTube

Interview with Munich Syndrome (David Roundsley)

David Roundsley is a musican and graphic designer who lives in the San Francisco Bay area of California. He started writing and recording under the name ‘Munich Syndrome’ in the late 80s, and released Munich Syndrome’s debut album in 2006. He has also been a creator of web and graphic design for the past 15 years and is currently writing a book detailing his search for his birth parents.

1. How and why did you choose the name ‘Munich Syndrome’?

I went with a friend to see the indi sci-fi movie ‘Android’ when it first came out. The main character is a loveable but flawed android named Max. Max has an affection for listening to music broadcasts from Earth. One night, Max overhears that he is to be decomissioned with his parts used for a new and improved android. Sad, but resigned to his fate, he listens to his last broadcast from Earth to hear that the androids in the city of Munich have risen up against their masters, wanting to be more than part of the machine. They were exhibiting signs of  ‘Munich Syndrome’. This lodged in my brain and four years later when I started writing and doing my first four-track demos,‘Munich Syndrome’ was the only name that really came to me and felt right.

2. Tell us about your latest album, ‘Electronic Ecstasy’.

‘Electronic Ecstasy’ is a continuation/evolution from ‘Electro Pop’. I became more comfortable with the vocoder and wanted to push further into exploring melodicism and harmonies with this release. This also opened the door to revisiting a couple of songs written a while back that I felt needed a more melodic approach than I was able to muster previously.  While keeping the overall sound anchored in a classic analog synth style and ‘electronic’, I also wanted to counterbalance that with lyrics exploring a range of emotions.

3. Why did you choose to create this album, and what do you hope to give to your listeners?

Growing up I was a loner and albums and books were my lifeline and showed me there was a world out there that I could connect and identify with. This album, along with my previous efforts, are my attempt to connect with others and add to a global dialog.

4. Is there an underlying theme or message in your work?

What I would hope comes through is for anyone to be true to themselves and express themselves as openly and honestly as possible.

5. You are also a professional graphic and web designer. Has this helped you with your career in music, and if so, how?

The short answer would be: ‘yes’. I had always played music as a child and tried, off and on over the years, to get a band together (with no success), but never really considered music a possibility. I experimented with early sequencers (with a lot of outboard gear and a very early generation computer; the lag time gave everything an out-of-sync feel that wasn’t acceptable) and four-track recorders; but what I heard in my head and what I was rendering weren’t matching up. My ‘aha’ moment came when I started working first with ProTools and then moved on to Logic where I had a visual representaion for the music.

6. Of music you’ve created, do you have a favourite? If so, why this particular work?

I will have to say Electro Pop is probably my favorite creation (so far). It was the point where I took my sound experiments and refined them into more coherent pop songs. There was more intent and focus on this effort.

7. How is creating electronic music different from creating acoustic forms?

I’d say the difference is the variety of sounds available. When playing an acoustic piano, or other instrument, I’m already at a very well travelled starting point. When I play around with weird noises, sounds or patches, suddenly I’m in a totally different world, and this suggests new paths and ways to progress that I probably wouldn’t have discovered in an acoustic framework.

8. What do you find most rewarding in the creative process?

Dragging anything over the finish line. Seeing a finished product is immensely rewarding.

9. What do you find most challenging in the creative process, and how did you overcome it?

The hardest part for me is making that leap from a glimmer of an idea and moving it forward into something with more form and function. Sadly, I don’t always overcome this. My notes, and my head, are litered with millions of unfinished ideas. Sadly too, the time I get my best ideas for lyrics are just as I drift off; and more often than not I opt for a good nights sleep vs. waking myself up to memorialize those thoughts.

10. What have you done to promote and market your music, and what advice would you give to other artists?

Not really having any budget for promotion I’ve gone the D.I.Y. approach down the line. Being a graphics web designer, doing my own website was the first order of business. I also joined every and any music or social network website. I do try to make sure my songs are available on as many services as possible and hope they’ll get exposure and attention through people discovering them organically.

11. Who, do you imagine, would be your ideal listener?

I’m not sure there’s an ‘ideal’ listener, but in looking at the metrics provided by the various sites I’m on, my typical listener is male, between 18-30 and they’re probably into sci-fi and fantasy. 

12. What advice would you give to help others build the confidence required to produce electronic music?

This was a big challenge for me as none of my friends or family are, or were, into electronic music, so I really didn’t have a sounding board. About the time I had a group of songs I felt comfortable with, I used GarageBand as a way to get feedback. Some of it was quite harsh, but there were valid comments that I looked at and utilized to improve in the performance and production areas. I think putting music out there and getting the feedback is the best thing. There will always be haters, but I consider myself lucky that I’ve had some very encouraging responses.

13. What aspirations, or reservations, do you have regarding your music being used in film and television?

I do think some of my work would be very applicable to film, TV or commercials. I’m very open to it being used whereever.

14. Tell us a little about any good electronic music you’ve heard recently.

John Foxx and the Maths is one that really jumped out at me, as well as DJ Hell’s Teufelswerk. One release that totally surprised me is the production work on the new Britney Spears album, ‘Femme Fatale.’ They pushed, pulled, tweaked and reconstructed her voice into a futuristic fembot. My favorite tracks are the four bonus tracks on the deluxe version. Total guilty pleasure.

15. Describe ‘Electronic Ecstasy’ in one sentence.

Future-retro electo pop with an emphasis on melody.

16. Where can we find you and your work?

CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon MP3 and most of the major subscription services.

Links:

www.munichsyndrome.com

www.dbrdesign.com

www.syndromesounds.com