Sept. 17th 11am-5pm Altendorfer Str. / Altendorf.

I have been to Altendorf several times in my life, but never associated it with a particular green place. For the event Grün Auf! Altendorf, I was asked to visit four "green" places and record their soundscapes. I love exploring a city by sound and was surprised and impressed already by the first location I visited. "The Lorengarten". Hidden behind a "Penny Markt" and walled in on the three other sides by houses, the busy sound of the Altendorfer Str. vanishes and makes room for birds bees and, in my case, the meditating drops of light rain on the garden shed. Listen on headphones to this collage and three more collages I made while looking at pics I took, printed on wood 120x120cm on the 17th.

In addition, in between the programm on the two stages, you can here more sounds, that I captured in Essen. And on top, a rowboat will set of on the water with my sounds. You can check on my recording process for the last one on my blog.

 This Thursday - August 24th - I will be talking about my blog "Sound of Essen - Der Klang von Ruhr und Emscher" at the Nissan Electric Café. I was invited to give insights on the sound of a city and will share some thoughts and sounds from nearly eight month of recording places in Essen. You will also get the chance to take a look at my equitment and ask questions. I am looking forward to your feedback and input.

Hard facts: Nissan Electric Café - Rathaus Gallerie Essen - 24.08.17 - 16h

August 11th-13th Genius Loci Weimar takes palce in Weimar. My contribution is a multi speaker sound installation in the Zeughofgasse. It is one of the Festivalwalk-Installations and runs every night from 21:30 - 0:15. I am quite obsessed with the sound of cities for quite a while. The Zeughof Gasse is a little piece of jewelery. Forming a very dramatic entrance (a loose metal plate that resonates loudly everytime you step on it) it leads from the river Ilm / Herderkirche to the lively Theaterplatz. Plenty of hidden sounds waited for me to be recorded. Here is a little teaser:

I am happy to announce, that I won the 2nd price at the 60 Seconds Radio 2017 international competition. It is a radio competition and I contributed my favorite field recording. I captured an announcement over some rusty speaker in a zoo provoking a pack of wolves to wake up. They are hearable unhappy with the voice disturbing their nap. It is two worlds clashing. Visit www.60secondesradio.com

Or listen here:

It was time for new studio monitors, after 16 years my old ones were dying on me. After a little online research and talking to
friends, I decided to bring the Neumann KH 120 and the KS Digital 60 to test. Both systems were an enormous improvement compared to my
previous situation and surprised me, for their small size. While the sound of the KH 120 was very attached to the speakers, the KSD 60
weren't attached at all and create a pleasant stereo image. In the bass area, if you can call it "bass" in a 5-inch, they were also more
defined and I already saw them in the lead. So I started to produce a song on them and sadly he did not sound like it was on my usual
equipment (car, headphone, PA ..) and somehow after some more editing the translation was still difficult. So I thought about checking
the KH 120 again, but both systems did not make me really happy. So I ordered a third one, the Amphion One15, which is a lot more expensive, but should be worth. In fact, the Amphion left
the other two behind. I have experienced quite new details and a wonderful stereo image. When I tried some soundeffects with lots of
low-ends, I was missing the pressure and bass completely. Also with music it was not better. With these boxes, I would need a sub-woofer
directly, since down there was really nothing. Also, loud listening was hardly possible, they quickly began to distort and were also
around a few dB quieter than the other boxes, so that I had to them down to compare.
Now I no longer knew what to do and since I was recommended the ATCs SCM12 / 11 by Apke Tontechnik, I gave it a try. These are even
somewhat cheaper than the Amphion, but still significantly more expensive than the other two, especially since just like the Amphion,
an amplifier has to be connected because they are passive. But the ATCs have completely convinced me, have everything I wanted, are very detailed, supreme in the stereo image, very clear and
powerful, but still pleasant to use. For the first time I didn't feel there is room for upgrade. The decission was not difficult and
now they are here with me in the studio. At least for the next 16 years.

My blog soundofessen.com lately got some great coverage in the German press. If you want to know more about the project (and speak German), check:

WDR Lokalzeit Ruhr (TV / German)

Frankfurter Allgemeine (see above)

Heimat.Gruen Magazine (Titelstory  / German) (Page 4)

Radio Essen (Radio / German) - Playing various sounds

Visit the blog: www.soundofessen.com

I took part in a sound design competition by one of the industry leading websites: www.asoundeffect.com . The task was to create the sounddesign for a short reel by using recordings of your own voice only. Afterwards you were free to tweak it with fx. I won the category "most hilarious", which I was aiming at, so I am happy to present the short clip for you:

In 2017 Essen will be European Green Capital. My official project is an audio Blog featuring the sound of the rivers Ruhr and Emscher in Essen. At least once a month I will go out an field record nature, animals, industry and people along the water as well as in the water.

All audio samples are free to download and use in any (yes also commercial) project. Two posts are already online so go an check: www.soundofessen.com

My contribution to the Make Music Day

When I heared the stems for this remix competition by cymatics, I had to think of the call of a Derbyan Parakeet I recentley recorded. So now this bird sings the final verse of this song, without any pitch and only one little correction of the timing in the middle. You can here it right after the breakdown (where some lovely birds in a forest in Schorndorf (GER)(see cover pic) become one with the synth). Most of the sounds are field recordings I did earlier this year, except the original stems and two additional synth. Car sounds, PariBoy, doors and much more. Hope you enjoy (if yes make sure to favorite it as it counts as a vote for the remix competition)