AROVANE

interview with Uwe Zahn (Germany)
by Eric Mast
(see also: Nedjev)
12/00
www.arovane.de

Arovane has been making some fine moody tech music in the last few years generally filled with scitterish beats and deep, lolling bass, but it was with the release of the Tides LP on City Center Offices that really won me over. Shifting from the more tech approach of Atol Scrap to a more laid-back Boards of Canada approach, Tides utilizes sparser hip hop beats with wistful keyboard and harpsichord melodies along with natural and effected field recordings that give it a nice laid back feel and a more personal touch than previous recordings.

How did your first get interested in making electronic music?

I made field recordings with cassette recorders, in the early 80's. I used a Casio keyboard to program patterns and sounds and combine this with the field recordings. I often manipulate the tapes or the tape recorder a.e. to transpose the sound-material. Later in the mid 80ís I bought an analogue synth. It has a filter input to filter external sound material. In 1989 i bought a Casio sampler to manipulate sound samples and built up a midi setup with digital synth, sampler and hardware sequencer.

Do you record at home?

Yes, I have a home studio. it is very important for me to develop my ideas quick and have fast access to all my machines.

Your older material always had a nice melodic element, but with Tides it seems youíve put even more attention placing melodies in the forefront, and creating more subtle moods. Was that the intention?

The melodies and the moods transport very special feelings and memories of a holiday in France, thirteen/fourteen years ago. I took old field recordings that i made there at the coast.

Did you use field recordings in at all in Atol Scrap and is that a technique that you still use a lot?

No, I donít use any field recordings for the Atol Scrap production, mainly synthetic sounds. But for Tides I used some older recordings I made with a cassette recorder in France, because that fits perfectly in the concept and the atmosphere of Tides.

Is that a synthesized harpsichord sound on Tides?

No, it is a sample of the E-mu library. I modified that sound a little bit, edited the filter parameters and the envelopes. It is a very good sample, most people think i used a real instrument for the production.

Has the process in creating the music changed much between the last two albums (Atol Scrap and Tides)?

I produced Tides with the same equipment as Atol Scrap, but the process was different. Atol Scrap was played, composed, and arranged by myself, alone in my studio. Christian Kleine played guitar on Tides. We made some recording sessions before I arrange the tracks. Christian played to some drum parts on a digital multi-tracker. Later I took this parts, as samples, to arrange and compose the tracks with other instruments like the harpsichord and synths. The sound of Christianís guitar and the melodies fits perfectly to the sound of the harpsichord and the atmosphere of Tides.

How did you meet up with Christian?

I met him last year because heís also producing music for City Centre Offices. It is funny because he has exactly the same equipment, sampler, synthesizer, sample drum computer, mixing desk, so it was no problem to swap samples and produce tracks in both studios. We often meet to make jam sessions, take samples and produce tracks together.

Are you working on anything new right now?

Iím cooperating with Phonem (Morr Music, CCO, Jet Lag) to produce material for Vertical Form/UK. I made some recording sessions with a Japanese singer and made a lot of remixes. a split EP on Lux Nigra (Berlin, Germany) with me as Nedjev and Artificial Duckflavour (Lux Nigra, CCO) is out now.

What are the recording sessions with the Japanese singer all about?

[Her name is] Kazumi. She was in Berlin for a week a few months ago and we made some recording sessions. She has a very nice voice and is highly interested to perform to electronic music. It is very interesting and the first time for me to work with a voice in my productions. An EP release on Morr Music/ Berlin is scheduled for the next year.

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