Which part of your life do cinema and movie take ?

I am not a typical cineast and despite of reservations against a commercial based filmindustry, I am a big fan of Hollywood. Only there happen things which « move » something. No other place in the world makes all this superlatives possible. From my childhood on, I was influenced by Hollywood movies. I was allowed to see Star Wars, Alien or Blade Runner, when they were brandnew. I had the age of 17 ! And with every movie, the boundaries in sound and vision moved further. I ever liked this. Today, I have less time for visiting a cinema but more time for my « home theatre » (when my origin work gives me that time).

Which films are your favorites ? And why do they be ?

I am a big fan of science fiction movies but I also like comedies. John Hughes – for example – has written one of the most beautiful, funny and touching comedies to me with « Plains, Trains & Automobiles ».
And then I followed everything from Steven Spielberg or George Lucas. I also like Carl Sagan’s novel based « Contact » very. Today, I am waiting only for one or two movies. This is « Batman – The Dark Knight Rises” and “James Bond 23” of course. “Inception” is one of my favourite movies today and I really hope, that there will be no Part 2 ! This movie is as unique as it « Blade Runner » was. Oh, did I forget to mention this one ? A big mistake. « Blade Runner » is my all all time favourite.

Who are your favorites film directors and why of course ?

In earlier times, I liked the works of Sir Ridley Scott (guess why ?) and James Cameron, Roman Polanski and Luc Besson of course. But this has changed a little bit and the master of modern cinema for me is Christopher Nolan and his brother.

Who are your favorites score makers and why ?

I allways liked the great Hollywood composers like Elmer Bernstein, John Williams, Maurice Jarre, Jerry Goldsmith or Ennio Morricone. They all were not only able to write music for big orchestras, they also composed beautiful and unforgetable melodies. To write orchestral « hits » is something special. In the 90ies, there was Mark Snow and his X-Files sound. I liked this also very much. And if I look to the recent composers, well there is Hans Zimmer of course. His soundtracks are more and more « delicious ». Pure adventures for the ears which also work without watching the film. « Inception » is the perfect example. What I personally like is that this music is also very « electronic » here or there.

John Carpenter had composed most of his film scores with his gear. Can we say that he's an Electronic music composer as your are ? For example, his so famous few sounds on Halloween are unforgatable for past and future generations. What do you think of those Hits ? Is it a chance that those musical parts are milestones movies ?

It is difficult to have an opinion about somebody which I don’t know. I allways liked that he wrote the music for his own movies. This had a special charme and yes, some of his music was great. He used electronic music equipment. His sound was « electronic ». But I don’t think that he has become a so called «e.m. composer». I also believe that it was not really important to him. He had a vision. Not only for his films but also for the music. So why ask other people if you can do it alone ? He is a filmmaker and a composer. Who cares about the « electronic » attribute ?

There's certainly a film you are ashamed to like or even to love. Be honest and tell us !

There are movies, which I truelly hate. I dislike splatter movies. These movies are terrible and inhumane and I will ever understand why people feel « entertained » by this. What I allways like is "Star Trek", "Scrubs", "How I met your mother" and…"Spongebob" ! No joke ;-).

Have you been recently influenced by a movie as you've been by a novel ? (« O Memorial Do Covento », de José Saramago for « Das Memorial », or, before, « Der Schwarm », from Franck Schätzing, which became « Beyond The Deep »).

No. I am more influenced by novels which I have read or by sculptures or by reports on TV or by paintings. Movies influence me by the way how they are done. I mean the way how special scenes are filmed for example or how they are edited and shown (in high-speed or slow-motion for example). I like « the other perspective », the other view on something. This activates my fantasy and creativity. I am a very visual person. I like crazy images; at least everything, which allows me to see the world from another point of view. This is what my life makes so exciting. I get happy if I am allowed to see something new or special.

It might be difficult to analize and define, but in your opinion, why is music so important in a movie ?

Silence is sometimes the best music ! And to be honest, i think there is sometimes too much music in movies. There are scenes, where music destroys the mood. Music is not usefull at any moment in a movie. Silence is also a way to express something. But generally we have 5 senses. And the most used ones are seeing and listening to something. The first movies in the world had no audio. It were silent movies. An anachronism at least. And the people quickly recognized, that there was something missing. So they added music first. Music in film was before the spoken word entered the stage. This is remarkable. People wanted to listen to something and since music is used in film to enforce the visitors emotions, there is really no argument to abstain on it.

Which movie would you had dream to be the composer ?

Well I would like to start with little projects or with something experimental. Really. I mean doing a blockbuster is something else and truely not bad. But to be realistic, you must be prepared to do it and so you should start with some little but good films first.

Have you ever been propose to make filmscore in your career ?

No, never before. This is new to me and came up with « Celestial Movements » where I had started to think more visual about the content. And there was also another little initial moment. Before my concert in Paris (2009), I was interviewed and filmed by french filmmaker Julien Perrin. He worked on a docu and interviewed people about the first influential music in their lifes. I liked that very much. So yes, film is my thing.

You like scientific series. Would you be able to compose for any ?

Sure. Why not ? I like the BBC-documentaries very. This are the best in the world. So I would like to do something for them. Chiefly something for a docu about Time and Space or about CERN…

In your opinion what will your music may add to a movie ?

This is difficult to answer. The result should be a compromise. Not too much own ego but also no « muzack » ; no « only functional » music. The picture is in the center. Everything else is around that and also the music has to subordinate and slightly to enforce the visible statement. But of course it would be nice to get musically recognized. As an acoustic signature.

You do like concept albums. Would you think that can be a screenplay (script) ? (I'm thinking about Françis Bréant « Sons Optiques », that is an imaginary soundtrack).

Well, speaking about my own work now. With the recent solo-album « Antimatter », I have written now Part 3 of my « Trilogy of the Universe ». What with « Celestial Movements » (about stars and space) began and what with « Beyond The Deep » (a journey to the sources of our lifes) was continued, will now find an end and also a beginning, because « Antimatter » will be the music about the « big bang in a laboratory». This is at least the search for the meaning of our existance. We seem to rotate in a never ending circle. So this would be a great theme for a movie as well as for a show on stage.

Have you already left a movie to run to your recording studio at replay the music heard ? Or an other music inspired by the pictures seen ?

No, not directly. This would be too dangerous to me. This is allways the same with listening other peoples music. I don’t do it, if I produce something new. The risk to get influenced is too high. Generally it is not the movies that influence me, it is more the way, how they are produced. For example, I am impressed how modern movies are cutted or how some scenes are filmed or how time becomes reversed. Film is another kind of language which I try to understand and which I try to bring into my music. « Tsunami », one track of my album « Beyond The Deep » is a good example for. There are cuts, breaks, changing acoustic images, different scenes etc. Like different pictures painted on one single wall. Many movies work in the same direction and recognizing this was a true revelation to me. Watch Chris Nolan’s «Prestige » and you will know, what I mean. The story within the story. This is what I want to tell and do. 

Your music is more than ever symphonic. Don't you think that it's getting more and more cinematic ?

This is the way I want to go (at the moment). There is so much to learn and discover now. I appreciate to interpret my music in a symphonic and also in a cinematic style. This opens new doors and musical possibilities to me. Letting an orchestra sound « electronic » is a nice approach to me. My music was at every time wide and open. Never minimal and reduced. I ever liked big and epic sounds. Now I am honest enough to allow myself to play epic music with more but only with synthesizers. I hope the day will come, when I can work with a real orchestra. That could be very interesting…
When I started to record « Celestial Movements », I worked with concrete pictures in my mind. For the first time. Except on « Outlines », where I had composed music for a theatre play, most of my music was « mood based », spontaneous and improvised. I let the machines run and recorded it. This has changed totally. I feel more inspired than ever before and today I know, how much I blocked my self to be really creative in earlier times. I had allways the same schemes in my head and I didn’t change this because of the fear that the people could not like my other music. A big mistake. But this is past now. I make music for virtual movies. I allways see one if I produce a new album.

Music scores in american blockbusters are mostly made with symphonic orchestra in studio. Do you think that electronic music can do the same result nowadays ?

I am sure that virtual instruments are allways in use too. The soundquality is so good that only really trained and tought musicians are able to hear the difference. But the most impressive effect is, if you are able to combine both worlds. Hans Zimmer did this for example in his « Inception » score. He used synthesizers and real brass and string ensembles. If I listen to this music, I can sometimes not differentiate between them. Maybe only by the dynamics of the played sounds. A real drum or brass is at least unbeatable in its dynamic range.

Violin is the perfect instrument for making the people react in sadnesss even cry on a scene. How do you procede this with electronic gear ?

Using sounds from synthesizers is allways a kind of imitation. Sometimes closer, sometimes more far away from the original (which can also be a nice result of course). How close a sound gets to an original, depends not only on the delivered soundsource (in most cases samples nowadays), it also depends on how you interpret and play them. The acoustic result depends also on the technical possibilitites. How much or better how « deep » can you control this sound ? And this means at least : how much are you able to express your mood into a sound ? The way you play has a large part of the final result. A perfect sound means nothing, if it is badly played. So we are again there to watch at the emotional or human part of making music. Playing sad if you aren’t able to imagine that feeling (beside you are really sad) is a difficult thing. Only the best can do it. Like a good actor who can cry by a fingersnip.
There is also another point to have a look on. We all are controlled by emotional templates. We expect to become sad if we listen to a lonely violin, we are ready to fight, if we listen to some military drums etc. A good composer of filmmusic knows this. A better one tries to counteracts these schemes. A good example is the killing scene in Blade Runner. You know, the moment where this Nexus 6 lady, Zhora, runs through windows in slowmotion during she becomes shot. The music is not aggressive or fast. It is exactly that « Blade Runner Blues » theme that fits perfectly to this scenery.
Today I use both, synthesizers and VSTs to create a sound. I combine and layer them sometimes. I am only looking for the right sound which I want to use for a special musical moment and it doesn’t bother me, where the sound comes from.

In the 80's a lot of scores where done with E.M. Everybody enjoyed that, as Moroder’s « Midnight Express » or less commercial stuff as Davenport for Xtro for example. Today those OST sounds a little bit cheap and has been, really too much 80ies… On the other hand classical parts are still good within the time they were produced. Why ?

Latest in the 80ies was to everybody clear that synthesizers were THE alternative to real and expensive orchestras and musicians. Synthesizers had became cheaper and more versatile in those days and you could produce quickly and massively sounds for all kinds of movies. This saved money to the studios and producers. These were also the days of the so called « blockbuster » movies. Movies for the masses all around the world. The music was transported with them and it is clear to me that many of the soundtracks became hits. Everything was new. The special effects as well as the sounds. So the difficulty was to get into that scenery. Only a few composers were allowed to find that « holy grail ».

Lots of composers are still creating their music via E.M. Gear costs less and you just need to plug applications to « get some sounds ». Everybody calls himself a « composer ». What do you think about that ?

I think a composer defines himself by his compositions and not by the tools which he uses. It is true, building up a DAW-based recording studio is a simple thing today and as everybody used the same synthesizers in past, today everybody uses the same plug-ins to create « sound ». Is this a problem? In my opinion only, if you have no ideas what to do with all this. The possibilities which you get today are tremendeous. An example: my lastest solo-album « Antimatter » was recorded and produced completely on a DAW. That means there were up to 70 audio and MIDI-tracks which had to be mixed down, to be EQed, to get compressed and mastered etc. . All this is possible with full audio quality today. In earlier times you would have needed a big console and a huge studio. At least an invaluable solution for artists with a low budget. Of course you can discuss endless about advantages and disadvantages of such solutions. But for me, it is a chance. So if lots of people use this solutions, there is absolutely nothing to say against or to judge about it. I don’t care about that. As it ever was: the musical result is the point to focus on and not the way to it.
Beside all this, I think that alot of people get controlled by the equipment they use. They define themselves only by this and not by their work. But this is more a question or better a problem of their egos and the image what they would like to have.

The movies that use lots of pieces of music comming from young composers who are famous with dancing electro hits are often used in Night-Clubs or smart parties. Most are loops that never really ends, rhythms that repeat without ending. People are dancing and they're happy. Would you enjoy to make a Hit or a more simple and understandable (for masses) piece ? Then would you like that people could danse in listening some of you titles ? Or you dont really cares about that ?

Generally I try to produce music with a « meaning ». I try to create something special and unique with every track. One consequence is, that my music will never find its way into a Nightclub or Disco. No worries about that. It is ok to produce « endless sound » for easy consumption, if others do this. But this is no option for me. A « hit » is at least nothing you can control. You can produce tracks, you can stand behind them but how many good tracks are out there, which never become or became a « hit » ? So I do not force myself with this approach. Of course things in my life would be much easier, if I would have a « hit » but this is not in my hands. Also it would be arrogant to say music for the masses is something pointless. Everybody of us needs that moment of pure entertainment (what finally closes the ring and brings us back to Hollywood). Just for fun only. We would become mad if we would not have that kind of « ventile »… And if really somebody dances to my music, please show me the video. This is something, I would really like to see ;-).

Questions et traduction : M. Le Stum / James L. Frachon / Olivier Bégué