gallery
an ear for music... and sound
Here
I am at an early age, listening to music, shown in a portrait drawn
by my mother. I have been told that Bach’s
Brandenburg Concertos were my favorite. I’ve always thought
that Bach is more beneficial to the development of the brain than
Mozart...
My parents had a small but varied collection of classical music records, so that is what I grew up with. I found out later that they attended a lecture about electronic music some time in the late fifties, when I was quite young. In the sixties they bought a record with Karl-Heinz Stockhausen's Der Gesang der Jünglinge, which I found very inspiring, and which is still an amazing work.
Utrecht, the Netherlands, where I was born, was as good a place as any to become acquainted with electronic music. The Philips Electronics studio moved to Utrecht in the early sixties and formed the basis of the Institute of Sonology at Utrecht University. The Institute organized regular concerts, which I started attending and which further developed my interest and appreciation.
I studied at Sonology in 1969 and 1970 and again in 1979. Students came from all over the world, which made it an interesting place to be. One of my co-students introduced me to John Cage and his idea that sound/noise can be music.
In 1986, the Institute moved to the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, which has been a loss for Utrecht. More information about the current institute can be found at the sonology.org website.
studio snapshots through the years
Early 70s — When I was about 17, I attended an electronic music concert for the first time. This has led to a lifelong addiction that refuses to go away. As I didn’t have much money at the time, I started building my own equipment. Here I am in my early 20s, busy with one of my designs in the attic of my parents' home at Panweg in Zeist, The Netherlands. I did buy a few things: a Revox A77 and a kit for an electronic piano. From my father’s work I got an old vacuum tube sine wave oscillator and an oscilloscope.
Early 80s — This is my studio in a large loft at Oudenoord in Utrecht. The loft was peculiar in that it had only one small window. This didn’t border me in the least and it prevented me from being distracted. As a result, I completed several projects here; some in collaboration with other artists. Notable is the prototype Series 3000 modular analog synthesizer on the right, which I helped design for Synton.
Mid 80s — The studio setup in the small attic of the Klaverstraat house in Utrecht. Newly acquired are, left, an Ensoniq ESQ-1 and, right, an Atari 1040 with eMagic Notator software. Not shown is a Mirage rack-mount bought at the same time. The first steps into MIDI have been taken...
Late 80s — The much larger studio at the Wagenstraat in Utrecht, with most of the equipment identified.
Mid 90s to early 2000s — The first studio in the US (Arlington), still focused on electronic music. From 2006 onward, animation became an important, additional component.
2017 — The final setup of the Arlington studio, which is now multi-functional: animation, video editing, music, and sound design. In 2018, the studio moved to larger studio premises in Front Royal, VA.
External links were up-to-date as per January 26, 2023, but are subject to change beyond my control. Non-secure links have been removed.