Jörg Hüttner is a German film composer, synth programmer and sound designer whose work bridges the worlds of electronic music and cinematic scoring. Born in Ulm, Germany, Jörg’s journey into music began at an early age. From piano lessons, he quickly found his way when the electronic sound from artists like Depeche Mode or Jean-Michel Jarre, among others, captured his attention. By the age of 15, he was already creating sounds on his first synthesizer, on the way to a lifelong passion.

In March of 2007, encouraged by Hans Zimmer, Jörg moved to Santa Monica, California, to pursue his career in film music. Since then, he has remained extremely active in the film music world. He has worked on over 30 films, written numerous cues for TV and trailers, and even received a nomination for a News & Documentary Emmy in 2018. As some examples, Jörg contributed the electronic landscape of films like “Girl on a Train”, “Fifty Shades of Grey”, “Independence Day: Resurgence”, “How It Ends”, “Army Of Thieves” as well as the HBO Documentary “Cries from Syria”.

I’m a composer, music producer and synthesizer programmer based in Santa Monica, California. I write music and design sounds for film, TV, and all other media, including corporate clients like car manufacturers. And I design sounds for hardware and software instruments.

The center in my studio is a new, decked-out Mac Pro. Even with a lot of hardware around, most stuff is simply happening “in the box” now, and I love the performance, silence and stability of computer systems in today’s age.

Hardware-wise, my “Iridium” is right next to me on the desk, so it is used regularly. Other hardware synths I use are a Sequential “Pro3 SE”, Moog “Subsequent37”, ASM “HydraSynth”, Elektron “Syntakt”, Arturia “MatrixBrute”, and my custom-configured Eurorack modular system.

I compose in Steinberg’s latest “Cubase Pro” DAW, and my go-to instrument plugins include u-he “Zebra2” and “Diva”, NI “Kontakt 8”, Modartt “Pianoteq 8”, Arturia’s “Pigments” and various their synth, effects and distortion plugins. Other effect, mixing, and processing plugins are from PSP Audioware, Valhalla DSP, FabFilter, SoundToys, Oeksound, among others.

Also, I love my ATC SMC25A Pro speakers. A set of good-sounding speakers is not to be underestimated.

I try to get to a basic unit patch, and go from there. This generally helps me to figure out what I can do with the oscillators, filters, etc. and how the unit really sounds without any influence from a pre-designed patch. Should the interface not be intuitive enough, I might take a brief look at a manual or a video, but in most cases, this isn’t needed. Next, I might try to use it in something I am working on, to get deeper into it, and to learn about its features, etc.

In 99% of the time, I design my own patches. In fact, I’m often quicker starting from scratch, than endlessly scrolling through patches, which costs more time than people might think.

Waldorf synths play a big role in my music and are partly responsible for why I moved to the USA. I became a big fan of Waldorf synths in the early 90s and bought the “Pulse” in ’95, I think. It’s still in my rack today. I started to design sounds for Waldorf in ’98, and sounds for the “Q” and “Microwave XT” piqued the interest of some LA composers, which led to personal contacts and later on to first projects. It didn’t hurt that I was also doing product support for Waldorf for a few years and worked on their booth at music trade shows.

My interest in electronic music started already at age 9, when I purchased my first Depeche Mode record. I consider them my inspiration to get into music and make it my profession. Other artists that inspired me early on were Jean-Michel Jarre and some 80s bands like Ultravox, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Propaganda, etc.

I had piano lessons from age 7 or 8 on, but I wasn’t really a fan of the classical stuff I had to learn. I got more fond of classical music later. In the early 90s, numerous industrial bands made it into my record collection, like Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails, or other interesting bands like The Prodigy and Massive Attack. End of the 90s, my interest in film scores grew, and you will still hear influences from all this music on current compositions, if it isn’t really something in an entirely different genre.

I always was, and I still am, a night owl. I start my day with administrative things and working out, so I often won’t arrive at the studio until 2-3pm. If I’m not on deadlines or anything, I leave here generally around 10-11pm.

That is a tough one. It always depends on the project, and what is needed for it. If I need to do synth programming or design sounds for a composer or project, I will listen to initial ideas and get an idea from the composer in a call about what is needed or wanted. If it is a corporate project, it will be highly influenced by brand ID, possible marketing material and research, or general outlines from the customer. When composing for a film or project, it will be influenced by the story, script, or temp music. It is never the same, which makes this also so interesting.

Not really, since it can be a sample, that I put into a granular engine. Or a melody popped into my head, and I try to record it quickly with a piano (even on my iPhone), or I record a quick voice memo. Sometimes I just play around with a synth, which sparks an idea. The more influence comes from outlines for a project, the easier it normally is to find a start.

In short, terribly. I should focus way more on my own music, since I get many compliments for it, but bills have to be paid, and there’s hardly ever something I turn down. Some projects bring an interesting challenge I don’t want to miss. That being said, I hope I can focus again more on my own projects soon.

Getting directions from my clients will be a first step. This sometimes sets the tools I will be using for the project. The harder and more industrial-influenced projects are, the more my modular comes into focus, for instance. Sometimes I get sent recordings to be used in the sound design, which gives already a clear direction. If I need to be able to share the project, it most likely will end up completely “in the box.”

The first couple of sounds are often the most fun, since you can explore the new device or software, and see where it takes you. In some cases, there might be requests for certain types of sounds, like basses, pads, leads, etc., in specific numbers, which can be limiting if you have mostly ideas for one specific type. Having done large sound sets in the past, the higher the number of sounds to be designed, the more it becomes difficult if at some point you simply run out of ideas. However, that also depends on the versatility of an instrument.

I just finished a project with a colleague of mine from Munich. This was a corporate project for a car entertainment system, which will be shown at the CES in early 2025. I cannot talk too much about it until this is officially shown, but it was for Harman Kardon.

Another project I’m currently finishing is a modern take on Big Beat with the German-Greek singer SOFI (known, e.g., from Deadmau5 “SOFI needs a ladder”) for a production library / trailer music company for sync placements.