I am often said to be a chameleon. In addition to my work as a film composer for international films, I am also the owner of the Ethno World software library, which has been the world market leader for ethnic instruments for 25 years. I also founded the production music company TUNESFORMOVIES and have been teaching as a coach for over 20 years, both privately and at universities. In 2024, I decided to become a director and released my first international film, Transformation, which was realised with artificial intelligence. I also give concerts with orchestra, where my film scores from Pope Joan and The Miracle of Bern are performed. My great passion is electronic music, where I have also released several internationally successful albums. To date, I have received 70 awards and 50 nominations for my film projects.

I started out as a child with drums and vibraphone and then discovered the Hammond organ. But the Hammond was only available in the shop; I had a small Farfisa organ myself. I learnt to play traditional music and discovered hard rock and jazz at 16, where I played in many different bands. At 19, I started studying classical music and conducting at the conservatory in Munich. At the same time, I was already working for the composer Harold Faltermeyer (Top Gun) and began writing my first film scores for commercials and series. It wasn’t until I was 33 that I had my breakthrough at a film music competition. Since then, I have written music for over 300 international and national projects.

I grew up with Star Wars (John Williams) and Kraftwerk, two extreme opposites in music. While I was always a fan of opulent Hollywood film scores, I also loved minimalist electronic music. But I’ve also incorporated many ethnic influences, jazz, and pop music into my film scores. I’ve even used hard rock in film scores, as in The Midwife. This genre of film music is perfect for combining different styles.

I particularly appreciate the different ways synthesizers create sound. The flexibility of working with granular synthesis or conventional oscillators, and the combination of wave synthesis or modular systems, is something I value. With a synthesizer, I can create a completely unique style of expression, which I often miss with an instrument because the instrument is fixed to its body. I can also play an instrument with a synthesizer but completely alienate it. The creativity is inexhaustible.

The most important thing for me is whether the new synthesizer can be integrated into the concept of my existing setup. I’m not a fan of collecting synths that just stand around and are tried out once a year. My synthesizers run hot all day long and work together to create a unique sound. That’s why it’s important to me that every new synth adds a whole new colour and inspiration to the setup.

I also work with presets, but I almost always completely change the basic sound until it fits the music. Sometimes, though, I program a sound from scratch—or, as with the Hydrasynth from ASM, I like the fact that you can create interesting new sounds using a random generator. This should be integrated more into digital synthesizers!

My Moog One, my Waldorf Quantum MK2, my Prophet 12, and my OB-6 by Dave Smith. And of course, my Quested monitoring system, which Hans Zimmer also uses.

Waldorf’s sound has played a major role for me in recent years, it sounds very modern and innovative, offers an outstanding filter, and is ahead of its time, just like the PPG back then. Perfect for film soundtracks. In addition to my MK2, I also have the Iridium, and I think I’ll have other Waldorfs soon.

I’m a classic civil servant: I go into the studio at 9am and leave at 6pm. If I have a difficult deadline, then of course I work overtime. But the weekend is always sacred to me so that I can come up with new ideas.

For me, the best creativity comes from an unconventional initial sound—be it a sequencer, drone, or FX sound. I used to compose everything from the piano. Those days are over, as I now only write electronic film music. I love the orchestra, but everyone does it and I find that super boring now. Electronic music, on the other hand, is much more diverse and sounds different every day, inviting you to improvise.

That’s always a bit difficult, as I’ve already done over 300 projects in my life. As a coach, I also teach time management. That’s the magic word: organizing the day, the week, the month very explicitly—and including the necessary breaks. That’s the only way music can be successful: if you can still breathe and laugh in between (laughs).

Absolutely. You keep hearing great scores with ethnic influences. Gladiator was one of the first scores to be marketed commercially through the female voice. Then there were hundreds of scores in that style. I now find it more interesting to integrate ethnic influences into electronic music.

I had started writing the music for a science fiction film in 2024, but I didn’t like the film. So I came up with the idea of realizing my own sci-fi film. As I would have needed around 9 million dollars for a CGI realization, I got into AI software and practiced for months before creating the first scenes. Then, six months later, the film won awards worldwide and I knew I wanted to continue. That’s why I’m about to finish the AI2 film (working title)!

Extremely! Because I always followed the other trades: I read scripts, listened to sound design, watched dubbing, followed film editing, and was involved in almost every film mix. That’s why I did EVERYTHING on Transformation myself. Of course, it was incredibly time-consuming, but when the film became a success, I knew that some things must have been done right.

As the film is very modern in its visual structure, I knew the music also had to be very modern. A combination of soundscapes, drones, FX, and little melody. More of a collage of partial, dark, and archaic sounds. The music should demonstrate the threat from the very first second, that we humans only play a very small role in the evolution of the universe.

I immediately fell in love with the sounds of Sascha Dikiciyan, Peter Jung, and Kevin Schroeder back then. I love it when sounds evolve over time—be it through morphing or granular synthesis, an infinite number of LFOs, or various filter movements and sequencers. The programmers at Waldorf put a lot of effort into this. I love the depth of the sounds, the width, and the absolute clarity, especially with the Quantum, which adds a lot of warmth with its additional analogue filters.

I will definitely continue directing and writing the soundtracks for my own films. I’m currently working on a very elaborate second AI science fiction film, with various film companies on board, much more elaborate than Transformation. With lots of AI actors and characters, a big sci-fi world is being built here. Emotions are forming, and adventures are being created. This could be something really big. We’ll see!

The working titles are AI2 (Artificial Intelligence Film 2) and AI3. I can’t reveal any more yet. They will all be international film projects with lots of Waldorf sounds, that’s for sure.

A lot will change in this world, AI is everywhere. It will revolutionize and also create new jobs. And old jobs will be lost. It will be particularly difficult in music, because every 10th production already has AI music. In any case, I will continue to compose analog music.

Individuality. Don’t constantly adapt to trends, develop your own style while staying open to good collaboration. Because we’re not alone, we all work together in film, often with hours of discussions and corrections. In the end, that’s what makes good music. Ego is only marketable to a limited extent.