108 - keinseier

Author

Giannis Kampiotis
September 01, 2023

Artist Interviews 🎶 Studio Tours 🎛

Hello music people đź‘‹

Today in the spotlight, keinseier

Coming from Germany, he is all-in to music production. A studio out of dreams and production techniques that are simple, but colorful. Enjoy 🎶

Interview & Studio Tour

keinseier

Who are you and what is your relationship with music?

My Name is Christopher, I am a media composer from Hamburg, Germany and I make electronic music under the alias keinseier.

Ever since my childhood, music has played a tremendous part in my life.

Encouraged by my parents, I started playing the violin at a very young age and moved to guitar as a teenager, which I absolutey fell in love with, and practiced every spare minute. I started to get interested in the production side of things and began writing and recording music on my own, beside the bands I was involved in. I got interested in film music and later went on to Berklee in Boston as a film scoring major.

I have produced music for media ever since (that is how I make my living), but only started with the keinseier project fairly recently - 3 years ago, I believe. I wanted an outlet to release music without having to worry about clients’ wishes and to just experiment.

Which piece of equipment in your studio is essential to your production process?

As boring an answer as that might be, it absolutely is my laptop with Logic. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to produce, to picture, and have total recallability for when the cut changes or small adjustments are necessary - also, the fact I can take an extremely capable system on travels with me absolutely set me free some time ago.

As far as my music for keinseier goes - it is also often a hybrid production, where I produce on hardware, but might trigger something in the DAW, like the fantastic Choreographs.

What is the least expensive piece of gear that gave you the most results?

While it is not cheap per se, I have gotten incredible mileage and inspiration out of the OP-Z. Its sequencer is so incredible in many ways and it becomes even more powerful when hooked up to a Laptop or iPad.

Walk us through your process for creating and producing music.

For keinseier I often have a fragment/seed of an idea in mind, like a very simple loop, or a particular effect or modulation source or destination I’d like to try.

I grab just one or two pieces of gear and see where the music leads me as I build around that original idea (which sometimes might get deleted in the process). I really like having a limited palette - it frees me from the paralysis of having endless choices.

Then I hit record and do one or two takes. Little EQ and limiting in the DAW and that’s it.

What is a production technique that you always come back to?

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Probably looping random bits of audio and looking for pops and clicks to make a rhythm out of.

Also, chance and probability (like on the Digitakt or OP-Z sequencers) play a big role.

How would you describe your style?

Relaxed, downtempo… glitched? Not sure, but I hope I keep evolving.

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What is a big challenge you have as an artist?

Leaving space and room for the listener to fill the music with their own imagination. I have the tendency to cram every idea that I have into pieces and fill everything up.

Has building a hardware setup changed your perspective on music or life in general?

This is clichè, but I would never have imagined how inspired I’d be by having the immediacy of hardware in front of me, at times being able to twist and turn random knobs and faders. Also, it has taught me to let go of unnecessary ballast. (I keep selling gear I don't really use..)

One tip on how to spark creativity?

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Eliminate choices.

A book, movie, article, or album that has inspired you?

I am inspired by all sorts of things all the time, but for the sake of an readable answer: Gravity by Ben Lukas Boysen and Come To Daddy by Aphex Twin… and an endless list of books.

Two somehwhat randomly chosen ones: Vurt by Jeff Noon and Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff by Christopher Moore.

And really, a ton of content on Instagram. Fantastic art to be found there!

Anything else you'd like to say?

Thank you for inviting me! Hope this was of interest to the readers!

Where can people find more of your music and connect with you online?

Gear List

A whole load of pedals, like

A load of guitars...

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