Phat08 Interview - Misanthrop

Posted on on 12 November 2007 by Andrew Thompson

The second in the series of Phat08 artist interviews, Matt Searle puts some questions to Misanthrop from Germany. Head to the bottom of the interview for another chance to enter for the free Phat08 ticket.

 

Misanthrop is Michael Braeuninger, based in Stuttgart, southwest of Germany.
He was caught up by the dark sounds and menacing beats of drum and bass in the nineties, as it developed more into an intense musical hybrid.
This is when he decided to produce his own tracks under the name Misanthrop, which enables him to use music as a medium to express personal experiences of human interactions. His musical arrangements symbolicly oppose to the lack of candour his aim is to break through the borders of conventions to set new unusal grounds.
With his debut on Teebee´s imprint Subtitles and his release on Mayhems Shadow Law Rec., Misanthrop gets heavy rotation with the likes of Calyx, DNAudio Crew, Mayhem, Noisia, Pendulum, Phace, Teebee.
 

 

What’s special about the scene in your hometown?

To be honest I’m not involved in the local scene in Stuttgart. I don’t know that much about the dnb scene there and it wouldn’t be fair to comment on it. I grew up in another city in South Germany (Heilbronn) and always went to parties in the Mannheim area, which is still one of the larger centers for dnb in Germany. I still appreciate it that I had the opportunity to take part in lots of legendary parties back in the early 90’s and experience the top notch DJ´s at that time. That was special.

Which release of yours are you most proud of at this stage?

It depends on my mood. Sometimes it’s Chaos Control, sometimes it’s Viperfish, sometimes the Outsource Remix. I’m proud of them all because I always try to put out quality and no halfhearted tunes.

What’s your musical background like and what drew you to the neurofunk sound?

My musical background is dnb/breakbeats or electronic music in general. I grew up with happy breakbeats, hardcore stuff with the likes of Alec Empire, Shizou, Christoph de Babalon from the digital hardcore recordings camp and opposed to that ambient dnb like LTJ Bukem, Source Direct etc..  Over the years other music caught my attention, such as psychedelic rock, jazz, funk and soul. It’s funny that it’s always music from the mid 60´s to the mid 70´s that I mainly like. I also have to mention Ed rush and Optical who have also played large role in my inspiration.

What is your studio setup like?

I use a pc with Windows XP Pro with Cubase 4.1 and Pro Tools 7.4 LE for sequencing I do not limit myself with just using one piece of software or hardware. I use as much as I can get and of course afford. I also record a lot of samples by myself with my mobile recorder the Korg MR-1. Here´s a list of some stuff I’ve recently used : TLA C-1 stereo Compressor, Focusrite Liquid Mix, Digidesign Velvet and Structure, Virus Powercore, e6400 Ultra with RFX board also the emulator X2, Roland SR-201 tape delay….and much more! I’ve also got Genelec and Dynaudio speakers.

What is your process for working on a tune?

I always make independent projects for drums and mids.  I’m doing that to free as much CPU as I can and to have many “final” sounds for the main project in which I arrange everything. I do that to focus my attention to every single sound in a tune because I want every sound to be on point. I want to make a decision at early stages whether a sound is good enough or not before I start losing time, changing a sound which is simply not good enough. Then I built up some bars I like and the rest is arranging …

What was the most “interesting” party you’ve played at?

Traveling and playing out in different countries is always interesting. What can be better to play your music to an audience far from home.

Outside of drum & bass, what are you listening to at the moment?

As I mentioned before I’m listening to a lot of jazz, soul, funk and psychedelic rock from the 60´s and 70´s. To name some artists ; Miles Davis, Grateful Dead, Hendrix, Iron Butterfly, Funcadelic, Curtis Mayfield, Booker T, Roy Ayers, Isaac Hayes, Al Green, Otis Redding, Syl Johnson, Edwin Starr, Temptations, Rufus Thomas…

You’re playing in Auckland in early December then at Phat 08 at the end of the month; do you have many plans for the time in between?

Yeah. I’ll tour Australia with Florian from Phace for some gigs and I hope I’ll have some time to enjoy Australia and of course New Zealand. Heard so many good things about it and can’t experience it all for myself. I like the idea of leaving the German winter in behind me in Europe.

What do you have forthcoming and what does 2008 hold in store for you?

At the moment there is a 12´on subtitles called “Me/Waste express” and collaboration with Phace called “Off-center” on Mayhems Shadow Law recordings. There will be a remix for full force recordings of ‘Chook –Trainspot’. I got a lot of plans for 2008 but I think I better talk about it when they are done.

What are your top ten tunes at the moment?

No particular order :

Phace – Hot Rock (Heated 2007)
Phace - Animal
Frenchi – Labyrinth (Phace rmx)
Chook - Retrograde
Chook – Trainspot (misanthrop rmx)
Misanthrop –Viperfish Vip
Misanthrop - untitled
Crossfire – skylark (mayhem rmx)
Noisia Phace  - Levitation
Konflict – New World Order

PHAT08 TICKET GIVEAWAY


To be in to win a FREE ticket to Phat08, send your Name, Address, Contact Phone, Email Address and answer to the below question to phat08@bassdrop.co.nz.

Question: What operating system does Misanthrop use to produce his beats?

Entries for the comp finish 18th November.

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