Name: Joachim Spieth
Occupation: Producer, sound designer, label founder at Affin
Nationality: German
Recent release: Joachim Spieth's Terrain is out now. Reshape, a collection of remixes by, among others, Alva Noto, bvdub, Markus Guentner, and Głós, is scheduled for release December 16th via Affin.
Recommendations on the topic of sound: Das Dritte Ohr - vom Hören Der Welt (Joachim-Ernst Berendt)

[Read our Alva Noto interview]
[Read our bvdub interview]

If you enjoyed these thoughts by Joachim Spieth and would like to find out more about his work, visit his official website. He is also on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter.



Can you talk a bit about your interest in or fascination for sound? What were early experiences which sparked it?

I find sound to be an extremely powerful tool to trigger emotions in people in a special way.

Sounds have fascinated me ever since I can remember. In my childhood it was certainly film music. When you didn't understand what it was really about. Everyone remembers the credits of a film, or something similar ... Soundscapes playing in the forest, for example, always seemed powerful to me …

I also find it exciting to think about how a track or a sound affects another person. After all, what one person perceives as cold and sad might sound completely different to another person.

It is experiences and imprints that make us associate something ... And we differ greatly in our experiences and imprints.

Which artists, approaches, albums or performances using sound in an unusual or remarkable way captured your imagination in the beginning?

I listened to a lot of different music. As a kid I was into a lot of heavy metal in all its different forms, which was then replaced as a teenager by bands like Soundgarden or Pearl Jam etc. Via Hip Hop I came to Mo Wax (Headz compilation), and Mo Wax formed my bridge to labels like Warp, Basic Channel, and logically then also artists like Richie Hawtin, who really used to do great things.

[Read our Richie Hawtin / Plastikman interview]

The Cologne community around Mike Ink (Profan, NTA ...) happened at the same time. So at the age of 20, I ended up with my first record on the then newly founded Kompakt label.

What's your take on how your upbringing and cultural surrounding have influenced your sonic preferences?

My brother's radio certainly had an influence, that's when I first heard Depeche Mode and other electronically produced sounds. My parents were more influenced by classical music …

It's hard to say how much that influenced me, but I can say that I was exposed to a field of tension right from the start, which perhaps explains my stylistic diversity.

Working predominantly with field recordings and sound can be an incisive step / transition. Aside from musical considerations, there can also be personal motivations for looking for alternatives. Was this the case for you, and if so, in which way?

I have learned to appreciate working with field recordings. I have always been a child of the sampler, and that has always been extremely exciting for me musically, simply because you approach results through experimentation.

Synths have never been synonymous with sampling for me.  

How would you describe the shift of moving towards music which places the focus foremost on sound, both from your perspective as a listener and a creator?

As a listener I can describe it as follows: I used to always listen to music (as described above) that contained vocals. When I discovered instrumental hip hop I was very relieved that there was silence ... that was the start and the insight for me that the voice can be interesting, but words sometimes only distract and lead to generalities  ... in my opinion, focusing on sound trains the imagination of the listener.

From the perspective of a music producer, the omission of vocals means that a central element is missing, which has to be replaced by a story beyond words …

In the techno area I would draw a parallel with the approach of the maximum / minimum. Leaving something out creates space, while deafening noise and "acoustic pollution" often don't make the track any better. Less is more.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and working with sound? Do you see yourself as part of a tradition or historic lineage when it comes to your way of working with sound?

Music is never actually created in a vacuum. My influences are certainly audible in one way or another. An essential element / approach is certainly the experiment, allowing myself to be surprised. Consequently, the sampler forms my musical focal point and will probably stay that way.

I don't see myself as part of a historical line because my influences come from different styles of music and also from different sources within electronic music.

I guess I'm someone who fuses.

What are the sounds that you find yourself most drawn to?  Are there sounds you reject – if so, for what reasons?

Sound surfaces are certainly a topic for me, but not exclusively. Since I like to alienate sounds, the original sound can be whatever it may sound like. What's more important is how you can alter it, whether it works.

Preset sounds have always been frowned upon by me. Sure, you can use something and then think about it further. But I've always found it questionable to use sounds straight off the shelf.

As creative goals and technical abilities change, so does the need for different tools of expression, from instruments via software tools and recording equipment. Can you describe this path for you personally starting from your first studio/first instruments and equipment? What motivated some of the choices you made in terms of instruments/tools/equipment over the years?

After I needed a few years to buy all the equipment I needed for a minimal setup as a student, I was happy to own a sampler, mixer etc. After a few years, when the trend towards software became stronger and stronger, I tried out a lot of things. I then ran both in parallel for a relatively long time, hard and software as well. (emu sampler, effects devices from tc electronic for example).

In 2014 or 2015 I decided to make music exclusively with Ableton live, even though I've been using it as my sole DAW for a long time (since version 4). To be honest, the approach hasn't changed much since then.

In the beginning, I wanted to be able to do more with the program. From my point of view, Ableton's advantage is, apart from all the technical options, that everything is completely available, whereas before you had to set settings and eqs on the mixing console and the material never sounded the same again as in that session.

I am aware that this can also be an attraction. For me, however, it was more important to be able to create cool effect racks or sound libraries myself, which I can build on and which I can cross over further. This is important for my way of working. In addition, the simultaneity and the "leaving it" of a track was also very desirable. Which was more difficult to realize with a hardware mixer.

Where do you find the sounds you're working with? How do you collect and organise them?

Sound is relative for me, as described above. It can be many things, and many things can be carved out of it.

It's all organized in Ableton. I've tailored the user library to my needs, and I've come up with an "architecture" that's easy for me to follow. Of course it has changed from time to time, but by now I have a good overview of my sounds and tools. Omitting them is often very clever, too, so that you can access the essential components quickly.

By that I also mean not buying an endless number of plug-ins and then never really using them. I have a few tools that are used primarily, and I work on those for a while. I would also see the use of a limited number of tools as advantageous in terms of style-forming sound, provided you know why you are working with an application.

From the point of view of your creative process, how do you work with sounds? Can you take me through your process on the basis of a project or album that's particularly dear to you?

The process is always track-based, I don't consciously follow the exact same working method for an entire album.

In my ambient pieces I work a lot with layers. For example, a chord that I placed on a key. On top of that, simply the same chord, either with a different filter, or an eq that strongly cuts certain frequency ranges, so that only a little of the original remains. If you now modulate these 2 sound with different parameters, e.g. filter progression, settling time of the LFO or similar, you already have very interesting progressions in the sound that spread out over time ...

This game can actually be spun on endlessly by copying and further modulating ... the result is an increasingly lively sound ... With this way of working you quickly notice that you can basically generate endless depths with very little sound material, sounds in which you get lost.

to cut a long story short: I think mixing sounds with variable mixing ratios is a powerful tool, but not a science in itself ...



The possibilities of modern production tools have allowed artists to realize ever more refined or extreme sounds. Is there a sound you would personally like to create but haven't been able to yet?

Since I never have music in my head that I want to realize, there is also no sound that I imagine that I have not managed to create…

How do you see the relationship between sound, space and composition?

A very broad question that I can't really answer in such a general way.

In my pieces, sometimes the sound itself dominates, in others compositional properties are more in the foreground.

The idea of acoustic ecology has drawn a lot of attention to the question of how much we are affected by the sound surrounding us. What's your take on this and on acoustic ecology as a movement in general?  

I believe that the influence of sounds on us is immense. I have noticed increasing signs of fatigue in certain situations in myself at many moments over the last few years, and I know that certain noises really affect me negatively. Especially when you can't escape them.

As a society, we still seem to be at a relatively early stage of awareness. Let's hope that greater importance will be attached to this topic in product development in the next few years. Being able to find silence is a source of reflection and inspiration.

We can listen to a pop song or open our window and simply take in the noises of the environment. Without going into the semantics of 'music vs field recordings', in which way are these experiences different and / or connected, do you feel?

The main difference is that with pop songs you receive expected signals, while opening the window provides unexpected sounds. So the question is, in which way do you feel more entertained?

From the concept of Nada Brahma to "In the Beginning was the Word", many spiritual traditions have regarded sound as the basis of the world. Regardless of whether you're taking a scientific or spiritual angle, what is your own take on the idea of a harmony of the spheres and sound as the foundational element of existence?

The sound was definitely there before seeing. So I think sounds, consciously or unconsciously, take up a lot of space in our perception.