Name: Johannes Brecht

Nationality: German
Occupation: Producer, pianist, bassist
Current release: Johannes Brecht's new single "Call Me Monday" is out now. It is taken off the upcoming full-length album of the Johannes Brecht Trio, featuring Antonio Farris and Matteo Capreoli. Disparaître is slated for release June 28th 2024 via Core.

If you enjoyed these thoughts by Johannes Brecht and would like to stay up to date with his music and work, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, and bandcamp.

To dive even deeper, we recommend our earlier Johannes Brecht interview.



Do you think that some of your earliest musical experiences planted a seed for your interest in production and technology?

No, my earliest musical experiences did not directly plant a seed for my interest in production and technology. My background is deeply rooted in classical music.

I started my musical journey with traditional instruments, like the piano and double bass, focusing on the nuances and techniques of acoustic performance. However, when I discovered and started playing jazz, I also got into synthesizers and production, which completely captivated me. I became a studio nerd :-)

The foundation in classical music has always influenced my approach to production, blending the richness of acoustic sounds with modern technology.

What were your very first active steps with music technology and how would you rate the gains made through experience?

My first active steps involved tinkering with basic equipment like a Casio keyboard. Later, I had a PC with Cubase, which only allowed for four audio tracks, and I upgraded to a Roland synth. It was a lot of learning by doing. Everything was super expensive, so it took me a while to upgrade my gear; it was always small steps.

Looking back, it was a wonderful and very important time for me. I was able to try out, research, and tinker with a lot, even if I neglected school a bit at the time.

Were/are you interested in the history of production and recording? If so, which events, albums, artists, or insights stand out for you?

Absolutely, I have a deep interest in the history of production and recording. I still love to research the background of records I love, such as what microphones were used, what effect devices, what instruments, how was it recorded, who mixed it, who mastered it, etc.

There were many important records for me from very different genres. Voodoo by D'Angelo, for example, is one that absolutely stands out.



Drukqs by Aphex Twin is completely different but equally outstanding.



Making music, in the beginning, is often playful and about discovery. How do you retain a sense of playfulness and how do you still draw surprises from tools, approaches, and musical forms you may be very familiar with?

To keep a sense of playfulness, I make a conscious effort to keep experimenting with new tools and techniques. It's fantastic nowadays with all the plugins and little software tools we have—there are so many.

Of course, not everything is interesting or new, but I love trying new things every day. I love software; it's not as expensive as hardware, and the possibilities are endless. There aren't as many interesting new pieces of hardware, except maybe Modular or Eurorack, there are also a lot of new concepts.

Can you tell us more about the production process of your upcoming album Disparaitre?

The process was completely different from my solo work. Since we had not played together for a long time and had no tracks or compositions to record, we started jamming and improvising for three days at Brewery Studios in Berlin. We had a huge setup with synths, drums, and vintage keys, so we recorded everything on separate tracks to edit and mix later.

By then, we had tons of material on hard drives, and I took everything to my home studio to arrange, edit, mix, remix, and produce an album out of these jams. It took me over a year.

How and for what reasons has your music set-up evolved over the years? How did change for the trio set up?

My setup has evolved quite a bit over the years. My mindset has changed over time; in the beginning, I was much more into hardware and had a lot of mixing and recording gear. But as plugins got better and better, I reduced my hardware setup and got more into software.

With the trio, it's a bit different because we need everything accessible in real time. It's more about performance and interaction, so we need more hardware.

What are currently some of the most important pieces of gear and software for you?

Mutable Instruments' Beads has become a favourite tool of mine due to its ability to transform and texture sounds in unique ways. You'll hear a lot of this on the upcoming album.

Alongside Beads, I frequently use pitch-shifting tools like the Digitech Whammy pedal and plugins such as Soundtoys' Alter Boy and Unfiltered Audio's Silo.

Have there been technologies which have profoundly influenced, changed or questioned the way you make music?

Pro Tools might be the one.

The way to edit and mix audio in Pro Tools is really important to me, and I can't find it in any other DAW.

Already as a little kid, I was drawn to all aspects of electronic/electric music but I've never quite been able to put a finger on why this is. What's your own relationship to electronic sounds, rhythms, productions like – what, if any, are fundamental differences with “acoustic“ music and tools?

I really love both worlds. I love the rich sound of acoustic instruments in a good acoustic space, without any electronic gear involved—it's just fantastic. But I also love the rough and artificial sound of electronics. I think the combination of both together is interesting.

In my opinion, electronic sounds can benefit a lot from layering with acoustic sources or ambiences.

Late producer SOPHIE said: “You have the possibility with electronic music to generate any texture, and any sound. So why would any musician want to limit themselves?” What's your take on that and the relevance of limitations in your set-up and process?

I agree wholeheartedly. There's no reason to limit yourself. I love to experiment and combine everything.

In my opinion, your personal limitations are your identity, not the gear or instruments.

From the earliest sketches to the finished piece, how did your production workflow/process together with Johannes Brecht trio look like?

We had these raw jams and improvisations. First, we picked the parts we really liked. Then I tried to arrange and edit everything to get something like tracks out of it. It took a while because we recorded a lot of material on many different tracks.

Now we're going back and trying to recreate the tracks I created in post-production live on stage or in real-time. It's an interesting process.

In relation to sound, one often reads words like “material”, “sculpting”, and “design”. How does your own way of working with sound look like? Do you find using presets lazy?

Presets are a great starting point, and sometimes they are the perfect match. I'm open to that.

But of course, I also like to craft my own sounds and settings. It depends.

What, to you, are the respective benefits of solo work and collaborations and do you often feel lonely in the studio? Can machines act as collaborators to you?

I love being in the studio. It's great to be alone and get lost in your music. But it's also great to collaborate. It's so inspiring to be in the studio with other musicians.

But to be honest, I need my solo time in the studio where nobody disturbs me. And machines aren't really collaborators; they're just tools.

To some, the advent of AI and 'intelligent' composing tools offers potential for machines to contribute to the creative process. What are your hopes, fears, expectations and possible concrete plans in this regard?

It's really interesting to me. I'm trying out different tools, and I'm particularly interested in getting the computer to play a more active role, to suggest something.

For my workflow, I've developed a lot of little tools in Max4Live that help me work faster and more intuitively. I've also started using custom real-time composition tools.

Music is often like math, after all. There are so many theoretical rules, and combining them in a script or algorithm can be really interesting. I'm working on it.

If you could make a wish for the future directly to a product developer at a hardware or software company, what developments in tools/instruments would you like to see and hear?

There are a lot of replica things and new versions of old ideas. Korg showed a nice new idea at the Superbooth this year with the acoustic synthesizers—new concepts and sounds are interesting, not just "new versions" of old ideas.

And I think it's a good time to develop more DIY stuff—with 3D printing and easy access to coding, it's so much fun.