Name: Thomas Fehlmann
Nationality: Swiss
Occupation: Producer, composer, sound artist
Current release: Thomas Fehlmann's Umdrehen is out via Edition Dur on September 8th 2023. Vinyl version available directly from Dussmann.
Gear recommendation: I love the omnichord

If this Thomas Fehlmann interview piqued your interest, visit his official homepage. He is also on Facebook. For a deeper dive, check out our earlier Thomas Fehlmann interview.

Over the course of his career, Thomas Fehlmann has worked with a wide range of artists, including Moritz von Oswald, Juan Atkins, Danielle De Picciotto, Max Loderbauer, Eraldo Bernocchi. He has also been an integral part of The Orb for many years.

[Read our Danielle De Picciotto interview]
[Read our Eraldo Bernocchi interview]
[Read our Alex Patterson of The Orb interview]
[Read our Andy Falconer of The Orb & Sedibus interview]
[Read our Moritz von Oswald interview]



The views of society towards technology are subject to constant change. How would you describe yours?

It’s a love/hate relationship.

Do I need a faster computer? No thanks!
Do we need better concepts to save water and energy? Yes please!

What were your very first steps in music like and how would you rate the gains made through experience - can one train/learn being an artist/producer?

I guess entering ones palace of ideas on a very regular basis helps a lot to get satisfying results. That means practice, patience and endurance. It’s a continuous learning curve. up and down.

I don’t get tired with the creative process. after all it’s my chance to bring some life to my dreams and this is priceless.

In practice my very first steps were playing the ukulele because my fingers were too small for a guitar.

Making music, in the beginning, is often playful and then becomes increasingly professionalised. How important is playfulness for you today and if it is important, how do, concretely, you retain it?  

This is a big topic for me. I put quite a bit of attention towards retaining the playfullness.

For the new album UMDREHEN I limited the technology I used, gave myself up to a tightly knit concept and forced myself to trust the first results. I did this not to loose myself in endless options.

Another major factor for playfulness is the emotional content the music can be charged with. Thankfully there is no tech-tool to help out on that level because music and the making of it is about the condition of the human spirit.

I always try to keep that the centre of attention.

Which other producers were important for your development and what did you learn from them?

I like producers with a radical edge in the work. Radically boring, sweet, different, ugly, simple, emotional. All directions. It’s of course more about the attitude than a certain track.

To have heroes keeps the eagerness to reach further and leads it me towards my own solutions.

An important part of the creative process is forgetting.

How and for what reasons has your music set-up evolved over the years and what are currently some of the most important pieces of gear and software for you?

Surprisingly, the gear gets more and more in the background. For UMDREHEN I kept it simple with Ableton live and mostly just a set of headphones. Oh and, yes, I played a bit of trumpet for an initial sampling collection. Why the trumpet? Well I can’t really play it and have to make it sound. Somehow.

And there is midi …

What I did, is record dozens of little sections along the way as soon as some combination of sound and effects tickled me. Rough and pure ideas. These bits became part of the compositional process and it saved me from trying to find that great moment from two days ago …

Have there been technologies which have profoundly influenced, changed or questioned the way you make music?
 
Sampling is the invention that truly put me on my path. Currently more so than ever, it’s working with samples that inspires me.

For this album I created a set of effect chains in LIVE that treat the sourcematerial quite elaborately, with lots of randomness and accidents involved. It’s the old hunt for surprises.

What is the relation between innotative tools and "innovative music"?

I keep a close watch to let the flow of the music not get interrupted. For example  by new gear one has to learn. it distracts me from the creational process and this I try to avoid.

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?

Well, I choose to limit myself for not loosing myself in the ocean of options. For UMDREHEN I was setting myself some challenges like: use only samples you have created yourself!

Or, to name another extreme in the case of the last album BÖSER HERBST I used only samples from recordings from the 1920s.



From the earliest sketches to the finished piece, what does your current production workflow/process look like?

Aiming to keep the process short and swift in order to retain the initial exitement of a first sketch. But those sketches need attention and I surround them with love and they may surface as finished parts sooner than you think.

It’s content over production techique in my house.

From your experience, are there things you're doing differently than most or many other artists when it comes to gear and production?

Wheter it’s different to others I can’t say. But currently I feel the itch to reduce the palette of tools to the absolute minimum on purpose just because I just see sooo many wonderful toys flowing on the market with fantastic unheard sounds and textures. It makes me want to go the other way and use only one.

In relation to sound, one often reads words like “material”, “sculpting”, and “design”. Do you feel these terms have a relationship to your own work of and approach towards sound? Do you find using presets lazy?

I don’t like presets much. But I do like lazy.

Production tools can already suggest compositional ideas on their own. Which of these have proven particularly fruitful in this regard?

I’ll save AI for later in my life. For now i’m very happy with random accidents.

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?

My main interest and compassion is still the interactive creative process. So I don’t feel challenged by AI for the time.