Now, interestingly, not that you would necessarily do so but coming from a family of engineers, and perhaps being raised perhaps to be a little more logical or practical, did you decide you’d heard enough and just say, “I don’t want to bother learning music and theory, I just want to make noise?”
RH :: No, not at all. First of all, I was for a very long time doing music without even feeling that I have the right to do so because I’m so uneducated. Being a sound engineer and mastering engineer and all these things I did, helped me to justify what I’m doing, mentally. It took quite some time in personal development until I was able to say, “No, actually, I make music, and this is what I like to do.” In general, I really enjoy learning. I find it sometimes really hard. There’s a lot of stuff I had to learn, which I perceived as really difficult, but like certain things that have to do with programming, which involve mathematics, and I hate mathematics. But it was clear to me, okay, I have to force myself through it because I need it.
Oh! It’s fascinating to hear you say that. Because from knowing your music then seeing the studio behind you, clearly you have no issue with getting elbow deep into complex electronic stuff. But I get it, though because I have ADHD, and COVID made my reading comprehension worse for whatever reason so in order get work done now I have to sit down and put on what I call my “study burqa” which is a hoodie I pull in to cover my face so only my eyes show. Because I can’t focus otherwise. Sorry, I apologize for interrupting.
RH :: No, it’s all fine. What I wanted to say is I like to understand things, and that includes reading the fucking manual at some point or having a coffee or a tea somewhere with a big user manual and go through it. But what I also noticed, and it has to do certainly with age, is that my tolerance for things that are too complicated gets lower and lower. So if I use an instrument and I find the user interface awkward, it needs to go. I’m not willing to cope with that. Or if I lead to learning a software and I hate the interface. And when I was younger –
Let a younger man figure that out!
RH :: Exactly. When I was younger, I would probably have seen or I would have felt I needed to understand all that. And something that, again, also comes with age, is I don’t have the feeling that I need to understand more things because I have more tools in here than I could ever use in 1,000 years. I don’t need to buy another synthesizer, and I don’t need to read another manual. I can just work with what’s in here for the rest of my life. My collector’s persona, of course, is always looking at eBay and he’s thinking, Oh, I could get that. But I just recently decided against buying yet another vintage effects unit simply because I don’t need it.
Okay, but what was it? I have to hear.
RH :: An AMS delay pitch shifter.
Ohh nice!
RH :: Yeah, I know it’s beautiful, but it was too expensive. That’s my excuse.
I’d have gotten it sadly. Do you have to hide things from your wife?
RH :: My wife is an electronic musician and DJ.
Really? How did I not know this?
RH :: Her artist’s name is Electric Indigo.
Oh wow! I’m going to check out her sets. But how did I not know this?
RH :: No, that’s totally fine. We don’t make a big fuss out of it. But that definitely helps.
I’m sure. Maybe I should get my wife into music just so I can say, “Well, baby, we need a Linndrum LM-1!”
RH :: Susanne is the one who says, “Robert, you don’t. We need that.” But Susanne is also the one who says, “Well, if you really like it, then get it.”
Ah, she’s very wise. My wife was very understanding when I was going through my retail therapy and boxes were being dropped off by UPS almost daily.
RH :: (LAUGHS) I really like “retail therapy” as a phrase.
(LAUGHS ) It really is a good one. But at some point after my father died I realized I’m not going to bring him back by buying a Waldorf Iridium, though it will feel exciting for a moment. Then one day she got tired of seeing more boxes and said, “I think we need to have a talk.”
RH :: (LAUGHS) Hey, thanks so much. It was really nice talking with you.
You’re welcome. It was a pleasure. Again, I’m just so grateful that I get to talk to people who I’ve idolized and who’ve been my heroes. But to find out they’re A, human, and B, not assholes, always a pleasure. Congratulations. If I may say: “Du bist kein Arschloch.”
RH :: (LAUGHS) Thanks. I try my best.
Studio is available on Imbalance Computer Music. [Bandcamp]
