Name: Søren Siebel aka Bas Grossfeldt
Occupation: Producer, sound artist, composer
Nationality: German
Recent release: Bas Grossfeldt's WE ARE NOW is out December 9th 2022 via Prince Madonna.
Recommendations on the topic of sound: Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

If you enjoyed these thoughts by Bas Grossfeldt and would like to find out more about his work, visit his official website.  He is also on Soundcloud.

If you'd like to keep reading, we recommend our Shaw & Grossfeldt interview about his duo project with James Shaw.



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

Can’t explain what sparked it. Guess it is just perception, sounds are doing the same to me, as for example physical touches do.

It’s intense, very direct translation into a feeling.

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

90s Hip Hop, Rock & Reggae. Mobb Deep: crazy atmospheric overall approach. Artists like Jay-Z, J-Live, Bahamadia, Grand Agent, Mos Def. The Who, Bo Diddley. Also Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, Kano, UK-Stuff. Grime and 2Step.

And then came the electronics: Detroit Techno, Andres, Laurie Spiegel, Suzanne Ciani, Aphex of course.

[Read our Suzanne Ciani interview]

But most contemporary I guess: Actress opened a whole new world for me.

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

Growing up in a household with not much music, I had to search for stuff on my own from an early age. It gave me a sense of belonging and admiration, knowing stuff others did not, digging, finding stuff. And it made me curious about breaking genre borders.

I was and am drawn to every kind of music, from Techno to Indie, from Pop to Hip Hop, from Calypso to Classic Rock, from experimental electronics to R&B.

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 don’t work with field recordings in that sense, but sometimes I am just drawn to sounds, try to sample or recreate them.

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?

The perspectives between listener and creator blur and give you different, new approaches, listening and creating.

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?

I try to just work intuitively. It’s kind of the only pure intuitive escape I have. Being trapped in my head a lot of times, music is my escape route.

And we all and thus also our creative works, are just the results of our environments and historic lines. So I don’t see myself in any specific lineage there.

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

Looooooveeeee noises, the rhythmical and atmospheric potential of noise and crackles is endless … Combined with warm pads and grooves, it's magic …

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?

Well, my good friend Matt Karmil, who was a huge help and influence and still is, always told me: you don’t need any equipment to do music. If you have a computer, it is fine. Even if you don’t and have just one synth or something, you're still fine.

So I am not a friend of that object fetish in electronic music for example. It’s about the vibe and feeling you transport. Equipment is nice, but not important at all.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t give my Elektron Monomachine away for the world.

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

I work with my own recordings and samples a lot and process them through all kinds of stuff and try to do “outside the box” stuff with it a lot. I organize them by influences, references to other artists and emotions …

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?

I guess every process is different. What’s is always most important is the vibe.

The WE ARE NOW album now is kind of the most personal thing I did so far and it was an intense struggle. I can’t really describe the process, I guess it was ten days of crying in Matt Karmil’s studio in Bristol, which he let me use while he was away.

And then, all of a sudden, something came out of it, also then going to my dear friends Jas Shaw studio near London to finish it. This process of emotions, vibes, surroundings, personal influences was more important than any specific "sound-technique process“ to be honest …

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

Basically all the sounds I am drawn to, I can’t manage to recreate. Can be in a Baby Keem song or wherever.

And then, always the same conclusion: what do you do when you recreate a sound which is already there? It’s boring, so I try to just come up with my own aesthetics which are obviously influenced by a lot of stuff.

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

The space in between is the most interesting space there is.

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?

Love my noise cancelling headphones with no music playing.

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?

Well, sound is probably one of the most direct influences on your body you can get. It “happens“ inside of you and most of the time you can’t hide.

So it’s the same experience, no matter what goes into your ears.

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?

I am still looking for a way to create my dark-flashlight, phasing out the light frequencies of a space.