Name: Kurt Ader
Nationality: German
Occupation: Producer, composer, sound designer
Current release: Hydragate, Kurt's new release with S.A.W., also featuring Johannes Schmoelling, Andreas Mertz, and Robert Waters, is out via M.i.G.

[Read our Johannes Schmoelling interview]

If you enjoyed this Kurt Ader interview and would like to know more about his music, visit him on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter.



Can you talk a bit about your interest in or fascination for sound and what sparked it?

I started organ lessons at the age of 15 and was quickly bored by the built-in timbres.

In 1977 I bought my first monophonic synthesizer, a MiniMoog, and that's when the pioneering work with sound design began.

What have been some of the most beautiful/intriguing sounds you've heard and some of the most beautifully/intriguingly sounding places you've been to?

I have always been most enthusiastic about a classical orchestra. My special preference in the orchestra are the string instruments but of course I also like other sounds. The important thing is that they have life, are extraordinary and unique.

I'm actually quite happy to live in Germany but of course I've also been to many other countries as a sound designer ... like Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo, London, Milan, Paris ....

I'd be curious how and when your interest in sound design started. How does it compare to your interest in making music and what inter-relations? How much creativity do you see in sound design?

As I said before, that was with the purchase of my MiniMoog. That's actually when it all started.

Of course it is the most fun when you use your own sounds within a band or in your own music. Who can transmit the feeling of the created sound better than the inventor of the sound? ;-)

Do you tend to find it lazy if artists use presets for their music? When, on the other hand, does tweaking a sound to perfection, get in the way of the music making?

No, not at all. That's why the profession of sound designer exists!

There is nothing more beautiful when a musician is satisfied with the sounds offered to him and he can express himself so emotionally.

How does one “get into sound design”? What were your first jobs and what was your learning curve like?

I have always had a great interest in sounds and sound design and it never stops.

Constantly you have some new ideas or challenges to get better and better. It is my passion and my life's work.

In terms of commercial sound design, what makes for a great sound?

The sound must be perfect for the user.

There can be very deep/high/loud/quiet/grating/delicate sounds and many more. Are there extremes in sound you are particularly interested in - and what response do they elicit in you?

Basically, sounds trigger emotions and that is also very important.

For example, I like natural sounds like bird twittering or factory noises mixed with atmospheric sounds from my modular synthesizer and then I sample this sound and process it further until it is in my perfection as a new sound.

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? What are the “material” qualities of sound?

Yes clearly everything you have listed is art and you can relate it to painting or sculpture, even sound design is a style of art.

Can you briefly touch on your work with Jordan Rudess – how was contact established and how did you add to their projects? Where, exactly, can we hear the sounds you worked on with them?

I met Jordan Rudess through the vice president of KORG. That was in 2015 at the NAMM Show in Los Angeles and it has become a real friendship. We are constantly in contact and Jordan loves my sounds.

One CD of Dream Theater I know for sure where Jordan used many of my sounds was the album THE ASTONISHING ;-)

You have a very special relationship with Korg. What makes their synthesizers great from a sound perspective?

The company KORG is very close to my heart. I am in constant contact with the developers and my wishes are also realized in products.

I am fascinated by the possibilities of processing in the devices, especially in the KORG KRONOS and Nautilus. For me, these are absolute creative machines for sound design.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of one of your sounds, pieces, or live performances that's particularly dear to you, please?

On our album Hydragate you can hear a lot of my sounds and I am always happy to inspire the members of S.A.W. with my sound colors.

One of the stand-out tracks of Hydragate, to me, is “Surface of Illusion,” which has incredible sensuality in its sounds and this gentle, yet insistent melodic and rhythmic pull. What do you still remember about the making of this particular track?

The beauty of S.A.W. is that each and every one of us contributes to a title and the only thing that really counts for us is the final result of the project.

Hydragate, both in terms of composition and sound design, seems to be aiming for a balance between the past and the present. How did that process work in practise and which equipment you used to realise it?

The balance of a composition and the arrangement with the sounds is always very important to us. Yes, it sounds a bit like electronic music from the eighties and today. That was intentional ;-)

We used a lot of synths but I'll just list the most famous ones: KORG KRONOS, Radias, Roland Jupiter 8, MKS-80, PPG Wave 2.2, Cybersound Modular, Moog One …

Very specific sounds can be considered as pleasant – as in ASRM – or extremely disagreeable – as in Misophonia. Do you have any experience with this and ideas on the relation between certain sounds and strong emotional responses?

Yes, of course, as a sound designer you should know how to deal with it. But of course it also depends on how you use the sounds in compositions.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Well, I don't think that preparing a cup of coffee is particularly creative :-)

But writing a piece of music, or rather composing it, has a completely creative process and you can integrate feelings into the music and they create emotions in the listener.