Interview with Roland Sebastian Faber, June 2008
- Roland, tell us about your musical background, how came the inspiration to become a producer?
I’ve grown up in berlin with a lot of electronic music. I remember buying my first Klaus Schulze record with 12 years old. It turned out to be an adult movie sound track “bodylove” i was hooked.
My main influcences are, apart from all the other brilliant music in the eightees we used to listen to me and my friends: Klaus Schulze (the guru), Tangerine Dream, Ashra Tempel, Jean Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk, Soft Cell, Human League, Vangelis, Isao Tomita, Giorgio Moroder, Cockteau Twins and Pink Floyd.
In 1989 I moved to london to get my foot into the door of music production and because it was at the time and still is the wildest city.
-Any good memories?
A lot of good memories like the first time I heard Klaus Schluze or Oxygene.
I was so young and I kept saying I like to have a synthesizer. For us the idea of a huge wall of knobs and cables was unaffordable.
And of course by the time I recieved from my mum and dad my first synth, a roland jx3p, I was 15 and I thouht I was the luckiest kid in the world. I still own it.
- How would you describe the evolution of the electronic music ?
Electronic music changed forever with the virtual laptop ipod generation.
It is a good thing that anyone at least is getting the chance to have a go at it.
My concern is that virtual synths do not even sound close to the power of analogue and that some younger kids might never know on what these colourfull virtual plug ins are based on.
- Which instruments are using for composing?
I’m using the mac with logic of course like others use cubase on pc. But most of the instruments I m using are classic rolands, moog, seqential, korg.
I’ m very fond of odd misfit synths aswell like the bizarre farfisa synths and strange presets hybrids but if its analogue I propably like it.
- Your new project is called Roland Sebastian Faber , tell us the story behind…
I made some music like berliner schule for myself for a long time. The berliner schule always had a special place in my heart. But to be honest I didn’t have an output for it. It wasn’t the right time. But my feeling changed and after so many years of house clubs and medioca pop bands we are now ready to revive it. Something different from the past but remixed for the future.
- How does the RSF project ´s future look like?
I am ultimatley working towards an album. Hopefully then my music will be used for differents purposes too. I can bring with this project across the initial exitement of an era when synths were big and had soul.
-You are working with an independent label aube.records, which future does this kind of label have ?
I met Michael when keen k /divider and I (Starcluster) remixed a track for him for clone records “we like moroder”. After a lot of talking I realised we are on the same wavelenght and they at aube.records have the same desire to revive these types of production. A good small label might offer something the bigger ones have over looked and before you know it the small becomes big.
- RSF live ?
Of course, it is a great challenge that to combine the old ways of analogue with the convenience of laptops and modern gadgets on stage
- Thank you!
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