My name is Stéphane and live in Berlin, Germany. I am a big music fan, my favourite artists are Chicane, ATB, Kai Tracid, Jean Michel Jarre.
Already in 1986 with 9 I begun to learn the music theory and played on a Yamaha Electone. After a few years I bought a Roland E-70 and begun to animate parties for some associations, clubs...Later I bought a Roland U-20 and a Roland Mc-50 MK2 sequencer to compose/program my own songs, I was fed up from the rythms from the E-70. I was then able to compose my own songs/arrangements. I begun to reproduce Jean Michel Jarre Songs...I found that exciting!
Then I was beginnig to compose my own tracks. However I was missing correct basses and cool sounds... Then I bought the Roland D-20. With that keyboard you can could change settings as Cut off, Resonance....Better for electronic music...Then came the Groovebox MC-303. I tried this machine in a music shop and thought "Whowwww crazy machine (with sounds from Tr-909, Tb-303...)" - > I MUST have it! In 1998 I bought one and had a lot of fun.
I think this machine was a commercial success. Perhaps that's why Roland organized a European Groovebox Contest. I participated in France and was in Paris under the 10 finalists! There you had to play your song live, and jury should decide, who would represent France in the European final. And who was jury president? Jean Michel Jarre! It was unbelievable to speak with him and he signed my Groovebox! But I don't won the final...
One year later there was again this contest and participated in Germany and France and was qualified for both finals. Best result was third place in Paris.
In 2000 I bought a Yamaha Csx-1 and with my sequencer and the Groovebox I composed some songs.
In 2001 I bought a computer and didn't know it was possible to make music with such a machine. At the beginning I bought Cubasis and VST instruments... I found this way of making music more flexible and more simply than working with hardware, the quality of VST instruments impressed me. Then I bought more and more VST of instruments, Wavelab, Cubase SX and some books over digital audio Editing (mastering, dynamics...).
I sent demo CDs again and again, but didn't really become response/feedback. Then I thought it would be cool when other people listen to my music, and give me some critics/feedback. I found a good site, www.myownmusic.de, and I began to upload each song I composed. There I became positive feedback, have been in the Trance Charts. It helped me to get better and to correct my errors.
By coincidence in 2005 I discovered Orca records and I sent a demo CD, and...I signed my first contract! It was always a dream for me!
The first album "Harmony" was out the 22 July 2005, the second album "Story of a day" is out now! The album is intended to reflect the passage of 24h day. Each track invits you to imagine a moment of this day, like waking up, dancing, chilling, or watching the sea...Simply close your eyes and listen to the sounds!
Now my dream is to become a great fan community!
In the next time I will begin to compose the next album, "Story of another day". I'm very motivated!
Future waits...
All the songs were made with Cubase SX 2.2. I use two computers (2*P4 3GHz & 2.8GHz), and FX Teleport to share the VST computing between the two machines. Following instruments have been used in the songs:
Atmosphere, Pro 52, FM7, XPhraze, Plex, the Grand, A1, Korg Digital Edition, JX 16, Hypersonic, Neon, Da Cota, Model-E, Embracer, Monologue, Micro-Tera, Plugsound Vol 1-6. For the drums I used LM4 XXL, Groove Agent and some Wizoo Samples (Acoustic drums). The hall comes from Spinaudio, Roomverb 2.
Monitoring: Alesis Monitor One 2 Speakers with amplifier and headphones AKG K240.
