New Album Coming together with Ron Boots

It has been a while since I wrote something, but I have some good news to share. There is a new album coming together with Ron Boots. As you may know Ron and I have become very good friends over the past years and we did two albums together before. Both those albums were created during a holiday were we brought some synthesizers. And we thought it was time to do that again. So we booked a house in the Belgian Ardennes for 4 days and went there together with Monique and Sonja. We did not only make music of course we also visited the Bastogne War museum and we went to the Chouffe shop and brewery. My favorite beer :) We also visited Frank van Bogaert and his wife Pieke and had some of those Chouffes and a lovely dinner with them. All in all we had a great time. 

 It was so much fun working with Ron again. It was way too long ago. It is amazing how quickly we can create a track together. It feels very natural to play with Ron. For me it was a bit harder this time than the previous two times we did this though. The last years I didn't play much unfortunately due to lack of time caused. by both my divorce, moving a couple of times and starting a new company again. So my playing was a bit rusty from time to time. Ron brought his notebook with Cubase to record
everything with a multi track audio interface, so we could do some retakes from time to time. Mistakes mostly on my side :) But in four days time we created a lot of new music.

 I know some of you are gear heads and are always wondering which instruments we brought. Ron brought his UDO Audio Super 6 which is really a power house of a synth. Ron also brought some VST's that we only used for some drums to have some rhythm to go on. I brought the Expressive E Osmose that I recently received after I backed it on Kickstarter long ago, also my Roland Gaia and the Behringer Solina strings. I took me some time to get used to the Osmose keyboard, but it is amazing what you can do with it. The Gaia I brought because it holds my favorite lead sound. The Solina really surprised me, I used to have an Eminent 310 in my studio for those Solina strings, but I think the Behringer actually sounds better and it is a lot easier to carry :) 

So I can hear you ask the question already. When will the album be ready. I don't know for sure. First we will have to listen the tracks back and select which ones will make the album. And then usually we want to do a bit of extra producing and of course mixing and mastering. And in the mean time I'm also still working on my PaleaonTology solo album and time is limited for me at the moment. As you might know I moved to Boxtel now (near Ron's house) and that does make it easier now to work together. And also finally my studio is running in the new house. I will do a separate post about that soon. I will update you on the progress of this album and also PalaeonTology when I have more information. I will try to reserve more time for studio work the coming months, but I'm also quite busy with my new company ArtiLED. Thanks for reading and if you have questions just send me an E-mail. Thanks Ron, Monique and Sonja for a lovely time in the Ardennes!

 

Synth.NL - TimeTravel officially release on CD and Download

 

Yesterday (12/12/21) my record label Groove Unlimited officially released my Fifth Solo album called TimeTravel. It is kind of different from my previous solo releases. In the last years I released a lot of single tracks on different sampler CDs. Some were for sale like the 'Dutch Masters' and 'Analogy 3' albums by Groove Unlimited, but I also donated some tracks to the German Electronic Music Club Schallwende. They give a free sampler CD every year to their members, so these tracks were never really available for everyone. There is also new (well actually old) material on the album, some tracks that were never released at all. One track that didn't make my AeroDynamics debut album because I had 68 minutes of music already and two old tracks that I found on my computer and decided to finish. All tracks haven been completely re-mixed and re-mastered by my good friend Ron Boots. So even if you have the Schallwende CDs: These versions are different and they are released as download in higher quality as well (48 kHz/24 bit). The artwork was done by my youngest daughter Tamara van Osenbruggen. I'm very proud of that and she will do more for me in the future. I hope you like it. I really do. This album is dedicated to my lovely daughters Joyce and Tamara. I know the divorce has been hard on them. I hope you like the music. At least it was a nice Travel back in Time for me :)You can find more information on my website: https://www.synth.nl/music/albums/timetravel. It is available as physical CD and also as download from both Groove Unlimited as BandCamp.

Synth.NL visits Iceland - North Video

 It has been a while but finally I went on a short holiday again. I visited Iceland with my girlfriend Sonja and we had a great time. We were there for two weeks and took a lot of pictures and did some filming. The first week we visited the North part of the Island and now we understand why it is called ICE land :) It started snowing when we arrived and it was very cold because of the hard wind. Here is a short video from that first week with some fast impressions and some Synth.NL music from my AtmoSphere album. The video from the second week will come later since I didn't finish it yet. I hope you enjoy it.

TimeTravel already up for Pre-order from Groove Unlimited

 

Hi everyone. I'm happy to inform you than Ron Boots has finished Remixing and Mastering my TimeTravel album. The artwork is done and CDs are being produced as I write this. You can already pre-order the CD is you want a physical product directly from Groove Unlimited (my record label). They will send the CD out as soon as they arrive from the factory and you will be the first to have it. The album will also be available as a download later on both from the Groove Unlimited download shop and from BandCamp including the artwork. The download will be available as 48 Khz 24/32 (not sure yet) Bit as well. You can order the CD on this URL: http://www.groove.nl/jump2.php?artiest=synth.nl I will update you as soon as the album is officially released with the other buying options. Thank you all for your continued support.

TimeTravel Music and Artwork Finished. Release still 2021.

I'm sorry to have been quiet for a while again. I have been very busy with my new company ArtiLED and I also had some trouble with my ears and lost quite some time being ill. So I'm very behind schedule. I planned to release TimeTravel at the E-live festival in October but I won't make it unfortunately. The artwork is done and the music is done, but I'm still working on the final mixes and mastering with Ron Boots. We had a version ready, but I was not completely satisfied with it and now I'm going on a much needed holiday to Iceland first. So we will pick it up after my holiday. It will still be released in 2021 but only a little bit later. I won't attend E-live either because of the holiday. I really wanted to be there and see you all again, but I couldn't plan the holiday on another time. We are going with an organized tour with fixed dates.

I also did some work on PalaeonTology but I'm only on an estimate 60% of the album now. So that one is definitely postponed until 2022 now. I'm sorry about that. I'm really looking forward to let you hear some new music. It has been too long. But luckily there will be some new music on TimeTravel as well. And we remixed all the tracks that were released on samplers as well, so they are all shiny and new and we even did some small tweaks to some tracks. I'm also happy to say the besides a CD release (44 Khz/16 bit) there will also be a download version of this album in 48 Khz / 24 bit. So much better quality. From now on this will be the case for all future music I release. I will update you as soon as I know a release date or have more information about the album. Thank you all for your continued support and patience.

PalaeonTology Cover Revealed

I'm currently working hard on both the music and the artwork for my upcoming new solo album. The album will be called PalaeonTology and it is inspired by dinosaurs. This album will be a travel through some of the more well know prehistoric periods and will feature several dinosaur species. On land, in the water and in the air. I already have about 60% of the album done and the plan was to release it in October on the E-live festival by Groove Unlimited in Eindhoven in The Netherlands. I'm afraid I didn't make it. It will postponed until 2022. I cannot be there either unfortunately. Normally on my concept albums I use a lot of sound I sampled. That is of course a bit hard with extinct species. So I did some sound design inspired by Jurassic Park and made my own dinosaur sounds. Can't wait to let you here those, but for now here is the cover of the album. I hope you like it. I will show more of the artwork and the album later. You can already fine the track list on this link: https://www.synth.nl/music/upcoming/palaeontology
 

New Album coming called TimeTravel

I have some good news. I told you before I'm working on a new solo album called PalaeonTology,  but there is another album coming very soon. It will be called TimeTravel and it is kind of different. In the past years I released a lot of single tracks on different samplers. Some where for sale like the Dutch Masters and Analogy 3 album by Groove Unlimited. But I also donated some tracks to the German Electronic Music Club Schallwende. They give a sampler CD every year to their members, so these tracks were never really for sale for everyone. There is also new (well actually old) material on the album. Some track that were never released. One track that didn't make my AeroDynamics debut album because I had 68 minutes already. And 2 old tracks that I found on my computer and decided to finish. All track will be completely re-mixed and mastered by my good friend Ron Boots. The artwork was done by my youngest daughter Tamara van Osenbruggen. I'm very proud of that and she will do more for me in the future. I hope you like it. I really do. I will show more of the artwork later. You can read a little bit about the album here already: https://www.synth.nl/music/upcoming/timetravel

BorkHavn Nominated for Schallwelle Best Album of 2020!

I have exiting news. The BorkHavn album I released together with Ron Boot is nominated for the Schallwelle Preis best album of the year 2020. We are in the top five which is pretty nice of course. People could vote on their favorite album on their website so I'm very honored that you chose our album. Thank you very much! Now a jury will decide I guess. Normally there is an award ceremony in Germany but because of Corona it will be done online now. You can read more about the award and the other nominees on this website: https://schallwelle-preis.de/. And in case you didn't know. My albums 'OceanoGraphy' and 'Apollo' did win this album of the year award in the past. So be sure to check them out if you haven't heard them. So fingers crossed :)

BorkHavn Video - Venskab

Bellerob did it again! Rob has a very popular video channel on YouTube and he made a very nice video from the last track of the BorkHavn album I did together with Ron Boots. You can find it here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP1tboVoXmA Do give Rob a thumbs up on this and subscribe to his channel. More information about the album here: https://www.synth.nl/borkhavn. I also put the video for you to enjoy below. Thank you Rob.

 

BorkHavn Review by Sonic Immersion

Another very nice review came in on the BorkHavn album I did together with Ron Boots. This time by Bert Strolenberg of Sonic Immersion. He gave our album 4 stars. Which is actually a lot since Bert very rarely gives our more and he put the 'My Choice' label on the review which mean he would buy the album himself. You can find the review on his website on this url: http://www.sonicimmersion.org/ron-boots-synthnl-borkhavn/. I also put the text of the review below. 

More information on the album here: https://www.synth.nl/music/collaborations/borkhavn

Ron Boots & Synth.nl – BorkHavn
CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Groove Unlimited, 2020

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Many will recall Ron & Michel’s fine debut album “Refuge en Verre” based on music drafts made during a vacation of both families in Belgium. A decade later “BorkHavn” sees the light of day, distilled from live improvised music made in a similar setting a few years later during a vacation in Denmark. Make no mistake though as “BorkHavn” is a different sonic breed as its predecessor. As the musicians elaborate in the liner notes, the music is an true expression of their friendship. It’s also a powerful statement showing how both musicians complement each other in a surprising as well as beautiful manner.

The nine tracks feature emotive electronic music with a strong dynamic current connecting them. Many string pads and drums pass by on the outcome taking various twists and turns as its progresses. There’s the dynamic undercurrent sensed on the engaging opening title. Things take on an energizing orchestral/symphonic shape “Nordsøen”, entering psychedelic-infused and slightly experimental territory on “Gåpåmod”, firing off a powerful sequencer-lead on the jolly “Hjortebøf” while reflective sonic universes open up on “Stjernekiggeri” and “Torden”. Energy runs high on the freestyle yet groovy “Vindmøller” with a slice of “Acoustic Shadows” thrown in on the first half before the lush “Venskab” brings the album to a closure.

If you want an album with solid, attentively-made electronic music, “BorkHavn” should be your pick without hesitation.

Website: http://www.groove.nl

 
 

Working on New Solo Material

Now that BorkHavn is finished I started working on new music for my new solo albums. Yes multiple! The last 7 years I recorded quite some music, but never got to finishing it. So I'm slowly starting to open all these projects and begin working on those tracks. One of my solo projects is going to be about dinosaurs so hence the new name for my studio called the 'Jurassic' studio now and the accompanying Jurassic Park T-shirt. My Girlfriend Sonja took this picture for the upcoming Schallwelle sampler release, but I thought it was a nice idea to share it with you as well. I'm also working on the music I recorded a couple of years ago for two planetarium shows. That will be released in the future as well with some new tracks and I have another surprise album planned with old and new material. So lots to come.

During the work on this new music I did encounter a problem though. It turned out I used a Virus TI polar as a plugin and didn't record this as audio because I thought I would never sell it. I only had the midi notes. But because of the divorce I did sell it :/ I had to find a solution for that. So the first new addition to the 'Jurassic Studio' is this used Access Virus TI2 desktop module. Fortunately I did backup the sounds I programmed for it so all projects I used it in are working again. Another nice thing to mention is that I did the artwork for two of these upcoming albums together with my youngest daughter Tamara van Osenbruggen. She is learning media design in school. I'm very proud of the outcome and will share it with you soon. I will try to put more updates online from now on about the progress of my ongoing projects. And do let me know if you have any questions for me. I'd be happy to answer them.

 

Creating 640 Sound Effects for my upcoming Solo Album

I just released the album BorkHavn together with Ron Boots, but I'm already working as well on new solo material. In the last 7 years since my last release I recorded quite some material. But usually that are just rough track ideas that need to be worked out. Not to forget finalize with small details in the form of sound effects like rises, synth modulation sounds and so on that make a song much more detailed and interesting. With the first album I created I did this during the final moments and found out that is costs a lot of time. Since my second album I started to dedicate a whole week to this process. I pick out a couple of synthesizers and start creating sound on sound on sound.

After that I start listening everything back and cut out the sounds I like. I usually make everything in random order like drum sounds, percussion sounds, sweeps and wooshes, modulation sounds and some weird stuff. Sometime on purpose sometimes by accident :) Last week I made 640 of such sounds. The hardest part actually is to come up with names for them. You can also see which synthesizers I used. I have 4 rack mounted Behringer clone synths that were very suitable for this work, because they are also semi-modular and easily patchable to another. I have done this proces for every solo album I released so I have lots of sounds. One day I might even release a sample CD with only these sounds. If you are interested let me know ;) I thought it would be nice to share this step in my creative proces with you for a change. Michel, Synth.NL

Ron Boots & Synth.NL BorkHavn Released Today!

Today is the day. After 7 years I finally have an official release again. 8 years ago Ron Boots and myself went on a family holiday in Denmark and took some synthesizers and notebooks with us. During the day we enjoyed the nature with our families and did some nice stuff and in the evening Ron and myself went in the small improvised studio and started improvising on our own. All music on the album was recorded live and was improvised in that holiday house. 8 years later we picked the best parts and finished them in our studios and eventually did the end mixing in Ron's studio and Ron also did the mastering. I did the artwork. The music is a bit more modern film music than classic EM we think, but judge for yourself. You can listen to some excerpts on my website on this URL: https://www.synth.nl/borkhavn and you can also listen on bandcamp here: https://synthnl.bandcamp.com/album/borkhavn. You can also buy the album there as MP3 or FLAC. You can also buy it directly from Ron's record label Groove Unlimited from these links.

Physical CD with Jewel Case: http://www.groove.nl/jump2.php?artnum=GR-299
FLAC download including all the artwork: https://shop.groove.nl/gr-299-flac
MP3 download including all the artwork: https://shop.groove.nl/gr-299-mp3

I hope you like it. Let me know if you have any question. 

Another Synth.NL track will be released in 2020

 I was asked by the German Electronic Music Club Schallwende to submit a track for their upcoming SchallPlatte 23 sampler album. They normally release these albums once a year and most of the times there is a theme. This is a special release for their members because all concerts have been canceled due to Corona. I though this was a good idea and I spend some time creating a track called 'Gemini' inspired by the Gemini space program. They liked the track so it was selected and will be on that album. It will be released by the end of 2020. It is not for sale. It is only for members of the club. You can read more information about Schallwende here: http://www.schallwen.de/. I will give more information on this project when the album is released.

BorkHavn CD Pre-Order possible at Groove.NL now!

 Ron finished the mastering of the BorkHavn CD and I finished the artwork. I did make a mistake so we had to reprint the inlay, which caused a bit of delay. Sorry Ron :) But the CD is done and currently being produced. It will be available very soon. You can already pre-order the CD from the Groove Webshop at this URL: 

 http://www.groove.nl/jump2.php?artnum=GR-299

I expect the CD's to be coming from the factory later this week and I guess shipping will be starting next week. Let me know if you need any help. There will be a digital download version both as MP3 and WAV later on as well.