INTERV IEW:

Hauschka The experimental composer has turned the piano into his own audio playground

Born in the low mountains of northern Siegerland, Volker Bertelmann (aka Hauschka) began playing piano at eight years old and studied classical piano for a decade. Aged 14, he formed his first rock band before adulthood led him to Cologne to study medicine and economics. But music remained his real passion, and in the early ’90s, Bertelmann became a full-time member of the hip-hop duo God’s Favourite Dog.

In 1995, he moved to Düsseldorf and began to draw on his classical training. Substantial (2004) was the first solo work to be released under the Hauschka pseudonym. Soon after, Bertelmann began experimenting with prepared piano using light filters, contact mics and other techniques including wrapping the strings in various materials to create a ‘drum kit’ of tones.

Bertelmann’s acoustic replications went on to create numerous leftfield neo-classical releases, both in collaboration with others and as a film soundtrack composer. He also began putting out electronic music under the alias Tonetraeger. Recently, Bertelmann released his eighth Hauschka album, What If, further exploring the radical abstractions created via prepared piano, modern software and analogue synthesis.

When you began composing your own music, did you need to go through a process of ‘unlearning’ the traditional structures you’d acquired as a classical pianist?

“To be quite honest, that’s totally the case. I’m trying to block the clichéd ways. To avoid the cliché, I try to put obstacles in the way, which I can do with preparations. Most of the music I was doing when I was a kid was with a tape recorder on my knees, playing songs from The Beatles or Queen. So I had to find my own approach without having any notation in front of me. I think that helped me find my own approach to the piano.”

When did you start to contemplate modifying the instrument to suit your own needs?

“I was actually in Wales, in the Brecon Beacons, at a friend’s place called Twin Peaks Studios. I was recording an electronic band project called Music AM, which was a trio. I thought that my piano playing wasn't so far off electronic music, but the purity of the piano meant it didn't sound like electronic music. I needed to change it and influence the sound like a synthesiser does. I tried finding ways to create a hi-hat on a string, so I used paper to get the high frequencies and the hit of a hammer… and there it was! Then I thought that if I prepared the next key as a snare, I'd be creating an analogue sampler in a way [laughs].”

What other techniques have you developed to modify the sounds of the strings? What tricks have you picked up?

“Over the years, I’ve found that light filters are much better because they have a plastic, harder attack. You can actually look at the preparation in a similar way to an ADSR generator by looking at where the attack is, how much sustain the note has, and finding a way of shaping that using various materials. I came at it more from the percussive side. I established a kind of drum kit, bass drum and snare, and now I actually put a contact mic between the hammer and the string for the bass drum, so the hammer hits the contact mic.

“I use an EBow to get long, sustained notes. The nice thing about them is that they do nothing to the tone, but when you press the key you find that you have this pad coming in that sounds like a glass harp. Finding out how these preparations are working allows you to learn different techniques, because you have to play the instrument differently.”

How is the playing process different, compared to a traditional piano?

“You have to get rid of your normal skills, because certain keys only react when you hit them very hard, and others are too loud. You have to find a way of balancing high-frequency and low-frequency sounds so it sounds like a band. That’s why I need to use a sound guy – to keep the tiger in the cage.”

On top of everything, you’re also hooked up to a mixer and a lot of kit, which gives you even more scope to tweak the sound of the piano while you’re performing…

“Absolutely! After they see a show, people are thinking, ‘Man, how did you do that?’ But it’s mostly just layers, and the complexity comes from the complexity in sonic variation. I can loop myself, and I’ll find different ways of creating pads with delays, so I can actually extend certain sounds. In a way, it’s a whole DJ production platform.”

You’re also known for not sticking to one piano every time – doesn’t that make things inconsistent? Or does it keep you on your toes?

“For every piano I’ve played – besides just one in Chicago that was already broken – they all have their strengths and weaknesses. It also depends on the room… if you play in a rock venue and the piano you’re using has an acoustic sound, you have to amplify everything. Sometimes the smaller pianos, like the Yamaha C5, work very well because they have a very controlled, boomy sound. But then when it comes to playing in more acoustic spaces, the bigger concert grands and the quality between a Steinway and a Bosendorfer, or a Yamaha C7… it all sounds very different, and you have to create a different way of approaching them. But that’s what I really love, and why I’ll never travel with the same piano all the time.”

What piano do you use in the studio?

“I have to make compromises and can’t change the piano every week, but I’ve recently decided to buy a grand piano, because I’m hoping to move to a bigger space. I’ll actually need it if I’m going to do more film work or to make more records in my home.