After taking already part in 2019, I had been given another chance the opportunity to participate at the SciFi-Festival 2021, again as part of the Long Night of the Museums in Munich.

I teamed up with two of my best friends – Michael Klemm and Sebastian Stallenberger. Every project needs a name, so we gave ourselfs the name follow_the_matter.

Our setup next to the rest of the A/V equipment

Concept

The concept was very different from the 2019 installation – we were asked to do “DJ-ing” during the “Hebocon”, which is a fight event between various robots and one of the main acts of the SciFi-Festival. I never did something like this before, my primary focus has been composing orchestral music.

One of the planning sessions on our dining table

In the beginning it was tough to find a way into this task, but after a while we got som structure in this. We realized that we would have to see this project as coming up with a soundtrack and sound effects for a video game like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, or Tekken.

All we had to do was to come up with audio concept for all of these phases, compose or collect music, and enrich that with sound effects to get more punch into the robot fights and the crowd. Thus we began to search for free music, evaluate licenses, create own music, select sound effects, create loops, come up with a working and stable 3-person-setup, and so on and so on.

First live performance

This was the first time I had to perform anything live, and of course I was very nervous. But although our setup was quite complex and on top of that embedded into the much bigger setup of the Deutsches Museum, things worked out perfectly.

After the show: Stalli and me listening to his great composition a last time, certainly as the last persons who ever sat on a couch in the middle of the Ehrensaal. The room will now be renovated for half a decade. Mindblowing!

There are no exact numbers, but we assume to have had an audience of 50-100 persons during every time of the 3h event. Not bad for the very first live performance!

One of the official press photos

Thanks Michi and Stalli for this great experience!