HISTORY

People often ask me: A sound maker – is that something like a rainmaker, a clown, an illusionist? Do they still exist today?
Yes, they still exist. Yes, they really do create illusions; in the studio, for example, when sound effects are needed, such as a gigantic forest fire, bones breaking or a galloping horse.

Of course, the Foley artist cannot recreate all sound effects; there is also the sound engineer – as well as the sound libraries. Generally, the Foley artist starts his work when the capabilities of the archive have been exhausted and the sound engineer has run out of ideas.
You think that everything already exists in the archive?
That is what I once believed as well, and if I think back to the beginning of my career I would never have dreamt of the type of world that would open up before me.

Originally my dream was to become a cameraman, so therefore after my apprenticeship as a photographer I chose a career in film editing. As an editor I learned to look at the dramaturgy of motion pictures in a new way and I quickly began to understand the key role played by sound in any movie.

Due to the fact that the soundtrack was a regular part of my work, I encountered Foley artists for the first time, such as Willy Kluth, Heiner Hars or Hans Walter Kramski. They made quite an impression on me with their ability to create sound effects with the use of unusual methods.

I soon recognized that my true calling was working with soundtracks and therefore decided to increase my knowledge in this area by working as a sound engineer for dubbing and mixing.
Here I also had the opportunity to discover and respect the work of Foley artists and started to consciously utilize my knowledge in sound engineering to additionally support them in their work.

Fascinated by these experiences, I started to experiment after work with different resonance bodies in the studio. In order to better evaluate the various microphone types and positions I worked with headphones. Thus I was able to control the entire signal path and to take advantage of the abundance of engineering capabilities for creating various sounds.
That was new.

To gain experience, I practiced creating sound effects in synchronization with completed productions, since this is one of the Foley artist’s main tasks. Over the years I filled a multitude of trunks with Foley props, which I had collected during my daily routine and at flea-markets and which often had to be specially prepared.

The colorful spectrum of assignments, which I created for myself — from motion pictures to TV, radio plays and advertising – has continually inspired my creativity and imagination.

My collection continues to grow, because the great variety of sounds, which I had created to bring pictures to life, is almost unbelievable.