A highly regarded live performer and producer, Hannes Bieger has been touring the world since 2018 with his ambitious live show, producing a series of acclaimed releases and a stunning album. Hannes’ journey from producer to engineer, back to producing and live performance has equipped him with the knowledge and ability to operate at the top of his game.
In the years since he returned to his solo endeavours, Hannes has notched up several chart-topping singles, widespread DJ support and performances at some of the world’s most prestigious electronic music events, and he has been voted 13th best live act in the world in Faze Mag’s 2020 poll. Determined, driven and downright talented Hannes Bieger is a mixing and production powerhouse with a live show that demonstrates his uncanny ability to channel deep emotion and infectious rhythm into every composition.
His latest EP sees Hannes return to Poker Flat Recordings for the first time since his 2019 smash ‘Chemistry’. Bieger matches his studio mastery with an innate sense of what the dancefloor needs, and has made significant impact in the scene with re- leases on the likes of Bedrock and Awesome Soundwave. Here, he brings two stunning new tracks to the surface via ‘The Heart’ EP.
Hi Hannes – how’s your year been so far?
Hi! It’s been a strange and challenging year so far for sure, but I have the feeling we’re finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. After building my studio last year I really began to get settled in the new place earlier this year, and now I am working on new material after not being able to get much done last year as a consequence of the circumstances, corona, the studio moving and everything else. I’ll get my second vaccine jab shortly, booking requests are starting to come in again, and mentally and emotionally I am so ready to be done with the current situation. So it all could be a lot worse. I feel fortunate to be in the place I am right now!
You’ve cited some of your early loves as bands like the Beatles and The Rolling Stones… with a background in rock music, did you want to be a rock musician yourself? If so, how did you end up working in electronic music?
When I started playing electric guitar at the age of 10 my big hero was Keith Richards, I wanted to be like him one day. I played in rock bands first, and during the 90s I gradually shifted towards electronic music via funk, acid jazz, trip hop, broken beat and finally deep house.
You’ve been in the studio with an amazing array of musicians… do you have a particular favourite session from the many you’ve done?
It’s been many years, many artists, and way too many sessions to count them all. Generally I am working with a broad range of studio clients, from aspiring beginners to absolutely experienced a-list artists, and I love the variety. And then there’s also my own artist collabs. I consider myself lucky to be in a position to work and create with all these wonderful people…
You’re a big advocate of hard kit in the studio – do you think that generally music sounds worse today as many producers are just using cheaper digital kit to make their tracks?
In don’t think the equation „hard kit = great sound“ is valid just like that, you need to see this in context. It is absolutely possible to create something great these days using solely digital means. In the end it comes down to personal preferences. The problem always was „sound quality vs. convenience“, regardless of whether someone worked in the analog or digital domain. The limiting factor is the experience and imagination of the person at the steering wheel, and also their monitoring situation. And, today it’s so easy to put out something that sounds half decent at first glance that I have the feeling people consider stuff finished and send it out too soon. You need obstacles to grow as an artist, and the overabundance of music production tools – which, by itself, is a great thing – doesn’t exactly make it easier for beginners to make choices, decide for something and against somethings else, and form their own handwriting in the process.
After so long spent collaborating with others, was it a difficult shift to start creating your own solo material?
Yes and no… in the meantime I had switched DAWs, I moved my studio, I had to reorganize my sample libraries and create new ones, first of all it was a bit of a technical challenge to get my studio from a mixing mode back to a situation where it was suitable for both mixing and production. And in some ways I felt a bit rusty at first, but it all came back and then some, I’ve had a full producer career under my belt before my break after all, including several albums I had produced and released with my own projects. I really enjoy being back in the saddle now!
Your latest EP has a real note of melancholy running through it – or it sounds like it to us at least? Do you think there’s space for sadder emotions in dance music?
In a broader sense, there absolutely has to be space for any emotions in dance music! What is music without emotions? I would agree with the notion, though. ‘The Heart’ I have produced in January 2020, long before the corona pandemic became a world wide concern, so this is not Covid related at all. But ‘Santorin’ I have made this spring, and I felt inspired by Steve Bug’s fantastic last album, which he has produced last year, and which certainly came to be under the impression of the global crisis – and the album most definitely has a melancholic, wistful, introverted side to it. It makes me happy that you can feel and relate to the emotional side in the tracks, because, repeating myself here, without emotions music is meaningless in my view.
As someone who makes their living predominantly from making music rather than DJing, do you think the pandemic has affected you less than many of your peers?
I am dealing with the fallout of the whole situation myself, too, no doubt about that! And if it’s only because a large part of my studio clients makes a living through touring, and this certainly had a huge affect on their ability to afford mixing and production services. Plus, I had to build another studio and move last year, which was a done deal before Corona, and which was even more difficult to pull off during this particular situation. But overall I feel fortunate with the way how things went for me personally so far. Even though my business took a big hit too, I was never in a situation where I could not pay my bills anymore. The pandemic has had such a devastating effect on our scene far beyond the immediate implications for public health, and I say this without any sense of personal triumph, and with a huge respect for the hardships so many people had to endure, or which they are still experiencing. This is also why I had to speak up a couple times and release several video statements about the way our government has, in my view, mishandled so many aspects of the pandemic – speaking not only for me, but also on behalf of many colleagues with less means to do so.
Do you foresee any significant changes in the industry for the long term once the pandemic has finished, or at least become manageable?
One thing is for sure – this will have wide ranging and long term effects, and if it’s only for the reason that the pandemic will not be declared over with a big bang. The next months will still be a fairly rough patch, nobody knows who the situation will go with virus mutants, and even though some parts of the world maybe, slowly, get the chance to even imagine how the pandemic will once look like in the rearview mirror, there are other parts in the world where it is far from being over. We will only really be done with it when we have reached global herd immunity, and it’s not sure if this will ever be the case. Venues will not survive, promoters and agencies may fold, or have already done so, some artists might have thrown in the towel. The card deck will be reshuffled to some degree, and one can only hope we can also take this as a chance to make a few things better than they were before!
What else do you have coming up that we should look out for?
I didn’t make much new music last year, mostly because I was so busy with the studio building and moving, but also because I found the overall situation – if I may so – less than inspiring. Now I’m back on track, and I have a number of new original tracks in the pipeline, and also a couple remixes I am really proud of. I will play a completely new live set once this is all over, and I have a very interesting big project in the works for 2022, but it’s way too early to mention any details.
Finally, outside of electronic music, what’s one recent album you recommend us checking out?
I’ve always been listening to a huge variety of different genres, and during the pandemic I have certainly listened to more music than in the past years before. This was probably also because I spent a bit less time at the studio… recently I have enjoyed listening to the Brazilian singer-songwriter Rodrigo Amarante a lot, I definitely recommend checking him out!
