A visual way of thinking about inner space music: an interview with SYNC24, aka Daniel Segerstad
Date: Nov 19 2012
– Daniel is one half of the Swedish down-tempo project Carbon Based Lifeforms. In 2007 he started his solo-project under de SYNC24 moniker – Daniel, can you enlighten us a bit about your (musical) background?
My musical background is next to nothing really. I took the mandatory flute and piano lessons in school but that was basically it. In my early years though, I found electronic musical equipment most interesting. My first experience was a very simple sample player on the Commodore 64.
So all I know about music creation and production comes basically from trial and error.Are you a full time composer or did you keep another job?
I’m a programmer by day and composer by night. In addition, I work as a freelance multimedia producer. Even if it would be possible to be a full time composer I’d rather not, because I’m scared that it would be all about the money and not the music itself.
So by being freelance, I get the basic coverage and still have a lot of time to play around in the studio 🙂
Tuesday nights however are dedicated Carbon Based Lifeforms (CBL).
What made you decide to start the solo-project SYNC24 next to CBL?
There have always been tracks that didn’t feel like CBL tracks, as we both need to love a track for it to become a CBL track.
So after CBL’s “Hydroponic Garden” I had a few pieces that didn’t end up as CBL track. But the Ultimae-label really wanted to release them, so that was how it all started.
After CBL’s 2006-album “World Of Sleepers” I had even more and the thought of a whole album slowly came to life.
Your debut solo-album “Source” was released by the established Lyon-based Ultimae-label.. What goals did you set for this album?
I wanted it to be a really calm album, that you would fall asleep to and make the listener drift far away. I also wanted to explore what would happen if I got to make all the decisions. Being part a duo or a group is more creative but can also be restricting at times. So I just let my inspiration lead the way really and some tracks became a bit weird, others ended up quite beautiful.
How did the making of your solo album “[Comfortable Void ]” look like. How does this one follow-up/differ from Source?
It actually was a real struggle for me, as I wanted to do something mid-tempo to up-tempo, but and at the same time I wanted a natural connection to its predecessor “Source”. That didn’t turn out very well and Ultimae didn’t like the way the album was heading. So the album changed shape two or maybe even three times. When I found the path, and actually gave it the title “[Comfortable Void ]” things started to fall into place. I actually wrote three or four new tracks within a few weeks. The outcome sounds nothing like I initially intended, and it’s probably for the best 🙂
Do you perform live? What’s your favorite set-up?
I do, but quite seldom. When I do, I apply a very simple setup which we use for CBL too: It always has a computer, a soundcard and some sort of midi controller. We’ve always been trying to make it even slimmer though. Today it’s a Macbook Air and an iPad with a controller surface called TouchOsc.
My favorite setup however is when we play as CBL with our two singers and a bunch of synths. That has only happened once in France and once in Sweden, but hopefully it will take place more often in the future.
Do you already have a new project in mind?
Well, I’ve just started my own label Leftfield Records (from my company name Leftfield AB) and the first release is a compilation of 14 old SYNC24 tracks from between 1996 and 2002: “Ambient Archive”. In addition, I will also release the next (3rd) T.S.R. album, collaboration between me, my CBL-companion Johannes Hedberg and Magnus Birgersson (better known as Solar Fields).
And there will also be so me odd CBL-tracks forthcoming. So basically, I’m cleaning the desk for new stuff later on…
