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This is a live-in-studio performance from Weltklang Tonstudio, where I recorded all the tracks for the album version of this piece.
Like many of my pieces, Der Prophet is based on an improvisation.
Years ago, when I bought my Prophet 5 Synthesizer, I created a sound with a pulsing rhythmic filter modulation. While working on ideas for this album, I jammed with that sound on a chord progression to create a dancing feeling with nothing but the Prophet and a Moog foot controller to open and close the filter for dynamic expression.
Then I composed a churchy intro and outro for contrast and recorded everything in one take build other instruments on that basis later on. Check the machine room to watch the video capture of the very take that made it to the final recording of the album.
When I had the basis for that track, I turned to the Rhodes Piano to give it some more texture.
For the main part, I jammed with the Mellotron Flutes and the Minimoog to create a kind of a dialog between these contrasting instruments.
Some time ago, I visited Eboardmuseum in Klagenfurt, Austria and had the rare opportunity to play on a real Mellotron, that’s why I was drawn to that sound even more than usual. When I found a nice melody, I knew I had a problem: How to find a real Mellotron to record that part!? These „vintage sampler“ instruments with a mechanism playing a magnetic tape for each key with a prerecorded sound are extremely rare and hard to come by (which equals to: super expensive).
For the time being, I used the fantastic sounding samples of the GForce M-Tron Plugin as a placeholder and started to think about places to record a real one. At least I knew a famous guy in Germany who owned one for sure: Nils Frahm! Well, time will tell, I said to myself…
Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 + EMT 144 Reverb
Moog MP-201 CV-pedal to control the Prophet’s filter
Rhodes Stage mk I Electric Piano + Moog MF104M analog delay w/ Mesa/Boogie F30 amplifier + Mesa/Boogie 2×12 Cabinet
Mellotron M400 mk VI, owned by Nils Frahm
Moog Minimoog Model D + Roland RE-201 Space Echo