Stay at home – make music

In this "Musik Macht Mut" interview, the experienced guitar professional Andreas Schmid-Martelle provides answers to the question "what cable length do I use as a musician for what situation? An interview series for people with an affinity for music who are mainly indoors at the moment. Specialists give tips and suggestions for making music. Because music gives courage.

Chris Klöckl is together with his business partner the head of the online guitar school Guitar Master Plan. Since a school is primarily about learning and practicing, this topic is of course one of his hobbyhorses, he is an expert in this field. And he lets the audience participate in this expert knowledge in the "Music gives courage" discussion. How do I plan, structure and focus my exercises to be as effective as possible? A good and important thing, especially now that you may have more time than in normal times. Even more tips on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0S9qj9HFp7yXFpO4EppvPg .

One of the main focuses of the music industry is, of course, event locations due to the special situation of the past months. Exemplarily it goes in this music makes courage discussion with Dan Eckardt around a scene meeting place with - normally - live program in the middle of Berlin. Dan is a musician himself and is responsible for the booking of the Bobu bar. In this interview he talks about the development of the music bar, about concepts and about how the lockdown and current scenarios (affect) live culture.

DJ and vinyl, that was once a team like a glove. Of course times have changed, but this philosophy still remains. Andreas Schreck alias AGENT started in HipHop as a Vinyl DJ and he never completely let go of the topic. In the meantime DJ Agent is an internationally known electro act. In the "Musik macht Mut" interview he talks about his vinyl past (he was himself a record store owner), further developments and challenges. Maybe some of you are sitting at home at the moment and are inspired by this talk to deal with your own record shelf again. After all, hardly any beautiful black record deserves to disappear forever. Because vinyl means feeling. And music - also from vinyl records and especially when it crackles statically - is encouraging.

Drive-in cinemas, recently rather still well-meaning as nostalgic relics perceived, stand in our current situation in a focus within the meeting industry. About the sense or nonsense of Social-Distancing by drive-in cinema events is much discussed at present. Is the average concert visitor happy about the possibility of bridging the gap or does he wave it away with irritation? Do musicians see the idea as a real option or do they follow the motto "all or nothing"? As always, there is probably no "black or white". Someone who currently experiences live playing in front of closed cars directly as a musician on stage is the keyboardist Florian Lipphardt. He is currently on tour with Michael Schulte. With exactly such events. In the "Musik macht Mut" interview, the Cordial newcomer (official introduction to follow) talks about his first drive-in cinema tour experiences and about the oddities in such situations when everything is different.

For more than 2 decades he has been on the road as a professional guitarist (for example with Bonfire), producer, songwriter and much more: Frank Pané. Other main activities in Frank's portfolio are the guitar teacher and his online activities. At the time of the Corona Retreat he successfully brings both together through online guitar lessons. In the "Music gives courage" conversation Frank talks about his experiences and gives tips to perhaps support one or the other in a similar situation. If you want to learn more, here are some good infos

At a certain level of professionalism, most musicians probably reach the point where they start to think about in-ear monitoring. This was also the case with the band Marathonmann. One tried a lot, planned, collected many impressions (positive and negative). This also made Johnny, the guitarist of the Munich Combo, a specialist in this topic. In this "Music gives courage" interview he reports about necessities, considerations and experiences. After all, it's a good time to plan things that might have been neglected in the hectic day-to-day life of a band - like in-ear systems. If you have any direct questions for Johnny and Marathonmann on this topic, feel free to contact the guys on their social media channels.

One sits at home, somewhere in nature or wherever, and then from somewhere comes a melody, a lick, a line for a text. But to write a song out of it right away? Will that be something? "Yes exactly - hold on to what comes (write it down, record it with your cell phone, whatever) and then let it flow on. Then it'll work out" says Jolina Carl - and as a professional singer-songwriter she has had exactly this experience time and again. In the "Musik macht Mut" interview, Jolina talks about her approach to a song, her productions and her relationship to the Mecca of Country, Nashville. That gives courage to "just make music". On Jolina's website you can find out more

The topic of Loop Stations is a specialty of the studied guitarist Julian Scarcella. First came the fascination to create a complete band by using this equipment and to be able to realize creativity without the help of other musicians (which of course should not diminish the importance of common bands). Meanwhile Julian gives workshops and publishes tutorial videos about "looping" (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW2tHVFQob4 )

Of course the use of samples in the audio / recording environment is the most importand thing. Multiple software solutions offer an almost inexhaustible spectrum of audio possibilities. However, playing and editing such samples may just scratch the actual range of possibilities. A further level is then actually the creation of virtual instruments and their modulations. An expert in this field, i.e. within the development of scripted libraries (in this case NI Kontakt) is the audio engineer, sound designer and KSP scripter Klaus Baetz. In the "Musik macht Mut" interview, he explains, among other things, what a contact library is, what you need to create such a library, how to find a good introduction to the topic and what other platforms for developing virtual instruments are available.
Klaus Baetz makes one thing clear: even such a topic is not a "witchcraft" - and with a bit of courage and confidence you can reach an extremely interesting musical playground. Courage and confidence are needed a lot at the moment anyway - so why not also for the introduction to a new, incredibly contemporary topic? If you have any questions, Klaus will gladly help you at

One of the very frequent and understandably controversial topics in musician circles is currently live streaming. One band that recently completed a relatively large live streaming event is 100 Kilo Herz from Leipzig. As is well known, this combo critically questions facts and so they were awake eyes and ears at this event. In this "Musik macht Mut" interview, band member Marco talks about his impressions, thoughts and experiences on behalf of 100 Kilo Herz. If you have any further questions about 100 Kilo Herz, please feel free to contact the band via their website.

"What is the range of possibilities to use a recording studio?" Some time ago, the discussion guest in this "Musik macht Mut" discussion - the sound engineer, studio owner and professional bassist Marco T. Alleata - asked himself this question. Sure, musicians - whether solo or as a band or orchestra - are virtually set. But isn't there something else? Something to use a studio in addition to the typical options? Marco came up with an idea. He put it into practice, was quite successful with it - and will certainly continue to be so in the post-lockdown phase. Marco talks about his "studio bookings of a somewhat different kind" in this interview.

In the "Music gives courage" series of talks, a bass man finally has his say. Marcus Schwarzbach is bassist of the band Blackout Problems. In the past years he has been massively engaged in the permanent optimization of his sound. Much tried, much learned, always moving towards the perfect sound for him. In the meantime, he as a musician - and the band as a performance organ - have found the ideal sound, the right equipment and the right gear settings for every situation. In the video Marcus lets the audience share his experiences. After all, many people are certainly using the current situation to perfect the sound and are happy to get any good advice when it comes to the deepest depths of sound. If you have any questions, Marcus is happy to give you good advice. Further information about the band can also be found here http://www.blackoutproblems.com/

This urgent feeling of "I have to act now!" - when you see how musician colleagues break off the orders and how frustration and helplessness spread. This is how Martin Engelien felt a few weeks ago. "People must be helped" he told himself. No sooner said than done. Together with his wife, he pulled out all the stops and realized the Corona-Help CD "One Earth" with live contributions from 36 musicians of his "Go Music" project in an incredibly short time. In the "Musik macht Mut" interview he uses this example to explain how a charity project can work in the current situation. Maybe his experiences will encourage some of you to start a similar project yourself. For tips Martin is gladly at your disposal. Further information can be found here.

Special situations require special measures. The drummer of the band OX, Max Siegmund, also knows about this. Because just as the band was about to start recording in the already booked studio, the announcement "stay at home because of Corona" came. But the musicians and the producer were not discouraged - the release is now being recorded from home. In this interview, Max talks about how this can work. Just don't let it get you down, because music gives you courage.

In a conversation from home office to home office (or "home drum set"), Michael Boritzka (drummer, music teacher, audio technician) explains how he turns his actually loud drumset into a rather quiet set. This is important in order to be able to play in a rented apartment and to be able to continue to give drum lessons in times of social distancing.
The "Musik macht Mut" series is a series of interviews that are conducted during "Corona" with specialists in the field of music. Informative, entertaining, with added value. In this case, it's not about perfect quality from the home office (video/audio) but about WHAT is communicated. Information for from creative people for creative people at home. Makes music. Because music gives courage.

The young musician Nico Laska began his career with guitar and singing, as a street musician and on smaller stages. Even back then he was already using YouTube as a medium intensively. In the course of time, solo acoustic guitar became genre-spanning thinking. Today he performs with musician partners as a duo (with the use of backing tracks) or in a band. In the "Musik macht Mut" interview, the artist talks about this career and the courage to enter new musical fields, exemplary for many musicians. We are pleased to welcome Nico on board the Cordial Family.

The young artist Sophie Chassée was very early enthusiastic about a variant of guitar playing that had previously eked out a niche existence: Modern Fingerstyle. Through certain playing techniques, a modern fingerstyle musician elicits new, harmonious sounds from the acoustic guitar and creates almost a complete band from one instrument through percussion and bass emphasis. Sophie explains in an interview how she started and what is important at first. You can also find out more here https://www.youtube.com/user/MsMusicsophie/videos

Steffen Brückner is, as he says himself, "49%" of the duo Mrs. Greenbird. Furthermore, he is quasi a "maniac" when it comes to guitar themes. One of his favorite playing fields: the slide guitar. And that's exactly what this "music gives courage" conversation is all about. Suggestions for guitarists who want to try something new or develop themselves further. Just like this special playing technique in the blues.

The guitarist, bassist and songwriter Stephan Kreissl is at home in many musical directions and in "normal" times he is live mainly in Austro-Pop (for example as guitarist of the band Relax). During the social distancing phase he deals with topics of motivation in more detail. "What can you do to make the best out of it?" is one of the questions he has frequently asked himself. In the "Music gives courage" interview, Stephan talks about his approach and the things that make him overcome his "inner pig dog". "Just do it" - as simple as it sounds, it is sometimes difficult. And yet there is much truth and importance in these two words. Do not see things too complicated and get started. There we have it again: music gives courage.

Nik alias Toroki is a specialist when it comes to Dub. Be it in his own studio or in non-lock-down times also live on European stages. In the "Musik Macht Mut" interview Toroki talks about the development of Dub, his own development with Dub and the experiences he has made. In principle, you can do anything, because according to Nik, everything is allowed in Dub. A beautiful thing, where so much is limited. It shows once again: music gives courage. More about Toroki can be found here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwqeTinEEG7apAzy7P7qIfA

Electronic music, precisely because it often appears "as if on an assembly line", is quickly pigeonholed or given attributes such as "commercial and radio-ready for the masses". As so often, such clichés naturally miss the actual core. The Umme Block duo impressively refutes this pigeonhole thinking. The sounds of the young artists Leoni Klinger and Klara Rebers are certainly largely "electro". But what the two create with their huge amount of (partly old) synthesizers, beat machines and with the conscious renunciation of backing tracks, is not trimmed for the "fast acoustic kick" but leaves a lot of space for emotions and thoughts. That this works especially live has been proven by Umme Block in the past years - and hopefully we will be able to prove it again soon. In this "Musik macht Mut" interview the musicians give an interesting insight into their approach to song writing and their view of the topic "time" in music. We are pleased to welcome Umme Block on board the Cordial Family. More to hear and see here

How do musicians deal with the current situation? Of course: completely individual, completely different and according to the most original circumstances of life. There is nothing general about it. However, every artist has his own set of thoughts and experiences. As an individual and maybe as a member of a band. Uno Jahma and Christian Moll from the band Rootz Radicals talk about their experiences in the past weeks, what has changed and what hasn't and how they adapt to the new circumstances. Especially regarding an album production they are currently in. Exciting times, exciting topics. The Reggae Sound of the Combo can be found here

Special situations, special ideas and the courage to get involved in previously rather unconventional projects. Also and especially companies from the event industry are known to be strongly affected by social distancing measures. The topic "drive-in cinema events" is seen by some as an opportunity to keep their foot in the door of the event business and to "simply do something". This is also the view of the managing director of VTW, Thomas Wild. Together with his "right hand" Felix Heinzinger, he talks about the challenges of a "special kind of experiment", namely to break new ground with the complete realization of drive-in cinema concerts. It is interesting that the two of them are illuminating the project from both a technician's and organizer's point of view. An exciting, much discussed topic. Maybe the two of them will encourage one or the other to tackle something like this as well. We wish the industry that it will continue to move forward - in whatever way. An event overview is available here