Interview with Marco Rochowski for Spacesynth.net
Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2024 7:20 pm
Born in October 1973 and living in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Marco Rochowski entered the world of Spacesynth on Synthesizer Dance Volume 3 in 2001 with 'Into Eternity'. Soon after, Macrocosm project was founded with Anders Lundqvist - a musician from Sweden who had been producing music for Hypersound Productions since 1999. To date, two Macrocosm albums have been released, both being very successful.
When and how did you get in touch with Spacesynth music?
The first time I get in touch with Spacesynth music was in the year 1986. I remember that I saw a gig of Koto's "Jabdah" in the TV show "formel eins". One day later I bought the record in the store and was totally impressed by the sound. From this moment I knew that I must get more of that music style. So I found out groups like Laserdance, Cyber People and so on.
What made you to start writing music and what kind of musical background you have?
I was starting to make music around the age of thirteen on a little home keyboard. I also had two years of music lessons but that always was very boring to me, because of that stuff we had to play.
Why does Spacesynth music fascinate you?
Well, it's timeless music that start's to make me feel good. But it's always important that the track's have good and catchy melodies. It's very difficult to talk about thing's like this because it's always a question of taste, too.
Macrocosm, your co-op project with Anders Lundqvist has been a big success. Can you tell us how this project was born in the first place?
Anders and myself had a lot of conversation via Internet and one day at the beginning of 2002 we had the idea to make a co-op project.
Are you satisfied how the Macrocosm album "First Mission" turned out?
Yes of course. It's very nice to see that the most people like the album and it gives me the feeling that it was worth it to spend a lot of time behind my synth's.
You produced the title track of "First Mission" together with Anders. Can you tell something about this process?
Anders sent me a raw cut of First Mission and I composed some more sequences for it and produced the end version here in my studio. That was the first track we did together and we decided for the song to be title track of our album.
Are there any particular tracks on "First Mission" that are special to you?
Well, that's hard to describe for me. I think that I have to each song that I've ever made a special memory that always takes me to the time I did the track. I think it could be called a journey through the time when you listen to tunes that you've done years ago. I think the most composers know that feeling.
Your musical skills are obvious and your style is appreciated by many people. But your tunes have sometimes also been criticized for sounding very close to 80's Spacesynth groups like Laserdance and Koto. What do you think of such criticism?
I think the best synthdance was made in the eighties. That's my personal opinion of course. I also like the newer stuff too. But it's true that I had lot's of inspiration's from the classic old tunes. I'm trying to produce my track's with that special sounds of that time. I think there's a lot of artist who are working the same way to get the typical sound.
I think your tune "The Journey" (released on Synthesizer Dance Vol. 4 by Hypersound) is as good as those old Spacesynth classics. Can you tell something about the writing process of this tune.
Thank you Lauri. I think "The Journey" is one of the track's I spend the longest production time for. I remember that I had the main idea for that song while programming some new sounds on my synth's. I must say that it's always the hardest thing to arrange a song. Especially if you make music in synthdance style. Sometimes you spend hours only to find one special sound for a single sequence. You listen to it and you think it's good. Then you make a break for some hours and listen to it again and then you don't like it anymore. I remember that I had this moments very often during the production of "The Journey". The total production time of this track was about two weeks.
Most Spacesynth track and album titles are science fiction related. How do you usually come up with titles?
That's always one of the hardest thing to find a name for the track. Sometimes I think about that some days but also it happens that I have an idea within few seconds. It's always different.
What other music do you like and what other music you have done besides Spacesynth?
Well, I love a lot of music style's. Main thing is always that a song has a good melodie. That's also depending on the mood that I have. I can say that I'm open for each music style. I also produce music in Techno, Trance style, but at the moment my focus is synthdance. In 1997 I had the luck to publish together with a friend of mine a song called "Everlasting" on maxi CD. We did that under the pseudonym Q-base. Unfortunately this project wasn't a big success. We also had a publishing with another song on a house sampler (with various artists).
How do you see the future of Spacesynth? Do you think that this music style is going to evolve dramatically or stay in its old form? Could this music become as popular as it was in the late 80's?
I hope Spacesynth will become more popular again in the future. Unfortunately the target group is not very big. It was much bigger in the eighties for sure before Techno, Trance and House were born. It's always depending on the record companies who (I think) are not interested to publish that music again. The only exceptions are Hypersound and AXIS Records who keep this style of music alive. I hope that they'll reach a much bigger audience in the near future and that they'll keep this music alive.
What has been the proudest moment in your music career?
The proudest moment of my music career was the publishing of Macrocosm "First Mission".
Was the second Macrocosm album, "Second Voyage", easier or harder to produce than the first one? How much did you and Anders plan the album beforehand? Many fans expect classic Laserdance/Koto style tracks from Macrocosm. Did that put any pressure on you?
When we're writing our songs we don't know for sure if that track will end on an album or not. I think I can say that we're collecting our songs and then decide later if it will be on an album. That's also the reason we don't feel any pressure while composing. And doing music is always a fun for me especially when it comes to Spacesynth. And I bet that's the same with Anders too.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Unfortunately I have the most inspirations when I'm not behind my synth's. That's very often when I'm working at my job or when I'm lying in bed. But you can't sit down and say to yourself "now I'm trying to make a good song". That always comes unforeseen.
What do you do primarily for living?
I'm working in a construction market.
What are you doing on your spare time?
My spare time is mostly reserved for making music. My other hobbys are watching TV, cooking and some sport activities like tennis (but I'm not very good).
What are your likes/dislikes about the Spacesynth community?
The point what I like or dislike about the Spacesynth community is very difficult for me to explain in English words. I only can say that the people all should be fair to each other and also should not do fight's. That would destroy this small community.
What are your all time favorite Spacesynth songs?
My alltime favourite synthdance songs? Hmmm... there's a lot, for example: Rygar - Star Track's / Proxyon - Space Guards / Laserdance - Mars Invaders / Laserdance - Shotgun (Into The Night) / Koto - Jabdah / Koto - Visitors and many many other's.
Anything else you would like to say?
I want to say a big thank to all people who gave us such a positive feedback to our music. Also thank's for critisism because it's very important to make several thing's better in the future. And what I've said earlier. Don't fight against each other. The community is too precious for that.
And finally, the question of all questions: Do you like crackers?
Yes, I like crackers, especially with some cheese or salsa dip after working on a track.
Thanks a lot for the interview, Marco!
The first time I get in touch with Spacesynth music was in the year 1986. I remember that I saw a gig of Koto's "Jabdah" in the TV show "formel eins". One day later I bought the record in the store and was totally impressed by the sound. From this moment I knew that I must get more of that music style. So I found out groups like Laserdance, Cyber People and so on.
What made you to start writing music and what kind of musical background you have?
I was starting to make music around the age of thirteen on a little home keyboard. I also had two years of music lessons but that always was very boring to me, because of that stuff we had to play.
Why does Spacesynth music fascinate you?
Well, it's timeless music that start's to make me feel good. But it's always important that the track's have good and catchy melodies. It's very difficult to talk about thing's like this because it's always a question of taste, too.
Macrocosm, your co-op project with Anders Lundqvist has been a big success. Can you tell us how this project was born in the first place?
Anders and myself had a lot of conversation via Internet and one day at the beginning of 2002 we had the idea to make a co-op project.
Are you satisfied how the Macrocosm album "First Mission" turned out?
Yes of course. It's very nice to see that the most people like the album and it gives me the feeling that it was worth it to spend a lot of time behind my synth's.
You produced the title track of "First Mission" together with Anders. Can you tell something about this process?
Anders sent me a raw cut of First Mission and I composed some more sequences for it and produced the end version here in my studio. That was the first track we did together and we decided for the song to be title track of our album.
Are there any particular tracks on "First Mission" that are special to you?
Well, that's hard to describe for me. I think that I have to each song that I've ever made a special memory that always takes me to the time I did the track. I think it could be called a journey through the time when you listen to tunes that you've done years ago. I think the most composers know that feeling.
Your musical skills are obvious and your style is appreciated by many people. But your tunes have sometimes also been criticized for sounding very close to 80's Spacesynth groups like Laserdance and Koto. What do you think of such criticism?
I think the best synthdance was made in the eighties. That's my personal opinion of course. I also like the newer stuff too. But it's true that I had lot's of inspiration's from the classic old tunes. I'm trying to produce my track's with that special sounds of that time. I think there's a lot of artist who are working the same way to get the typical sound.
I think your tune "The Journey" (released on Synthesizer Dance Vol. 4 by Hypersound) is as good as those old Spacesynth classics. Can you tell something about the writing process of this tune.
Thank you Lauri. I think "The Journey" is one of the track's I spend the longest production time for. I remember that I had the main idea for that song while programming some new sounds on my synth's. I must say that it's always the hardest thing to arrange a song. Especially if you make music in synthdance style. Sometimes you spend hours only to find one special sound for a single sequence. You listen to it and you think it's good. Then you make a break for some hours and listen to it again and then you don't like it anymore. I remember that I had this moments very often during the production of "The Journey". The total production time of this track was about two weeks.
Most Spacesynth track and album titles are science fiction related. How do you usually come up with titles?
That's always one of the hardest thing to find a name for the track. Sometimes I think about that some days but also it happens that I have an idea within few seconds. It's always different.
What other music do you like and what other music you have done besides Spacesynth?
Well, I love a lot of music style's. Main thing is always that a song has a good melodie. That's also depending on the mood that I have. I can say that I'm open for each music style. I also produce music in Techno, Trance style, but at the moment my focus is synthdance. In 1997 I had the luck to publish together with a friend of mine a song called "Everlasting" on maxi CD. We did that under the pseudonym Q-base. Unfortunately this project wasn't a big success. We also had a publishing with another song on a house sampler (with various artists).
How do you see the future of Spacesynth? Do you think that this music style is going to evolve dramatically or stay in its old form? Could this music become as popular as it was in the late 80's?
I hope Spacesynth will become more popular again in the future. Unfortunately the target group is not very big. It was much bigger in the eighties for sure before Techno, Trance and House were born. It's always depending on the record companies who (I think) are not interested to publish that music again. The only exceptions are Hypersound and AXIS Records who keep this style of music alive. I hope that they'll reach a much bigger audience in the near future and that they'll keep this music alive.
What has been the proudest moment in your music career?
The proudest moment of my music career was the publishing of Macrocosm "First Mission".
Was the second Macrocosm album, "Second Voyage", easier or harder to produce than the first one? How much did you and Anders plan the album beforehand? Many fans expect classic Laserdance/Koto style tracks from Macrocosm. Did that put any pressure on you?
When we're writing our songs we don't know for sure if that track will end on an album or not. I think I can say that we're collecting our songs and then decide later if it will be on an album. That's also the reason we don't feel any pressure while composing. And doing music is always a fun for me especially when it comes to Spacesynth. And I bet that's the same with Anders too.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Unfortunately I have the most inspirations when I'm not behind my synth's. That's very often when I'm working at my job or when I'm lying in bed. But you can't sit down and say to yourself "now I'm trying to make a good song". That always comes unforeseen.
What do you do primarily for living?
I'm working in a construction market.
What are you doing on your spare time?
My spare time is mostly reserved for making music. My other hobbys are watching TV, cooking and some sport activities like tennis (but I'm not very good).
What are your likes/dislikes about the Spacesynth community?
The point what I like or dislike about the Spacesynth community is very difficult for me to explain in English words. I only can say that the people all should be fair to each other and also should not do fight's. That would destroy this small community.
What are your all time favorite Spacesynth songs?
My alltime favourite synthdance songs? Hmmm... there's a lot, for example: Rygar - Star Track's / Proxyon - Space Guards / Laserdance - Mars Invaders / Laserdance - Shotgun (Into The Night) / Koto - Jabdah / Koto - Visitors and many many other's.
Anything else you would like to say?
I want to say a big thank to all people who gave us such a positive feedback to our music. Also thank's for critisism because it's very important to make several thing's better in the future. And what I've said earlier. Don't fight against each other. The community is too precious for that.
And finally, the question of all questions: Do you like crackers?
Yes, I like crackers, especially with some cheese or salsa dip after working on a track.
Thanks a lot for the interview, Marco!
The interview conducted by Lauri Turjansalo.
It was published at Spacesynth.net on 06.06.2005.
It was published at Spacesynth.net on 06.06.2005.
