Bio
Carsten Brocker studied Jazz/Rock/Pop, majoring in piano and music education at Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden and, in addition to his work as musical director of the group Alphaville, is a freelance keyboardist, composer and sound designer (e.g. for Sven Helbig, Tino Sehgal, Ari Benjamin Meyers, Ulrich Rasche, Nico van Wersch, Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, Polarkreis 18, Ira Atari, Robot Koch and Jahcoozi). He has worked as well for numerous film, musical and theatre productions, including the Volksbühne and the Deutsches Theater.
In addition to his lectureship at Macromedia, University of Applied Sciences, he specialises in musicological topics in the field of popular electronic music, having written a dissertation on Kraftwerk.
Releases
Music-Productions
2021 ALPHAVILLE: Eternally Yours, Neue Meister
2019 ALPHAVILLE: Live at the Whiskey a Go Go, LA Concert Group
2017 ALPHAVILLE: Strange Attractor, Polydor
2010 POLARKREIS 18: Frei, Universal Music
2009 THE GECKO: Failure is not an Option, Brand New Music
2009 GODS OF BLITZ: Under the Radar, Rough Trade
Publications
Books
2023 Kraftwerk. Die Mensch-Maschine, Munich:
edition text+kritik
Essays
2023 Sound von Disco, essay in the catalogue of the exhibition “Disco: cool - chic - crazy“, rock’n’popmuseum Gronau, Münster: Waxmann
2011 Kraftwerk: Technology and Composition, in: Kraftwerk. Music Non- Stop, Eds. Sean Albiez and David Pattie, New York: Continuum
Rental Studio
The project studio is located in Hamburg-Nienstedten and focuses on subtractive synthesis and analogue synthesizers. The centerpiece is a custom-built modular system with modules from synthesizers.com and Club Of The Knobs. The studio can be rented for a full or half day (8 or 4 hours) and can optionally be combined with sound design courses.
Equipment
Mixdown | Monitoring | A/D Interface
Mackie 1642-VLZ3 16-Channel-Desk
2x Neumann KH 120 A
RME UC Audio-Interface
Software
MacBook Pro 13“ M2 24GB Ram
Ableton Live Suite 10
Emagic Logic Audio 10
Celemony Melodyne
NI Komplete Standard 12
Aturia V Collection
several Plug-Ins (Xfer Records, Waves, Sugar Bytes etc.)
Instruments
Custom Modular Synthesizer
ARP Odyssey Mark III
Elka Synthex
Jomox XBase 09
Korg MS-20 mini
Minimoog Model D (1972)
Minimoog Voyager
Rhodes Mark I SeventyThree Stage
Roland JP-8000
Roland RD-64
Förster Piano
Controller
Ableton Push
Akai APC 40
Faderfox MX12
Faderfox LX2
Korg Micro Key
NI Maschine
Roland A-800 (2x)
Miscellaneous/ FX
Boss RE-20 Space Echo
Electro-Harmonix Big Muff
Shure SM58
Technics SL-1200 MK II
Dubreq Stylophone
Texas Instruments Speak & Spell
Custom Modular Synthesizer
Synthesizers.com
Q 137 Power Control & Interface
Q 104 Midi Interface
Q 118 Instrument Interface
Q 123 Standards
Q 105 Slew Limiter (2x)
Q 106 Oscillator (9x)
Q 141 Oscillator Aid (2x)
Q 161 Oscillator Mixer (2x)
Q 110 Noise
Q 116 Ring Modulator
Q 117 Sample & Hold
Q 130 Clipper
Q 107 State Variable Filter
Q 162 Filter Mixer
Q 108 Amplifier (4x)
Q 109 Envelope Generator (6x)
Q 124 Multiples (3x)
Q 125 Signal Processor (2x)
Q 128 Switch
Q 147 Distributor (2x)
Q 113 8 Channel Mixer (2x)
Q 112 4 Channel Mixer
Q 111 Pan / Fade
Q 115 Reverb
Club Of The Knobs
C 904A Voltage Controlled Low Pass Filter
C 905A Voltage Controlled Low Pass Filter
C 914B Extended Fixed Filter Bank
C 914E Channel Enhancer
C 998 Audio Spectral Modulator
C 960 Sequential Controller
C 961S Gate Sequencer
C 962C Sequential Switch
C 958 Dual Quantizer
C 1610 Resonators / Fixed Modifiers
C 1631 Bode Modulator
C 1660 Voltage Controlled Phase Processor
C 1670 Ensemble Generator
C 1680 Voltage Controlled Delay
Teaching
Lectureship on musicology at Macromedia,
University of Applied Sciences
Courses / Lessons
History of Electronic Music
History of Popular Music
Sounddesign
Introduction to Sound Synthesis
Subtractive Synthesis / Modular Synthesizer
Musicproduction
Music Theory / Ear Training
Music Analysis
Composition
Jazz-Piano / Improvisation
Contact
Dr. Carsten Brocker
c.brocker@gmx.de
Alphaville
