Robert Rich (Defined the genres of ambient music). Part I - Don't forget to subscribe.

This is my second conversation with Robert Rich. It took place on 12/27/2023 from his home in California.
Across four decades and over 50 albums, Robert Rich has helped define the genres of ambient music, dark-ambient, tribal and trance, yet his music remains hard to categorize. Part of his unique sound comes from using home-made acoustic and electronic instruments, microtonal harmonies, computer-based signal processing, chaotic systems and feedback networks. Rich began building his own analog synthesizers in 1976, when he was 13 years old, and later studied for a year at Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA).
Rich released his first album Sunyata in 1982. Most of his subsequent recordings came out in Europe until 1989, when Rich began a string of critically acclaimed releases for Fathom/Hearts of Space, including Rainforest (1989), Gaudí (1991), Propagation (1994) and Seven Veils (1998). His two collaborations with Steve Roach, Strata (1990) and Soma (1992), both charted for several months in Billboard. Other respected collaborations include Stalker (1995 with B. Lustmord), Fissures (1997 with Alio Die) and Outpost (2002 with Ian Boddy.)
Rich’s contributions to multi-artist compilations have been collected on his solo albums A Troubled Resting Place (1996) and Below Zero (1998). His group, Amoeba, explored atmospheric songcraft on their CDs Watchful (1997) and Pivot (2000). Live albums such as Calling Down the Sky (2004) and 3-CD Humidity (2000) document the unique improvised flow of his performances.
Rich has performed in caves, cathedrals, planetaria, art galleries and concert halls throughout Europe and North America. His all-night Sleep Concerts, first performed in 1982, became legendary in the San Francisco area. In 1996 he revived his all-night concert format, playing Sleep Concerts for live and radio audiences across the U.S. during a three-month tour. In 2001 Rich released the 7-hour DVD Somnium, a studio distillation of the Sleep Concert experience, followed in 2014 by his 15-hour Blu-ray release Perpetual.
Rich returned to playing Sleep Concerts once again after 2013 for special performances in Krakow, Tokyo, Copenhagen, Gdansk, USA’s Noise Pop and Moogfest, and elsewhere. His more active music takes him to international festivals such as Boom (Portugal), Klusa Daba (Latvia), Rainbow Serpent and Earth Frequency (Australia), Monsoon (Vietnam), Electric Forest and Earth Dance (USA).
Rich has designed sounds for television and film scores, including the films Pitch Black, Crazy Beautiful, Behind Enemy Lines, Dead Girl and others. His musical scores grace films by Roberto Miller (Mandorla, 2015) Yahia Mahamdi (Thank you for your Patience, 2003) and Daniel Colvin (Atlas Dei, 2007, with 90 minutes of Rich’s music in surround); and a video installation by Michael Somoroff (Illumination, 2007). Rich works closely with electronic instrument manufacturers, and his sound design has filled preset libraries of Emu’s Proteus 3 and Morpheus, Seer Systems’ Reality, sampling disks Things that Go Bump in the Night, ACID Loop Library Liquid Planet, WayOutWare’s TimewARP2600, and Camel Alchemy. His oscillator wavetables and presets are a part of the DSI-Sequential Prophet 12, Pro 2, Tempest, Prophet 6, Prophet X, Pro 3, and Synthesis Technology modules. Rich has written software for composers who work in just intonation, and he helped develop the MIDI microtuning specification. As mastering engineer and mixer, he has applied his ear to hundreds of albums in all styles. He has been featured in Keyboard Magazine, Electronic Musician, Guitar Player, Innerviews and elsewhere worldwide.

[@BruecknerAmbient]

Wonderful! 🙂 Has this one been online before...? If so, it seems I missed it the first time around. Actually, just while I type this, "Offerings to the Morning Fog" is playing from my stereo...