Description
Sound from life. From personal source material to the stage.
Philipp Johann Thimm is a Berlin-based composer, musician and live performer. In this workshop he shows how voices, instruments and memories become a sound of your own, how to shape that sound into music, and how to bring it to the stage.
You work in your own DAW. The methods apply to any software, and Philipp demonstrates in Logic.
This is not about one “correct” way to make music. It is about finding your material, transforming it with intention, finishing what you start, and building a practice you can sustain.
The program
Material
Finding, recording and organizing personal sound sources
- What makes music personal: source material with meaning instead of preset hunting
- Voices, family recordings, old tapes, field recordings: collecting, organizing and using them ethically and legally
- Recording acoustic instruments: mic choice, room, proximity
- Session setup and gain staging in any DAW
- Building a sound archive you can draw from for years
Exercise Prepare 3 of your own sound sources as a sample pool.
Sound
Transformation
- Granular techniques: a voice becomes a pad, a pad becomes rhythm, using your DAW’s own tools
- Resampling chains, pitch, time-stretching, tape and vinyl character
- Synthesis and modulation with hardware (e.g. Minifreak) and software synths
- Groove and drum machines, MIDI sync with your DAW
- Frequency, space and silence as compositional tools
- Effects as instruments, not repairs
Exercise Turn one sound source into three completely different characters in 60 minutes.
Composition and Harmony
From loop to piece, with just enough theory
- Finding the emotional starting point
- Music theory essentials, kept practical: intervals, scales and modes, triads and seventh chords
- Harmony as emotion: major/minor colour, tension and resolution, borrowed chords, why progressions move us
- Chord progressions and voice leading
- Chord triggers: assign a full chord to a single key or pad (Chord Trigger in Logic, Chord device in Ableton) and perform harmony without being a keyboard player
- Writing melodies and bass lines over a progression
- Arrangement as emotional movement: development, breaks, surprise
- Collaborating with other artists
- Limitation as a tool, and knowing when it’s finished
- Mixing fundamentals for finished ideas: balance, depth, reference listening
- Group feedback session
Exercise Build a chord-trigger setup, write a progression with it, and sketch and structure a piece from your Day 1 and 2 material.
Stage and Artist
Playing live, releasing, staying the course
- Studio DAW vs live DAW: why Philipp produces in Logic and performs in Ableton
- From studio project to live set: exporting stems, scenes and clips, warping
- Live electronics with an instrument: looping, signal flow, crossfade routing, failure-proofing
- Integrating hardware live, stage technology and visuals (OSC/MIDI)
- Performing harmony live: chord triggers on pads or keys of a controller
- Setlist dramaturgy for a 60–120 minute set
- Labels, distribution, self-release, booking, management
- Social media without becoming a content machine
- Money, boundaries, longevity
- Using AI as a tool rather than a substitute for your point of view
- Artist clinic and Q&A
Exercise A 5-minute live moment with your own material.
You leave with more than notes
- A personal sound archive and a workflow to transform it
- Granular, resampling and synthesis principles that transfer to any DAW
- A practical grasp of harmony and theory, and a working chord-trigger setup
- A repeatable method for turning a feeling into a piece
- A live-ready set concept in Ableton
- Clarity on release paths, labels, booking and your own direction
- A finished or substantially developed piece
Made for electronic musicians
Electronic musicians, producers and composers who want to work more personally and perform live. Basic DAW familiarity is helpful. No hardware needed.
What to bring: a laptop with any DAW, headphones, and 3 sound sources of your own. For Day 4, Ableton Live is recommended (the trial version is enough), or follow along and transfer the concept to your DAW.
Everything at a glance
📅 Dates: 22 – 24 January 2027
📍 Venue: ACUD Kunsthaus, Veteranenstraße 21, 10119 Berlin
🌍 Language: English
🎓 Led by: Philipp Johann Thimm
💻 Software: Any DAW (demos in Logic, live part in Ableton)
