From Composition over Sound Design to Audio Engineering and more
My Projects
Bachelor thesis on psychoacoustic effects in music mixing
![](https://alexanderprimus.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kolloquiumsbild-Colourcorrection-1024x229.png)
At the end of my studies at the h_da, I decided to explore the role of psychoacoustic effects in music mixing. The thesis examines which of these phenomena can be used in a meaningful way and how. Three songs of a jazz ensemble were recorded and mixed especially for this work. This allowed the psychoacoustic effects to be tested in a realistic context. Additionally, an empirical study was conducted to prove the relevance of these methods. If you are interested, take a look at the results of my work! Just be warned, everything is in German.
Thanks again to the great musicians at Dr. Hoch’s Conservatory. This project wouldn’t be possible without them. Recording, mixing and mastering were all done by myself. Give it a listen!
Music Composer for the Tower Defense Game “Monster Princess”
This semester Aron Frankenberger and I had the chance to do the audio for the tower defense game “Monster Princess”. My task was to produce the soundtrack. After several sketches my team and I decided on an electro style and each level got its own variation of the music. I hope you like it! Here is a short teaser:
“You are a monster in love with a dead human princess. To resurrect her, you must capture the souls of other humans. Build dungeons, kill enemies and collect their souls in this tower defense game!”
Music Composer for the Sci-Fi Short Film: “No-A ”
As part of a university project, Aron Frankenberger, Simon Steinmann and I decided to rework the music and sound design of the short film “No-A” by the DUST community. One difficulty was to create a “blockbuster-like” sound without covering too many stereotypes.
Inspired by the great soundtrack of “DUNE” by Hans Zimmer, I created music with an oriental touch. It is carried by dominant percussion, Arabic vocals and Latin chants. Another important factor was recording foleys to create very specific sounds that cannot be found in typical libraries. A big thank you goes to my two colleagues for the great sound design. I hope you enjoy it!
Audio Editor & Music Composer for the radio play “Die Wilden Hühner 5”
The publishing house “Atmende Bücher” of the recording studio German Wahnsinn is known for its elaborate and creative radio plays. So is this one, which is the 5th in the series of the same name.
Fortunately, I had the opportunity to edit every dialog in this play and even compose a song for it. It was another great experience in telling a story only with sound.
Production of the radio play “Die Schlümpfe”
Another job at the German Wahnsinn Studios was the production of several episodes of the radio play “Die Schlümpfe“. I learned how music, atmospheres, sound design and speech have to work together to create an interesting and comprehensible story. Shout out to my great colleagues at the studio, especially Tobias Bettke!
Recording engineer for the music podcast “Nachts um halb 1” in 3D-Audio
During my internship at the German Wahnsinn recording studio, I had the opportunity to help produce the 3D music podcast “Nachts um halb 1“. It was very enriching to learn about recording and mixing music in Dolby Atmos and to work with great artists like Nic Cester or Madison McFerrin. So put on your headphones and listen for yourself!
Sound Designer and Music Composer for the 2D Animation “Armadillo Goes Shopping”
Once again I had the opportunity to take over the audio part of a great animation project. Thank you to my awesome team members and my colleague at the sound department, Lennart Janssen. Together we recorded and shaped every sound effect and created the film score. I hope you like it! Here is a short teaser:
“An armadillo wants to treat his human date to a bottle of wine – but a close-minded shop assistant drives him to take drastic measures!”
Check out my teammates: Sofia Gonzalez, Coireall Kent, Jennifer Scherebak, Lucy Gebken, Lennart Janssen
Recording Engineer for the Irish-Folk-Band “The Blue Blistering Barnacles”
![](https://alexanderprimus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/291610139_8160022257341975_7706122250702393265_n_Cutted-1024x611.jpg)
After getting in touch with “The Blue Blistering Barnacles” at the Live-Event in Gründau, Aron Frankenberger and I invited the irish-folk band for a professional studio recording. It was an insightful experience to mike traditional irish instruments like the Bodhrán.
Thank you to the fun and talented band members for this great recording session!
Recording and Mixing Engineer for a Jazz Band
![](https://alexanderprimus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/DrumsHQ-V3-1024x547.jpeg)
The aim of this event was to gain experience at recording and mixing musicians. Luckily, a good friend of mine and I got to work with a talented jazz band consisting of a female vocalist, drums, e-guitar,
e-bass, keys, synth-organ and a tenor saxophone. All in all, the session resulted in a great mood between all of us and a successful recording.
Live Sound Engineer at the open air event “Irische Nacht”
![](https://alexanderprimus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Aus-Menge_auf-Buehne-V2-1024x562.jpg)
For its 50th anniversary the commune of Gründau thought about something special. Making an open air irish pub seemed just about right and Aron Frankenberger and I had the pleasure of assisting at the sound department. With the Behringer X32 Rack we could use the corresponding iPad app to mix the band “Blue Blistering Barnacles” exactly as the crowd would perceive it. As a FOH being flexible in relation to your mixing postion means you can easily interact with the musicians and the audience to get a good mix.
intercom at the official retirement farewell ceremony of Prof. Dr. Ralph Stengler, former president of h-da
It meant farewell for our long time president Prof. Dr. Ralph Stengler and we wanted to capture this exceptional ceremony in our Live-Stream. Team communication is key, as so often, and that is when my job came into play. Installing different panels over our local network enabled information exchange between each department at any given time. Having a contact person always available means you can solve problems at much faster pace or inform others about important news. Nowadays the Interkom system is indispensable for live events. As even the instructions to the camera operators or to the host use this network communication.
SOUND DESIGNER FOR THE JUMP AND RUN GAME “CONTAGIOUS”
The Importance of Game Audio is known in the industry for a long time. Since the Contagious team was missing out in this department I had the pleasure to work as their sound designer. Using the middleware Wwise simplified the whole process of sound implementation and made it easy to variegate the effects to keep them interesting. Here’s a short game description:
“A pacifist virus desperately tries to leave the human body without infecting anything while being chased by the immune system and other microbe foes.”
Contagious is a 2D jump’n’run platformer in the style of the “Golden Age” cartoons from the 1920s. In terms of gameplay, it focusses on adaptive ability and precise movement.
Programmer for the technical ear trainer “Der Gehörbilder”
![](https://alexanderprimus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/UI-1024x731.png)
The ears of every musician is their most important tool. Weirdly not many think about training their auditory sense. Using “Der Gehörbilder” makes you associate specific frequencies with a certain kind of sound. Did you know that most hihats are in range of about 8kHz? Knowing things like these improve your workflow and come in handy especially in live events where you can’t just take out random frequencies to get to the sound you’re looking for. So my team and I thought about building and programming a technical ear trainer which does exactly that. Randomly a unknown frequency is getting raised or lowered by a setted amount. Just hearing the change in the sound you have to guess which frequency got adjusted. Soon you will know how each frequency affects the mix.
Thank you to my teammates: Lucas Koch, Niklas Hötzel, Ian Mergenthaler
stagehand and microphone placing at “Musik für stummfilme 2021”
Scoring new music for 12 different short films and performing it live was the concept behind this event. Luckily we had the pleasure to take over the technical part for the talented composers from HfMDK and the great musicians of “Kammerphilharmonie Frankfurt“. Inter alia Aron Frankenberger and I were responsible for miking the performing orchestra. Trying out different microphone positions was a great experience in how even small movements can effect the sound of each instrument. As a stagehand we were also responsible for the many set changes and the main contact for every performer.
audio editor, interviewer and project arrangement for the radiofeature “Back To The Roots – Der Wald als Medizin”
Being interested in the healing properties of the forest made my team and I produce a radiofeature about it. First things first what is a radiofeature? You could call it a podcast with a creative touch and the aspiration to stay neutral. So it’s a given to record stereo atmos and create a sound design for it. My jobs were various, from editing the interviews to being an interviewer myself and arranging the whole project.
Hopefully you got curious now. Just be warned everything is in German and so is our teaser:
“Heilung in der Natur zu suchen wird immer beliebter. Es kursieren mehr und mehr Gerüchte über die Heilwirkung des Waldes. Zum Beispiel, dass Bäume Terpene absondern, die angeblich unser Immunsystem stärken. Aber was genau ist da wirklich dran? Diese Frage beantworten wir jetzt in unserem Kurzfeature.”
Bachelor thesis on psychoacoustic effects in music mixing
![](https://alexanderprimus.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kolloquiumsbild-Colourcorrection-1024x229.png)
At the end of my studies at the h_da, I decided to explore the role of psychoacoustic effects in music mixing. The thesis examines which of these phenomena can be used in a meaningful way and how. Three songs of a jazz ensemble were recorded and mixed especially for this work. This allowed the psychoacoustic effects to be tested in a realistic context. Additionally, an empirical study was conducted to prove the relevance of these methods. If you are interested, take a look at the results of my work! Just be warned, everything is in German.
Thanks again to the great musicians at Dr. Hoch’s Conservatory. This project wouldn’t be possible without them. Recording, mixing and mastering were all done by myself. Give it a listen!
Recording engineer for the music podcast “Nachts um halb 1” in 3D-Audio
During my internship at the German Wahnsinn recording studio, I had the opportunity to help produce the 3D music podcast “Nachts um halb 1“. It was very enriching to learn about recording and mixing music in Dolby Atmos and to work with great artists like Nic Cester or Madison McFerrin. So put on your headphones and listen for yourself!
Recording Engineer for the Irish-Folk-Band “The Blue Blistering Barnacles”
![](https://alexanderprimus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/291610139_8160022257341975_7706122250702393265_n_Cutted-1024x611.jpg)
After getting in touch with “The Blue Blistering Barnacles” at the Live-Event in Gründau, Aron Frankenberger and I invited the irish-folk band for a professional studio recording. It was an insightful experience to mike traditional irish instruments like the Bodhrán.
Thank you to the fun and talented band members for this great recording session!
Recording and Mixing Engineer for a Jazz Band
![](https://alexanderprimus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/DrumsHQ-V3-1024x547.jpeg)
The aim of this event was to gain experience at recording and mixing musicians.
Luckily, a good friend of mine and I got to work with a talented jazz band consisting of a female vocalist, drums, e-guitar, e-bass, keys, synth-organ and a tenor saxophone. All in all, the session resulted in a great mood between all of us and a successful recording.
Live Sound Engineer at the open air event “Irische Nacht”
![](https://alexanderprimus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Aus-Menge_auf-Buehne-V2-1024x562.jpg)
For its 50th anniversary the commune of Gründau thought about something special. Making an open air irish pub seemed just about right and Aron Frankenberger and I had the pleasure of assisting at the sound department. With the Behringer X32 Rack we could use the corresponding iPad app to mix the band “Blue Blistering Barnacles” exactly as the crowd would perceive it. As a FOH being flexible in relation to your mixing position means you can easily interact with the musicians and the audience to get a good mix.
stagehand and microphone placing at “Musik für stummfilme 2021”
Scoring new music for 12 different short films and performing it live was the concept behind this event. Luckily we had the pleasure to take over the technical part for the talented composers from HfMDK and the great musicians of “Kammerphilharmonie Frankfurt“. Inter alia Aron Frankenberger and I were responsible for miking the performing orchestra. Trying out different microphone positions was a great experience in how even small movements can effect the sound of each instrument. As a stagehand we were also responsible for the many set changes and the main contact for every performer.
audio editor, interviewer and project arrangement for the radiofeature “Back To The Roots – Der Wald als Medizin”
Being interested in the healing properties of the forest made my team and I produce a radiofeature about it. First things first what is a radiofeature? You could call it a podcast with a creative touch and the aspiration to stay neutral. So it’s a given to record stereo atmos and create a sound design for it. My jobs were various, from editing the interviews to being an interviewer myself and arranging the whole project.
Hopefully you got curious now. Just be warned everything is in German and so is our teaser:
“Heilung in der Natur zu suchen wird immer beliebter. Es kursieren mehr und mehr Gerüchte über die Heilwirkung des Waldes. Zum Beispiel, dass Bäume Terpene absondern, die angeblich unser Immunsystem stärken. Aber was genau ist da wirklich dran? Diese Frage beantworten wir jetzt in unserem Kurzfeature.”
Live Sound Engineer at the open air event “Irische Nacht”
![](https://alexanderprimus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Aus-Menge_auf-Buehne-V2-1024x562.jpg)
For its 50th anniversary the commune of Gründau thought about something special. Making an open air irish pub seemed just about right and Aron Frankenberger and I had the pleasure of assisting at the sound department. With the Behringer X32 Rack we could use the corresponding iPad app to mix the band “Blue Blistering Barnacles” exactly as the crowd would perceive it. As a FOH being flexible in relation to your mixing position means you can easily interact with the musicians and the audience to get a good mix.
intercom at the official retirement farewell ceremony of Prof. Dr. Ralph Stengler, former president of h-da
It meant farewell for our long time president Prof. Dr. Ralph Stengler and we wanted to capture this exceptional ceremony in our Live-Stream. Team communication is key, as so often, and that is when my job came into play. Installing different panels over our local network enabled information exchange between each department at any given time. Having a contact person always available means you can solve problems at much faster pace or inform others about important news. Nowadays the Interkom system is indispensable for live events. As even the instructions to the camera operators or to the host use this network communication.
stagehand and microphone placing at “Musik für stummfilme 2021”
Scoring new music for 12 different short films and performing it live was the concept behind this event. Luckily we had the pleasure to take over the technical part for the talented composers from HfMDK and the great musicians of “Kammerphilharmonie Frankfurt“. Inter alia Aron Frankenberger and I were responsible for miking the performing orchestra. Trying out different microphone positions was a great experience in how even small movements can effect the sound of each instrument. As a stagehand we were also responsible for the many set changes and the main contact for every performer.
Music Composer for the Tower Defense Game “Monster Princess”
This semester Aron Frankenberger and I had the chance to do the audio for the tower defense game “Monster Princess”. My task was to produce the soundtrack. After several sketches my team and I decided on an electro style and each level got its own variation of the music. I hope you like it! Here is a short teaser:
“You are a monster in love with a dead human princess. To resurrect her, you must capture the souls of other humans. Build dungeons, kill enemies and collect their souls in this tower defense game!”
Music Composer for the Sci-Fi Short Film: “No-A ”
As part of a university project, Aron Frankenberger, Simon Steinmann and I decided to rework the music and sound design of the short film “No-A” by the DUST community. One difficulty was to create a “blockbuster-like” sound without covering too many stereotypes.
Inspired by the great soundtrack of “DUNE” by Hans Zimmer, I created music with an oriental touch. It is carried by dominant percussion, Arabic vocals and Latin chants. Another important factor was recording foleys to create very specific sounds that cannot be found in typical libraries. A big thank you goes to my two colleagues for the great sound design. I hope you enjoy it!
Sound Designer and Music Composer for the 2D Animation “Armadillo Goes Shopping”
Once again I had the opportunity to take over the audio part of a great animation project. Thank you to my awesome team members and my colleague at the sound department, Lennart Janssen. Together we recorded and shaped every sound effect and created the film score. I hope you like it! Here is a short teaser:
“An armadillo wants to treat his human date to a bottle of wine – but a close-minded shop assistant drives him to take drastic measures!”
Check out my teammates: Sofia Gonzalez, Coireall Kent, Jennifer Scherebak, Lucy Gebken, Lennart Janssen
Sound Designer for the Jump and Run Game “Contagious”
The Importance of Game Audio is known in the industry for a long time. Since the Contagious team was missing out in this department I had the pleasure to work as their sound designer. Using the middleware Wwise simplified the whole process of sound implementation and made it easy to variegate the effects to keep them interesting. Here’s a short game description:
“A pacifist virus desperately tries to leave the human body without infecting anything while being chased by the immune system and other microbe foes.”
Contagious is a 2D jump’n’run platformer in the style of the “Golden Age” cartoons from the 1920s. In terms of gameplay, it focusses on adaptive ability and precise movement.
Audio Editor & Music Composition for the radio play “Die Wilden Hühner 5”
The publishing house “Atmende Bücher” of the recording studio German Wahnsinn is known for its elaborate and creative radio plays. So is this one, which is the 5th in the series of the same name.
Fortunately, I had the opportunity to edit every dialog in this play and even compose a song for it. It was another great experience in telling a story only with sound.
Production of the radio play “Die Schlümpfe”
Another job at the German Wahnsinn Studios was the production of several episodes of the radio play “Die Schlümpfe“. I learned how music, atmospheres, sound design and speech have to work together to create an interesting and comprehensible story. Shout out to my great colleagues at the studio, especially Tobias Bettke!
Programmer for the technical ear trainer “Der Gehörbilder”
![](https://alexanderprimus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/UI-1024x731.png)
The ears of every musician is their most important tool. Weirdly not many think about training their auditory sense. Using “Der Gehörbilder” makes you associate specific frequencies with a certain kind of sound. Did you know that most hihats are in range of about 8kHz? Knowing things like these improve your workflow and come in handy especially in live events where you can’t just take out random frequencies to get to the sound you’re looking for. So my team and I thought about building and programming a technical ear trainer which does exactly that. Randomly a unknown frequency is getting raised or lowered by a setted amount. Just hearing the change in the sound you have to guess which frequency got adjusted. Soon you will know how each frequency affects the mix.
Thank you to my teammates: Lucas Koch, Niklas Hötzel, Ian Mergenthaler
audio editor, interviewer and project arrangement for the radiofeature “Back To The Roots – Der Wald als Medizin”
Being interested in the healing properties of the forest made my team and I produce a radiofeature about it. First things first what is a radiofeature? You could call it a podcast with a creative touch and the aspiration to stay neutral. So it’s a given to record stereo atmos and create a sound design for it. My jobs were various, from editing the interviews to being an interviewer myself and arranging the whole project.
Hopefully you got curious now. Just be warned everything is in German and so is our teaser:
“Heilung in der Natur zu suchen wird immer beliebter. Es kursieren mehr und mehr Gerüchte über die Heilwirkung des Waldes. Zum Beispiel, dass Bäume Terpene absondern, die angeblich unser Immunsystem stärken. Aber was genau ist da wirklich dran? Diese Frage beantworten wir jetzt in unserem Kurzfeature.”