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Image Credit: Panic Girl

Interview: Panic Girl

An interview with the Munich-based sound designer and composer

Written by Stromkult on .

Panic Girl (Martha Bahr) is a composer and synthesizer sound designer based in Munich, Germany. Working as a sound designer for the radio by day and working on her own music by night, she has been an active member of the online and offline synth community for many years.

In this interview, she talks about how she got into synths and modular, her work as a radio sound designer, what it’s like to have a vintage EMS Synthi, her current favorite modules and why there is still so much to explore with synths. The following is an edited and translated transcription of a conversation originally held in German.

How did you first get into music?

I’ve been fascinated by music ever since I was a little girl. I’ve always been dancing and singing along to everything. So I knew pretty early that I wanted to do something with music, this magical medium floating through the air (laughs). I also took classical piano lessons and played the recorder ...

... the horror (laughs)!

I think my mind has mostly blocked that part out (laughs)! I still have that recorder, I don’t even remember where I learned to play it, maybe somewhere in elementary school. It’s completely out of tune now (laughs). As a teenager, I was also in a band where I played guitar and sang. Eventually I went to college and first started a degree that I found very boring. But then a friend told me about the SAE [School of Audio Engineering] — and I immediately knew that was what I really wanted to do. I then started an audio engineering degree in 2002. That’s where I learned about the technical side of audio, but I was still making music and then eventually got more interested in synthesizers as well.

Was there a specific kind of music that got you more interested in synthesizers?

For me, it was definitely Massive Attack, especially Mezzanine. That instantly blew me away, it was like alright, that’s it for me (laughs).

What was your next step after finishing your degree at the SAE?

After an internship at a radio station, I then actually worked at the SAE for a long time as a tutor. That was very exciting but also very challenging. As a tutor, the students would always come to me with all sorts of questions and technical problems and I had to find solutions quickly, whether it was in the digital or analog realm. Looking back, I’m quite grateful for that experience because it has taught me a lot, including how to come up with solutions very quickly.

I also did some teaching and gave some lectures on DAWs like Logic or Reason and led a course on electronic music production. But at some point, I decided that I wanted to do more than just teaching, so I went to the Bayerischer Rundfunk (Bavarian public radio), where I started working in their radio studios. Eventually, I ended up in the sound design department, creating sound and music for all sorts of radio dramas and other broadcast programs.

The modern Radiophonic Workshop (laughs)!

Exactly, it’s kind of like that (laughs).

Do you remember your first synthesizer?

It was a Virus TI! A true classic. It’s a shame I eventually sold it, you really should never sell your first synthesizer (laughs).

How did you get into modular synthesis?

I still remember that moment. I was in a music store in Munich, just browsing and looking around, when I suddenly saw a Doepfer system for the first time, beautiful in all its silver. It was like love at first sight, I immediately grabbed an employee and had him tell me what this thing was all about (laughs).

I couldn’t really afford it at the time, but I knew I simply had to have it, so I borrowed some money and started with a partial configuration. The store employee was nice enough to patch something before handing it to me, and I think for the first three months I didn’t even dare to take out that patch (laughs).

How did you then learn from that point on?

I’ve always been a big manual reader and back then, there wasn’t a ton of information about modular synthesis on the internet. Today, there’s so much on everything, which is great, but at the time, it was quite scarce. So I definitely read the manual that came with the system a lot. You know, it was classic Doepfer, very thorough and informative, albeit maybe a bit scientific for me at times (laughs). And of course also a lot of learning by doing, trying everything out, which is something I was also always doing with fixed architecture synths.

But then, it’s also a bit a different with modular, because it really forces you to be aware of what you are doing. And in a way, I do still like that about it — if you really want to understand synthesis on a deeper level, you will with modular, albeit the learning curve can be quite steep of course (laughs). It took quite a while for everything to click for me, but I think the fact that you never really stop learning is also part of the beauty of it.

Has getting into modular influenced the style of your music?

Definitely! Before that, I was more into trip-hop and things like that. But with the modular stuff, I ended up kind of naturally drifting into a more ambient direction without it necessarily being a conscious decision. But of course, I also make other kinds of music, especially with my work at the radio, where I have to be able to compose music in all sorts of styles and genres. For the radio work, I definitely go for the computer first, just because it’s so quick, but when I have a bit more time I do like to use the modular when I can.

And it’s also led you towards a deeper interest in sound design?

Absolutely! This kind of total control you have over every part of the synthesis process with modular is something that’s pretty difficult to replicate with the computer. It really draws you into the fine details, and I’ve noticed that when I’m on the computer, it’s more about composing and playing parts, whereas when I’m on the modular, it’s more about sound design.

How did you get involved with the soundtrack for the 2023 Netflix film Paradise?

I was recommended to David [Reichelt] by a friend when he was looking for a more electronics-based co-composer for the film's soundtrack. He got in touch and we got along well and everything worked out great. It was a really amazing experience for me to work with visuals, especially this kind of somewhat dystopian sci-fi film, which is a genre I really like.

It was also great working with David, because he’s done so many films and really knows the whole process and all the logistics. There were some guidelines in terms of style, but ultimately we were able to compose quite freely. I was mainly responsible for the sound design and I got to use a lot of my hardware synths, especially the vintage ARP 2600, the Moog Matriarch and the modular system.

You also have also done presets for various synth manufacturers, what is that process like for you?

In a way it’s easy, because I’m always at my synths anyway, making sounds and patches. I think the first time I did presets was for Wolfgang Palm’s [now discontinued] PPG iOS apps, which was really exciting. It’s also great to work with people you know personally, like Neuzeit Instruments, for whom I helped beta test the Warp module and then also did presets for it, which was a ton of fun and I went a bit wild with it (laughs).

Is there something specific that makes a sound interesting to you?

Great question! Hmm … I think a sound is interesting to me when it offers something new to my ears, like this feeling of “wow, I’ve never heard anything like that”, even if it may only be new to me personally. I’ve also always found movement and randomness in sounds exciting, especially with pad sounds, when there’s something irregular and unpredictable to it, where even I may get surprised by how it develops. And I also really like when there’s a noisy element to it, it makes the sound feel more tactile. But I also like very clean digital sounds sometimes, which can form a nice contrast to the more noisy elements.

Do you have a favorite synth in your studio right now? I saw you’ve recently acquired a vintage EMS Synthi, is it that?

Exactly! I really hesitated with that at first, because, you know, that’s not a cheap synth and you never really know how well you will mesh with it until it’s actually in your studio, no matter how many demos you listen to.

I feel like with these kind of synths there’s also definitely a kind of mythos to them, and then it’s the question of if they can live up to that — but the Synthi really is as great as everyone says it is (laughs)?

Yes (laughs)! There’s this texture and depth to the Synthi sound, it really feels like you can “look” into it ... it’s just unbelievable, it always gives me goosebumps. I’ve also always been a huge Pink Floyd fan and it’s obviously well-known they used a Synthi, but now that I have one, I really hear so many of those sounds whenever I play it and that brings me a lot of joy.

Of course, owning vintage synths can also be a bit challenging with things like tuning stability, octave tracking, replacement parts and so on. Like, the Synthi has this old non-standard power plug, that’s something you should definitely try to not lose (laughs). I feel a certain amount of responsibility for my vintage synths, because you know they’re not being made anymore. But I once asked my tech about what’s the best thing to do for the long-term condition of these synths, and he said the most important thing is to just use and play them regularly. So that’s what I do!

Do you think you’ve become more focused in your music-making process over time?

Sometimes, yes. But I also do enjoy just aimlessly messing around with the modular system — because that’s often how you stumble upon very interesting sounds that you wouldn’t necessarily have thought of otherwise. It’s a great way to find new ideas, especially when you stray from the usual paths of your patching process.

What is your relationship to your system? Some people seem to be always striving for that “final” configuration, while others accept that the system will always be changing and in flux.

In a way, it is both, I think. I am always on the hunt for that “one configuration,” a system that feels like an instrument, and I do have a smaller system for live performances. I do really like the idea of something like a Buchla Music Easel that’s self-contained and beautifully designed.

But on the other hand, I’m also far too curious and get incredibly excited by new things (laughs). So I also have large system with a big case, which has helped me a lot, because I can make use of all of my modules without having to constantly take things in and out and plan for space.

What are your favorite modules at the moment?

Where to start! But recently, I’ve been loving the Doboz T12, which is a relatively new touch controller that’s a lot of fun. I’m a big fan of Make Noise in general. The Harvestman Malgorithm — a bitcrusher — is great, I use a lot of bitcrushing but you have to make sure to not overuse it.

The new Buchla modules from TipTop are amazing, especially the 245T Sequential Voltage Source. I’m still getting familiar with the Buchla world, it’s quite a different paradigm. As I said earlier, everything from Neuzeit Instruments is really fantastic. I love the Starlab by Strymon for effects. Hard to say — maybe all of them are my favorites (laughs)!

What inspires you on a daily basis, is it really this drive to always find something new?

It’s definitely this search to create new sounds that didn’t exist previously.

I find that really interesting, because I think a lot of people today hold this opinion that basically everything that’s possible to do with synthesizers has already been done — you don’t agree with that sentiment?

I mean, the violin and the piano have been around for much longer, and people are still creating new things with those, exploring new contexts and combinations. With synthesizers, where you can totally design a sound from scratch, I really do feel like we’ve barely scratched the surface so far and have explored maybe 10% of the overall possibilities. There’s still so much potential, and many of the manufacturers are always trying to come up with new features and functions, so I do think there’s still a lot of room for new things to happen.

I remember someone once half-joking that people making the modules have become more creative than the people using them (laughs).

That’s an interesting thought for sure! Ultimately, using everything available to you is definitely … when you sit down with your system, it’s easy to try a lot of new things, but to then get that sounding like music and not just noise, that can be quite challenging sometimes (laughs)!

You can find out more about Panic Girl’s work over on her website and listen to her music on Spotify