Starting as consultant at Kick
21/05/19 Filed in: Kick Artist Services
I’ve been working for Kick APS a lot since 1996, and we really share the same DNA, so it’s only logical to re-connect after all those years of touring. I’m happy to announce that from now on I’ll be working for Kick as a global consultant. It will be my task to optimise service and general operations so we can meet the artists’ backline requirements even better than before, while at the same time re-enforce and expand our position as largest backline service company in the Benelux and guide the company forward.
It feels like coming home, and I’m very excited to take on this new challenge.
It feels like coming home, and I’m very excited to take on this new challenge.
Pulse Mandala : DeepMind Dreamscape
23/09/17 Filed in: Pulse Mandala
New Pulse Mandala track in the DeepMind series is out now, a 3 hour long soundscape designed for deep relaxation, introspection, meditation, etc ….
Also check out the very psychedelic VIDEO on youtube
Also check out the very psychedelic VIDEO on youtube
Summer of Kicks !
29/07/16 Filed in: Kick Artist Services
Working the summer season again for KICK APS - a company I've been connected with for over 20 years - working mostly as stagemanager for festivals like Gent Jazz, Summer Festival, Tomorrowland, Reggae Geel and Jazz Middelheim … and doing backline production again for the ever awesome Pukkelpop festival as well.
New album Pulse Mandala
23/05/16 Filed in: Pulse Mandala
The second album of my solo project Pulse Mandala is now out and available through all major online distribution channels. Checkt it out on the dedicated homepage: www.pulsemandala.com
Roger Hodgson EU tour 2016
12/04/16 Filed in: Roger Hodgson
Roger Hodgson keeps on touring in 2016, and I'm still touring with him. It's just such a great bunch of people to work for, and it keeps being a challenge too … ;-)
Night of the Proms 2015
28/10/15 Filed in: Night of the Proms
Yes it's the year of celebrations : after my 7th year touring with Roger Hodgson, I realise this is my 15th year with Night of the Proms ! I guess that goes to show that I'm a very loyal asset to any team … ;-)
It's gonna be a tough tour this year : 30 shows in less than 6 weeks, with many back-to-backs.
It's gonna be a tough tour this year : 30 shows in less than 6 weeks, with many back-to-backs.
Roger Hodgson world tour 2015
20/05/15 Filed in: Roger Hodgson
My 7th year touring the world with Roger Hodgson (Supertramp) as a stagemanager and his keyboard tech. These guys are like a second family to me now, and it's good to go out on an adventure in good company again. I do say "adventure" because Roger knows to pick his locations : ancient castles, natural amphitheatres, and even a gig 500m deep down underground in a salt mine cave. are on the list this year. Not always easy work conditions, but always totally worth the effort ! Tourdates in the sidebar .
Pulse Mandala, first album
28/01/15 Filed in: Pulse Mandala
All of my adult life I’ve been into ambient music, scifi phylosophy and cosmic movies, and with my brand new project I feel all these passions come together into one new abstract art form. Pulse Mandala is a synthetic experience that builds upon the mechanisms of nature and the universe itself : chaos theory, unpredictability, randomness. It’s a concept designed to relax and escape from this reality.
If you’re into this, I kindly invite you to check out the website, like my facebook page, watch and share the trippy promo video, or even buy the first album online .
Night of the Proms 2014
23/11/14 Filed in: Night of the Proms
There we go again : Night of the Proms tour 2014 ! It’s been the 30th anniversary edition , and as usual I’ll take care of backline and provide this massive orchestra with clicktracks , loops and timecode to sync things up . Great to be part again of this well oiled production machine and work with my Belgian colleagues again .
Update : I’m really getting into VIDEO lately , so please check out this little montage I made of our load-in :
Reggae Geel 2014
31/07/14 Filed in: Kick Artist Services
This is a great Reggae festival in Belgium , one that I’ve worked for many times as a backline tech . After a few years of absence due to my busy touring agenda with Roger Hodgson , I’m now returning to Reggae Geel in the function of stage manager . JAH , Rastafari and Kingston Jamaican vibes for 2 days !!!
Dour festival 2014
13/07/14 Filed in: Kick Artist Services
This year I’ll have time again to work for Kick (artistical and productional solutions) , Belgium’s biggest backline company and still my first love . My first big festival will be the notorious Dour festival : 4 days , 7 stages , hundreds of bands ... it’s a big challenge to provide all artists with their requested gear . I’ll be going with 3 trailers loaded with backline and a 12 man crew . It’s gonna be 4 long and heavy days , but it’ll also feel a bit like a survival weekend in the rock&roll jungle , which has a certain charm to it ... :-)
Roger Hodgson : tour 2014
27/05/14 Filed in: Roger Hodgson
And we keep on touring again with Roger Hodgson in 2014 too . New territories , old friends , ever changing setups with new technology , trying to raise our standards , travelling the world like nomads with our 2 man crew and Pelican cases full of essential gear , renting local stuff and trying to make a show happen day after day , night after night ... you do get tired of it sometimes , but then again : after a few months at home you just want to hit the road again and throw yourself into that familiar jungle called tour-life . This year we’re taking it easy : just some European and some North and South America shows .
Oh , and I found some time to design a new T-shirt , of which you’ll find a pic just here :
Oh , and I found some time to design a new T-shirt , of which you’ll find a pic just here :
Officially endorsed by RME
18/03/14
I’m quite honoured to be part of the RME family of artists now .
Please read about my experience with the Fireface UFX and Totalmix on the RME website
Night of the Proms 2013
07/11/13 Filed in: Night of the Proms
And there we go again : my 13th year doing the annual Night of the Proms tour . More than 30 shows in Belgium , Holland , Germany and Luxembourg , starring artists like Wyclef Jean , Gloria Estefan , Amy McDonald , Mark King , and many others ... off course with the usual 70 piece symphonic orchestra + choir . I take care of the Electric band’s backline , and run clicktracks and timecode to keep this huge band in time with itself and with the lightshow .
Roger Hodgson : World Tour 2013
20/04/13 Filed in: Roger Hodgson
Yes , Roger is keeping me busy again this year , as you can see on this year’s T-shirt backside . Need I say more ? … :-) … exact tourdates in sidebar .
Just like every year we’re making some technical improvements . We replaced our Aviom personal monitor systems with a brand new Pivitec system , giving every band member mix-control over 32 channels on their iPads over wifi … and that’s just the start : this production is in a constant state of evolution , which is sometimes stressful , but also keeps things interesting .
Just like every year we’re making some technical improvements . We replaced our Aviom personal monitor systems with a brand new Pivitec system , giving every band member mix-control over 32 channels on their iPads over wifi … and that’s just the start : this production is in a constant state of evolution , which is sometimes stressful , but also keeps things interesting .
Roger Hodgson : a small trip to North America
13/01/13 Filed in: Roger Hodgson
Just 2 duo shows : one in Ridgefield , CT , and a second one in downtown NYC . Great to see some old friends back in this new year . It’s also upgrade and prepping time for the forthcoming World Tour 2013 : we’re all moving to Mountain Lion so quiet a bit of work to update all plugins and drivers . We’re also looking into a new monitoring system and some other overall improvements to our touring gear .
Night of the Proms , European tour 2012
13/11/12 Filed in: Night of the Proms
Here we go again : this is my 12th consecutive year that I’ll be working for this fantastic production . They call me the “clickmeister” here , as I’m taking care of all click tracks , loops , timecode and other digital wizardry on stage . Guests for this year : The Jacksons , Anastacia , Mick Hucknall from Simply Red , Jupiter Jones , John Miles , Naturally 7 and the young Dutch Harp virtuoso Remy van Kesteren . 35 arena shows in Belgium , Holland , Luxembourg and Germany , starting early november and landing back home just a few hours before the family Xmas eve dinner .
ULtravox : programming for 2012 Brilliant tour
05/09/12 Filed in: Ultravox
Sadly I had to let go of the Ultravox 2012 tour , because of clashing agendas with Roger Hodgson and Night of the Proms . Still I found time to spend a few days at the start of the rehearsals at Real World , to do some programming on the new songs & hand the job over to Roger Lyons . It was great to see all of my old friends again , and I'm very confident that Roger will be an excellent replacement . I'll try to come and see a show somewhere in Germany , from the audience side of perspective for a change ... ;-) ... and watch my old colleagues do the load out , while I'll be having drinks ... hehe ...
Roger Hodgson , tour 2012
01/04/12 Filed in: Roger Hodgson
With over 80 shows allready being confirmed , 2012 is gonna be a real busy year for Roger Hodgson . We're planning 3 or 4 runs in North America , a big trip through South America , and some touring in Europe as well . Band and skeleton crew starts to roll like a machine , so it's really fun working too . The touring schedule is a work in progress , so I'll just leave the tourdates in the sidebar . As usual , it's just Howie & myself being the tech guys , so we'll be busy ... hehe ...
Studio : Zethrya
08/02/12 Filed in: studio
WIntertime is traditionally very quiet in the live business , but also a perfect time for retreating to the warm and cosy studio environment and get creative . This year I started working with my very good friend and outstanding vocalist Nikkie van Lierop on a new project called Zethrya .
It's a very experimental and theatrical project , taking you to the deepest corners of your soul and evoking stong emotions . We call it a "ritual performance" and plan to perform in churches , temples and other holy places , hopefully later this year .
It's a very experimental and theatrical project , taking you to the deepest corners of your soul and evoking stong emotions . We call it a "ritual performance" and plan to perform in churches , temples and other holy places , hopefully later this year .
Night of the Proms , European Tour 2011
02/12/11 Filed in: Night of the Proms
This is the eleventh year that I'll be joining the Night of the Proms tour as a keyboard tech & DAW operator (or ClickMeister as my German friends like to call me) . We're doing 35 shows this year in Belgium , Holland , Luxembourg and Germany , spread over 2 months including production rehearsals . This edition's artists are SEAL , Alison Moyet , Nile Rogers , Mick Hucknall , James Blunt , Angie Stone , DIV4S and some more local names . I'll be sitting on stage again in between the electric Band , starting track after track from my double Logic MIDI/MADI rack , spitting out clicktrack , loops and timecode to sync the lightshow & video .
Roger Hodgson (supertramp) summer tour 2011 : the end !
03/09/11 Filed in: Roger Hodgson
Well , that was it : the end of the Roger Hodgson summer tour 2011 . It's been a rough ride all over a few continents , and I'm gonna miss all the guys after this intense time we spent together . On the road I made a succesfull transition from Roger's combined hardware & software setup to a pure software setup , sampling all his sounds into ESX24 format for use in Mainstage . It all had to be done in hotelrooms & during soundchecks , so it was a long process , but we pulled it off , and now we've got a much simpler and more compact setup to fly around the wordl for next year ..... to be continued for sure !
Pukkelpop , Belgium
18/08/11 Filed in: Kick Artist Services
Pukkelpop is Belgium's coolest alternative music festival , spread over 3 days and 8 stages , from Dance to Balkan , Rock and everything in between . We're here with 3 trailers of backline and 13 backline crew people . A great festival to close the summer season .
UPDATE : As you probably found out , what was supposed to be a great way to end the summer turned into a nightmare when a freakstorm hit the festival site on day one and killed 5 people , injured many more and pretty much destroyed half of the festival infrastructure . Me & my collegues are all allright , but my heart goes out to those wo were not so lucky .
UPDATE : As you probably found out , what was supposed to be a great way to end the summer turned into a nightmare when a freakstorm hit the festival site on day one and killed 5 people , injured many more and pretty much destroyed half of the festival infrastructure . Me & my collegues are all allright , but my heart goes out to those wo were not so lucky .
Reggae Geel , Belgium
05/08/11 Filed in: Kick Artist Services
Simple & easy : 2 days of Reggae , a trailer full of drumkits with timbales , big bass amps , small guitar amps and lots of shiny keyboards on triple stands . Jaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh !!!!! ... Rastafari ........
Tomorrowland 2011 : stage manager on Mainstage
23/07/11 Filed in: Kick Artist Services
Being a stagemanager at Belgium's largest dance festival Tomorrowland can take you to strange places . This year , the mainstage is decorated in true Alice in Wonderland style . Artists such as Faithless , Tiesto , 2ManyDJ's , David Guetta , Martin Solveig , Steve Aoki , etc will perform in the middle of this fairy landscape , complete with colorful fountains , fireworks & dancing elves ..... Technically this is a no brainer job , but it's a damn challenge to keep all those mad party people off my stage ..... what can I say ? ...... life is full of surprises .... :-) ....
Roger Hodgson spring & summer tour
06/06/11 Filed in: Roger Hodgson
A lot of full band shows this year , starting en of may and going all through the summer . This is going to be a hectic schedule all over Europe , partly with our own transport , backline and FOH , partly flying with local rented backline and FOH , so Howard & I have got to keep it all simple , modular and tidy . I have a big full drumkit to take care of and 3 serious keyboard rigs that all involve Mainstage + additional hardware . Howard - who does the FOH - sends 16 stems for use in our new AVIOM personal monitoring system . Yes that's correct : it's just Howard & myself to take care of transport , FOH , backline , miking it all up , monitoring , etc .... it's a challenge , but at least we won't be bored ... hehe .....
NOTP in Denmark & Kiel
10/04/11 Filed in: Night of the Proms
2 one-off shows with Night of the proms : 1 in Denmark on april 2nd & 1 in Kiel on april 9th . The Denmark show is the first we did up there and should open up doors for furture touring in Scandinavia . The Kiel show is the first show we did for our new German sponsor Aida cruise operater . This one was for the launch of their newest quite impressive cruise ship . We played open air in the harbor
for aprox 40.000 people , with a specialy arranged version of "music" syncing with a fireworks show . A lot of preparation for just those 2 shows , but who knows where it will take us next .... ...
for aprox 40.000 people , with a specialy arranged version of "music" syncing with a fireworks show . A lot of preparation for just those 2 shows , but who knows where it will take us next .... ...
Roger Hodgson : North America tour
02/03/11 Filed in: Roger Hodgson
Another small tour with Roger Hodgson and his band , starting with a couple of days rehearsing in the Pechanga casino resort (California) , followed by 6 casino shows in the US & Canada . We have a little break in the middle that we'll use to check out the Perfect Sounds Studio in LA .
programming Roger Hodgson's new mainstage system
28/01/11 Filed in: Roger Hodgson
For years Roger Hodgson has toured with his old keyboard rig , consisting of a few hardware modules & many different standalone software instruments on his mac , all controlled from the combi mode of his trusted Triton . The system was needlesly complex while at the same time running up to it's limitations .When the hardware finally started to fall apart , we decided to translate his sounds into one compact mainstage rig .
After the last tour , we shipped Roger's rig to my studio , where I'm now meticulously analysing his sounds and controller settings , redesigning his old sounds in software or even sampling sounds into EXS instruments when the character of the original is too hard to recreate .
Off course Roger will want to finetune his stuff when we get to prepare the next tour , but I'm pretty confident I've come up with a very close approximation of his old rig .
After the last tour , we shipped Roger's rig to my studio , where I'm now meticulously analysing his sounds and controller settings , redesigning his old sounds in software or even sampling sounds into EXS instruments when the character of the original is too hard to recreate .
Off course Roger will want to finetune his stuff when we get to prepare the next tour , but I'm pretty confident I've come up with a very close approximation of his old rig .
Natalia meets Anastacia
15/01/11 Filed in: Natalia
We're doing 6 shows in the Antwerp sportpaleis with those 2 diva's . The band is half Natalia's , half Anastacia's , and I'm again taking care of all the clicks , counts & tapes . It was a lot of work bringing all the info from those 2 different productions together in one live session , but we're rolling smooth & solid , again all digital from source to FOH over MADI with a backup system running as well . Sweet ....
Night of the Proms 2010
12/11/10 Filed in: Night of the Proms
This is the 10th year in a row that I'll be working for the Night of the Proms , providing this great production with some MIDI magic , clicktracks , loops and SMTP timecode to sync the whole thing together . This year we have Boy George , Grace Jones , John Fogerty , Kid Creole (and some amazing looking coconuts) , sir Cliff Richard and the German multimedia project Lichtmond . Personally I think it's one of the best editions in years & I'm enjoying it a lot . We're doing 35 arena shows in Belgium , Holland and Germany starting end october and ending just before Christmas .
turning the MIDI rack into a MADI rack
28/09/10 Filed in: Night of the Proms
September is a quiet month for me , so it's the perfect time to upgrade my trusted MIDI rack & turn it into a MADI rack . More and more , rather than just triggering modules & stuff like in the old days , I'm operating the clicks & loops for live shows , sending out timecode as well for syncing the lightshow & triggering video cues . I use 2 macs (one is a backup) , that run in wild sync , and they're both hooked up to a yamaha 01V/96 for easy routing and switching between the 2 machines .
Up until now it always involved a lot of cabling & DI's , but I've decided to go completely digital from source to destination (mac to digital FOH desk) . That means connecting and routing everything through adat pipes to the 01V/96 & then out into a RME ADI648 spitting out MADI signal over BNC .
I'll try it out on the forthcoming Night of the Poms tour from october to december . It should make life easier for all parties involved , as well as improve reliability and sound quality .
Up until now it always involved a lot of cabling & DI's , but I've decided to go completely digital from source to destination (mac to digital FOH desk) . That means connecting and routing everything through adat pipes to the 01V/96 & then out into a RME ADI648 spitting out MADI signal over BNC .
I'll try it out on the forthcoming Night of the Poms tour from october to december . It should make life easier for all parties involved , as well as improve reliability and sound quality .
Ultravox , summer tour 2010
08/08/10 Filed in: Ultravox
This is gonna be another great little tour with Ultravox . 6 shows in Sweden , 2 in Finland & 2 in the UK , spread over 3 weeks .
Same crew as usual , and I'm really looking forward to spend some time together with them , as well as catch up with the bandmembers .
The work has become routine by now , the travels are easy & comfortable , it's summer .... it might actually almost feel like a holiday this time ... and god knows I need one !
Kick : working the festival season
17/07/10 Filed in: Kick Artist Services
Every summer I work the festival season for Kick Artist Services , Belgium's biggest backline rental company . We provide backline for most of Belgium's excellent festivals , and my job is to coöridnate the backline deliveries on the various stages on those festivals . This year I'm doing a world music festival in the heart of Brussels : Couleur Café , then Belgium's legendary and award winning maintream rock festival : Rock Werchter , and after that I'll be stage manager and backline provider for the reknown 10 day Gent Jazz festival .
As I help a lot of international touring artist with their backline , It's a great way to stay in touch with what's happening , get to learn a few new things , and stay in touch with all my Belgian techy friends as well .
As I help a lot of international touring artist with their backline , It's a great way to stay in touch with what's happening , get to learn a few new things , and stay in touch with all my Belgian techy friends as well .
Roger Hodgson , South America tour
14/05/10 Filed in: Roger Hodgson
Another small tour in South America with this great band that almost sounds like the real Supertramp . Roger wants to move to mainstage , keyboardplayer Kevin is using mainstage , and even multi-instrumentalist Aaron is integrating mainstage in his setup now , so I know what to do . We're doing 6 shows in Argentina , Brazil , Panama & Venezuela . Apart from the drumkit and some keyboards we're flying everything , so it's another adventure to get everything through customs & metal detectors , etc ..... luckily , the south american climate and overall vibe makes it more than bearable ... :-) ....
Ultravox : Return to Eden part 2 , European tour
09/04/10 Filed in: Ultravox
Now on tour with Ultravox again for the second part of their Return to Eden tour . We're doing 21 shows in pretty much half of Europe this time (UK , Scandinavia , Germany , Switserland , Holland , Luxembourg , Italy) . I'm looking after all the computers and electronics . Basically that's 4 macs , all running mainstage or Logic , some controller keyboards , electronic drumpads , etc ...
Crew is almost the same as last time and it feels good to get together again and work in a great production like this . It doesn't get much better than this when it comes to touring .
Crew is almost the same as last time and it feels good to get together again and work in a great production like this . It doesn't get much better than this when it comes to touring .
interview with Performing Musician
29/03/10
It's been published in the januari edition , but only became available online just now : the interview that Performing Musician did with me . It's mostly about my work for Night of the Proms and some general techy stuff . In the meantime the magazine is no more , so I got the dubious honor of being in the last edition ever . You can check out the full interview here
Sylver 10 years anniversary
29/03/10
It's been 10 years since I played keyboards myself , but when Sylver asked me join their live band for their 10 year anniversary party , I just couldn't say no . We just did 2 sold out shows in the Antwerp Lotto Arena , and some festival gigs will follow this summer . It was a bit of a challenge and I was a little nervous to be honest , but it was a joy to play with a great band like this , and we pulled it off pretty well I believe . It also gave me a good chance to test the stability of mainstage 2 on stage . It was a bit weird though to have backline techs work for us , while I'm used to it being the other way around , but hey : you gotta be flexible in this business .... :-) ...
HUMO's pop poll deluxe
12/03/10
the live award show for Belgium's best magazine HUMO . I'll take care of the backline change overs for all the live bands and work with all my Belgian tech friends for a change ... nice ... :-) .....
programming Sylver sequences
17/02/10 Filed in: studio
Sylver is a succesful Belgian dance act , and now that they've decided to go live with a full band to celebrate their 10th anniversary , I'm in for another challenge . 10 years worth of songs , all made on different software versions of logic and sometimes obsolete plugins or hardware synths , have to be revived . For days I've been working with Wout van Dessel in his studio , looking into old archives and trying to find the right parts again with the right sounds . It's all going better than we expected and we're moving in the right direction , but there's a lot of work still to be done before the 2 shows in the antwerp Lotto Arena on march 26/27
