The voice catcher
With his Hastings recording studios in Zurich and Geneva, Daniel Wüthrich wants to create a harmony between art and commerce. between art and commerce.
the name of his band. That is, it was actually not a real
Band. "More performance," Daniel Wüthrich recalls of his music.
He "played" the electronics. Tinkering in the background with the technology and
"Preparations in the recording studio" have made the current owner of the Hastings
studios in Zurich and Geneva were already more interested than in
to be the center of attention on a stage. That was the phase when he was in
in the late eighties the F+F Art & Media School in Zurich.
visited
But because Switzerland was a bit too Helvetic for his art,
he emigrated to Germany in 1990. In the studio Tonleiter in
Düsseldorf went the hip scene with musicians around "Kraftwerk"
in and out. Wüthrich was allowed to work there as a sound assistant. Because one
but ultimately has to make a living from his art, he also learned here
Mixing commercials. The valuable practical experience has
him a job as a sound technician at the Swiss radio station
Studio Z in Zurich brought in.
In the meantime, a sought-after specialist in all areas of audio technology,
he dared to start his own business in 1993. Pistorio & Wüthrich
was founded. When his partner found happiness in another industry
Daniel Wüthrich got back in touch with his old friends in the
Germany. There, the Hastings Audio Network belonged to
studios in Düsseldorf as well as Hamburg and Berlin have become a good
Sound. In 1998, Wüthrich also joined Hastings as a partner.
affiliated. "We are not financially intertwined. We profit
but from the network with the exchange of technical know-how and a
common database for voices," he explains the system. In the network
one person is full-time only for the maintenance of this database
employed. Separate files are recorded from each speaker. The files
Partly very renowned voices from international theater and film
are not exclusively tied to Hastings, however.
In Zurich, this casting is done by Wüthrich's business partner,
Life partner and mother of a common child cared for. Frances
Belser is the indispensable soul in the recording studio. "We are united by a
similar resume," explains the trained actress. Also
Belser has been working with unconventional art at the Dimitri School in Verscio
started. Later she played at the Theater Basel, before she moved to Paris
wanted to expand her training in classical acting as well.
Soon she was invited to France's legendary Théâtre du Soleil by
Ariane Mnouchkine. Later, Belser had himself trained in New York as a
Scriptwriting train. This was followed by his own scripts and finally
Music. With self-composed
songs, she toured the U.S. for about six years before settling in 1995 in
returned to Switzerland and here finally Daniel Wüthrich
got to know.
This relationship with the New York scene has also made it easier for
Hastings now for a series of internationally deployed spots from
the Publicis agency for Zurich Financial with "the best voices" from
America could work together.
"More interesting voices than the usual" - Hastings can do that, too, thanks to
a new passion of Daniel Wüthrich. At the "Monolog
Festival" by Christoph Marthaler in 2001, Wüthrich and
Belser inspires performances at the Zurich Schauspielhaus
looked at. "Fascinating elocution - but often only in front of 65 people and
just for a single performance," the two enthuse. And so
Daniel Wüthrich finally founded the company with Matthias Kratzenstein.
together a second company with the beautiful name of Sprechtheater:".
Already the eleventh audio book is delivered in these days. The
CD launch of "God is a DJ" with Bibiana Beglau and Falk Richter
will take place on May 13 at Zurich's Theaterhaus Gessnerallee.
The audio books are delivered throughout the German-speaking world by
Seemann Henschel, Leipzig and Berlin book publishers. "A booming
genre," says Daniel Wüthrich. 11000 silver discs with his
productions have been pressed so far. For "Bartleby, the Scribe" with
Ueli Jäggi won "Sprechtheater:" in March 2004 in the category "Best
Interpretation" won the German Audiobook Award. The monologue by
Herman Melville goes back to a production by Isabel Osthues at the
Zurich Schiffbau back. "Staging and not just reading" - that is
the concept with which Wüthrich has been able to sustain the success of its
Audiobooks explained.
This diversification of Hastings is of course only possible thanks to the already
existing infrastructure for commercials and other AV productions
possible. Thanks to this artistic "sideshow," it succeeds in
Frances Belser, also in the German-speaking world again and again exclusive
To win voices for commercial recordings. The actor Armin
Rohde, for example. "You can't just call a star like that
for a commercial," Belser knows. But because Rohde is for spoken theater:"
just now "Oedipus" by Sophocles and Friedrich Hölderlin at Hastings
has also established the best contacts here in the meantime.
Just as important as the connection to such stars in Germany and the
German-speaking Switzerland is, for Wüthrich, a proper selection of voices in the
Welschland. To be able to guarantee this service, its Hastings
opened a second studio in Geneva in 2002. This is operated by the
Carole Armour, who is "very well rooted" in the French scene.
A decisive factor, because too often spots in Switzerland would still be
from Zurich "without the right feeling for the French ears
produced," says Wüthrich, who works as a lecturer at Sawi.
At its headquarters on Baslerstrasse in Zurich, Hastings offers three fully
expanded studios "with all the technology that is common today," including
also a newly constructed large-capacity studio for cinema mixing digital
5.1. another specialty is a studio for music recording. Here
Wüthrich sees further potential in the future. Composed music.
Anyone who remembers the beginnings of Wüthrich and Belser could be
at this goal also hear an intermediate tone after the melody "Back to
the roots".
Andreas Panzeri
