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Residual Signals
by Echo Season
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Emergence
by One Arc Degree
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Protostar
by Martin Stürtzer
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AV: What inspired you to found Synphaera in 2015, and what gap did you feel existed in the ambient and space music scene at the time?
Chris: After the positive reception we received from our debut album "Source Transmission," we quickly began work on our sophomore album "Æthereal Code." We both felt the magic and musical synergy between us was resonating with our audience and wanted to continue that momentum on a larger scale. We knew that in order for us to develop a larger audience, we needed to take the next step, so we started applying to other labels. We had one particular label in
mind that we really wanted to release with, so we waited a few months for their reply. After hearing back that our music just wasn't the right fit for them, we decided to take it on ourselves to start our own label. From that experience and motivation, Synphaera Records was born.
Don: I have been fortunate in my career as a mastering engineer to spend time with and learn from people like Trevor Horn (ZTT), friends who worked at Mute, and especially Ivo Watts-Russell (4AD), who were all able to follow through on a singular vision encompassing a wide range of disciplines, both creative and technical, when it came to launching revolutionary record labels. We’re always learning at Synphaera, always working toward that same kind of focus and vision.
AV: Before the label, there was Ascendant. How did your work together as artists lead you toward wanting to build something bigger?
Chris: Ascendant is the collaboration between two people who come from different worlds. Don grew up in the '80s listening to the music of the masters, Steve Roach, Jean-Michel Jarre, Klaus Schulze, and others. I, on the other hand, grew up in the '90s listening to more modern ambient electronic groups such as The Orb and The Future Sound of London. These early influences, to a large degree, shaped our musical perspectives and methodologies of how we approach music creation.
It's when those two worlds collide and collaborate, that, to me, is Ascendant, which is the project that's helped shape our entire musical imprint.
Don: I started in punk/post-punk, and was introduced to the electronic pioneers at the perfect time in my life. Hearing the work of Klaus Schulze was a revelation. Fast-forward a couple of decades, and I asked Chris to collaborate on a single track for a compilation. The magic was undeniable. We both knew right away that there was more to the story than a single track. The music started flowing, and there was no conscious decision to build something more at that time, only
to keep going. The supporting architecture didn’t come until later. The work, the spark, and the impetus of those first recordings were the central, all-consuming focus of those early days.
AV: When you think back to those early Ascendant recordings, do you hear the seeds of what Synphaera would eventually become?
Chris: The earliest Ascendant recordings were created in a vastly different way than they are now, but if you really listen closely, you can hear the musical DNA, if you will. One aspect that we often talk about, especially when describing the label, is the particular aesthetic that carries across every album we've ever released. Don and I both know what resonates with us, and our filter for quality and intention is very high. Not only do we demand this from ourselves, but we
ask our artists to adhere to the same level of quality and aesthetic so those who listen to every Synphaera and exosphere album can hear and feel that through the entire experience.
Don: It goes back to what I mentioned earlier about realizing a focused vision of what a label can be across production, artwork, the overall aesthetic, the sound quality of the albums, and how the music meshes with the visual language of the album covers and related artwork. The seeds of Synphaera are very much in the aesthetic of Ascendant, yes.
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AV: Was there a specific release or turning point where you thought, "this could be a label, not just a project"?
Chris: We've always believed in the vision of the label, but for me personally, the release of the original Ascendant album "Meridian" and its overwhelmingly positive reception was a specific memory I have. Meridian was a specific departure point from the core Ascendant sound and us venturing off into uncharted territory for us at the time. We replaced many of the beat-driven anthems of our first two albums with much more heavily sequenced and drifting ambient material.
The reception from the fans was great. They accepted that this wasn't the traditional Ascendant they came to know and love, but that this was a completely new side of us that they had just started to explore. It wasn't an easy album to make by any means, but it was well worth it.
Don: For me, as Chris mentioned earlier, that time came when we shopped Aethereal Code around and came back unsatisfied with the available landscape.
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Chris Bryant and Don Tyler
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AV: Synphaera has such a recognizable atmosphere across its catalog. How would you describe the feeling or experience you're trying to create as a label, and what role does space, science fiction, or the cosmos play in the music that is released?
Chris: The experience that I want everyone to have when they listen to our releases is exquisite. We have always strived for the highest quality music across all of our endeavors. We have selected all of our artists too based not only on their technical skill, but on their ability to understand that feeling of Synphaera and what it means for our audience. Space has always played a major thematic role in our catalog, but there is also a deeper spiritual and esoteric side to our
music as well. People have often noted that they use our music for deep, focused listening, productivity, or meditation and spiritual practice.
Don: Music, and for me, specifically electronic music, is about a feeling. Capturing that feeling. I get a lot of inspiration from a variety of sources, but it’s mostly reading that charges my creativity when I’m outside of the studio. My belief is that music’s potential, or potency, runs high when the artist’s intention is realized, and that’s usually a strong marriage between concept and execution. I could write a book on the cosmology we’ve developed for Ascendant over
the years. These concepts are core to our music.
AV: "Modern ambient and space music" can mean a lot of things. What does that phrase mean to you personally?
Chris: In a genre like ambient that has so many different sub-genres, the concept of "modern ambient" is very subjective. To us, modern ambient reflects the forward-thinking concept behind the music as well as the technical qualities that push it forward into the future. On the other hand, "Space Music" to us reflects not only physical space, but the imaginary space within. Our albums are often driven by worlds unseen that we are channeling through the sounds
themselves, which in turn ignites the imagination of our listeners. This is the cosmic connection that we strive for with every Synphaera release.
Don: It’s not only about embracing what Chris mentioned, it’s about being modern in approach when it comes to production, techniques, presentation, communication — everything.
AV: Are there specific qualities, technical, emotional, or conceptual, that immediately make you stop and really lean in?
Chris: One practice that I've always leaned on for inspiration and direction is astrology and the movement and cycles of the solar system. The name "Ascendant" comes from the astrological term for one's own rising sign, the outward projection to the world, the lens through which we all see based on the time of our birth. Astrology is a time-honoring exercise, and you can see that thread carried throughout many of our albums, going back to the cover of our first album
"Source Transmission" and the zodiac wheel hidden beneath.
Don: That’s a big question that requires a big answer, but one short answer I can give is that there are occasions in the studio where things become automatic. Many artists will know what I’m talking about. It’s an almost trance-like space you inhabit while recording, where things are happening that you could never reproduce or even properly remember exactly how you did what you did. Those moments let me know when something is really working.
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Chris Bryant and Don Tyler
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AV: How do you strike that balance between giving artists total freedom and still maintaining a cohesive identity for the label?
Chris: We never ask anything of our artists other than a long-term commitment beyond their initial release. Synphaera is not just a collection of artists, it's a family. When you're part of Synphaera, you're part of our cosmic family, and we only want to encourage them to be the best they can be. We often say Synphaera is not the destination for our artists, it's just a point along the individual artist's journey. We are not an exclusive label to our artists, but anyone who
is part of it can recognize the value of releasing with us.
Don: The key to that question is to be selective and work with the right artists. We’ve been hugely fortunate in that area.
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AV: When you bring a new artist into Synphaera, what does that collaboration usually look like from the first conversation to the final release?
Chris: We get a lot of submissions, but only accept around 5% of what is sent to us. Many submissions we get are blanket submissions, or drive-by artists who are just looking to release with any label, regardless of the genre or label identity. The artists who write to us with a personalized submission have a far greater chance of success because every submission should be an individual expression of their talent and skill. Even if this music isn't exactly right, we do our best
to work with those artists who are genuinely invested in the process and really want to take their music to the next level. We do make sure to address every submission that comes in, so if you're someone who is interested in submitting to us, the first step is to get your album together and send us an email.
Don: If we hear or sense something we are inspired to work with in a submission, we’ll usually reply with an email about how we work and what our expectations are. The process and length of time between first hearing something and the final release varies from artist to artist and release to release. We get involved at the deepest levels of all aspects of production to help the artist realize their music and artistry, and evolve with each release.
AV: How involved do you get on the production side? Are you offering mix feedback, arrangement ideas, or more conceptual guidance?
Chris: We offer everything from feedback on the mixing, composition, and technical side of things. We want to make sure that our artists understand the process inside and out. We also offer conceptual guidance if needed, but it makes things far easier if the artists have worked that out ahead of time, which makes the album much more meaningful for them. We provide all of the covers for our releases as well as mastering and distribution. It's a lot of work, but when you take
in the entirety of our catalog across all of our imprints, you can see that it's been well worth the effort.
Don: All of the above. I’m a mastering engineer by trade, so there is a technical aspect to a mix that I listen for. I can hear if there are issues I can work around or if the artist needs to go back and address some aspects of their work. We also seem to be giving a lot of feedback on song and album titles, to help artists tighten their conceptual vision for an album.
AV: Can you share an example of a time when you helped an artist reshape or refine a track to better match their vision?
Chris: A few years ago, one of our Synphaera artists was struggling with his debut album on our deep space and cinematic imprint, exosphere. It wasn't that the music was bad, it was that it was too similar to his Synphaera releases and didn't yet maintain the identity of the new project he was attempting to place in the exosphere lineup. It took a few tries, and several long emails, to bring that vision to life.
Don: There is another artist, much beloved by all, and their first submission was fantastic. I knew this was a person I wanted us to work with. There were some elements of the music that didn’t quite fit the vibe, and we asked this artist to consider simply removing those elements. That kind of reduction often makes the music stronger, but it does take some courage and confidence on the artist’s side.
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AV: A lot of ambient music is about subtle detail. How do you help artists dial in those textures and spatial elements so the music really breathes?
Chris: It's really up to the artists how they achieve the details in their music. We all use very different processes, from hardware to software to fully modular setups and systems. While we don't produce surround sound or Atmos recordings of any kind, we believe that depth and space can be achieved through a deep understanding of the frequency spectrum and how to utilize it so the music feels spacious yet full of life.
Don: The key is to leave room. Some artists will pile good idea upon good idea, and the resulting density leaves no room for detail or immersion. A minimalist aesthetic goes a long way in ambient. It’s easy for me to say that to an artist, but it’s something the artist needs to understand on an intuitive level. It’s one of those steps every artist goes through on the path to finding their own unique voice, when taste, for lack of a better word, finds parity with skill.
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AV: Do you ever find yourselves acting almost like co-producers, or do you prefer to stay more in a curatorial role?
Chris: We prefer not to get too deeply involved in the production process of any of our artists and more on the helpful advice angle if necessary. While we can't see any of the specifics in their music production setup, we can hear what we're hearing, and if anything needs changing or altering, we will certainly point that out. This kind of knowledge and understanding is only developed with time and experience. We lean on our own expertise heavily to provide our artists with
all the resources they need to be successful.
Don: Not as producers or co-producers as such, but with a kind of involvement on every level to help our artists grow and evolve, and achieve their goals. Every artist is different, every album is different.
AV: 14. How important is storytelling or conceptual framing when you're working with artists on a release?
Chris: Having a strong artist identity is paramount for any artist because it feeds directly into their own creative output. The stronger the identity, the better the concept will be when it's finally brought to life. When creating music with no lyrics, it's very important to have a concept of why the music exists, even if that story can only be told through the album title, track titles, and sounds themselves. If an artist does not have this before release, we will do our best
to help them decide on which direction to go in.
Don: As I mentioned earlier, this is where the magic is for me. Realizing that concept, the intention of the artist. It makes the whole experience of an album stronger. For me, the narrative of an album, the journey of a single song within an album, must tell a story. It must be evident. The listener must feel it.
AV: What inspired you to launch Exosphere as an imprint? Was there a sound you felt didn't quite fit under the main Synphaera umbrella?
Chris: I have a specific memory in 2017 of walking through the streets of San Francisco with Don while we were waiting to perform at a street festival when he pitched the idea of starting our first imprint. He already had the name picked out, and I resonated with it immediately. To us, exosphere just made sense. We wanted to expand on the core sound of Synphaera, but still maintain the sonic identity and quality standard we are known for.
Don: Easy answer. Martin Stürtzer, who is one of our artists. He came to us with an album, but it didn’t quite fit musically on Synphaera, and so we, to our regret, had to decline. At the time we felt like we didn’t have the platform to service darker music. I then went on to listen to that album he submitted more than any other album that year by a wide margin, compounding the feeling that we needed a specific outlet for darker, more cinematic space music — and that’s how
Exosphere came to be. The happy ending to that story is that we re-released that album, and all is right with the universe.
AV: Exosphere leans into darker, more cinematic territory. What draws you to those deeper and more shadowed soundscapes?
Chris: We've always been drawn to darker, more cinematic material, and exosphere has become our platform to express this. Both Synphaera and exosphere draw a particular type of fan. Some people love Synphaera only, some people love exosphere only, some people love both. We feel that because we've developed such a strong secondary imprint like exosphere, there is plenty of room for us to experiment and reach the outer boundaries of our own musical identity.
Don: Some stories need to be told from a darker perspective. There is no light between the stars, yet the void remains compelling. Light without shadow is one-dimensional.
AV: From a production standpoint, do you notice differences in how artists approach releases for Exosphere versus Synphaera?
Chris: While the difference is obvious from the outside looking in, speaking for myself, there is a very different internal process that takes place when creating something for each of the two imprints. They are both personal, but one is more internal (exosphere) and the other is more external (Synphaera). They rely on the same skill sets, but the mindset is completely different. It requires one to go within and really reach into their skills and imagination and pull out a different
side of themselves to achieve the desired result.
Don: Musically, there are differences, yes. We’ve seen people dance at live Ascendant performances. Synphaera tends to be more progressive in tempo, and carries a more distinct pulse or momentum. Exosphere is more space-oriented, more drift, less driven.
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Martin Stürtzer
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AV: Do you see the imprint as a natural extension of your aesthetic, or more like exploring a different side of the same universe?
Chris: After exosphere was created, we started identifying both labels based on the proximity of the planets in our solar system. Synphaera is the core sound, which is akin to the personal planets: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, while exosphere goes beyond the asteroid belt from Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. From that perspective, you can see how Synphaera represents the core sound, the very building blocks of our solar system, and exosphere is where the
outer reaches are found, where light meets darkness and form dissolves into formlessness.
Don: Our imprints are all facets of Synphaera. It’s all the same universe.
AV: Switching back to Ascendant for a moment. How has your workflow evolved over the years?
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Chris: When Ascendant first started, we were entirely based in software. As each album progressed, we started introducing more hardware into the process, up to our 2024 double albums Starfall and Astral Ascendant where we were about 50/50 between software and hardware. Since then, we have migrated our process to be almost entirely hardware and modular based, as evidenced by our latest single releases and continuing in all releases going forward. It's not that one process is
better than the other, it's just evidence of how we've evolved over the years.
Don: With regard to how I define workflow, aside from what Chris mentioned about moving from predominantly software to hardware, not much has changed. We record in DAWs, send stems and sessions back and forth, and that’s been the process since the first tracks.
AV: When you're creating a track, does it usually begin with a sound design idea, a melody, or more of a mood or concept?
Chris: Sometimes our tracks don't even start with sound, they start with email exchanges of ideas, whether those are conceptual or technical. Ascendant is a group that has very deep lore behind it, so we try to make sure that we're pulling from that lore with every release. From there, we can begin the process, which always starts with sound design and putting together the right sounds. Arrangement and mixing is always the last part of the process, and it usually begins with
the stories behind the sounds themselves.
Don: After the conceptual spark of an idea, and the understanding of how that fits into the cosmology that we’ve developed around Ascendant, one of us will create what we call a “starter” track. The less material you can include in a starter track while still encapsulating the idea or concept, the better. That allows the other person to react and build upon the catalyst.
AV: Your music often feels very expansive and spatial. How do you approach building that sense of depth in the mix?
Chris: The depth in our music isn't through excessive panning or use of spatial effects, it's through careful sound placement and stereo delay and reverb effects. We have never tried to over-engineer the music we make, we simply create good-quality sounds and let those sounds speak for themselves.
Don: It starts with sound design. It always starts with creating the right sound for the part, and for the part to be in the right octave or frequency range. Avoiding density in an arrangement before it’s time to mix is key to evoking space.
AV: How do your individual strengths complement each other when you're in the studio together?
Chris: The synergy between us is one of our greatest strengths as a band. Because we have different skill sets and have very different musical approaches, the sound that comes out the other end is the blending between those two forces, and that's what creates such a deep sound. Where Don may be able to create one thing, I would create another, and those two elements combined are what contribute to the result, which is always magical.
Don: Where to start. There is a true synergy between us. I believe, even after a decade, we are still learning from each other every day. Our technical skills, musicality, and aesthetic preferences complement each other in a way that manifests Ascendant. There are certain things, as an artist, one should be grateful for and not overthink. This is one of them.
AV: Since starting Synphaera, how have you seen the ambient and space music scene evolve? What role do you think independent labels like yours play in helping artists find their voice in such a vast genre?
Chris: Since we started Synphaera, the music industry has practically folded in on itself, and we've now seen the rise of bedroom producers and artificial intelligence. This paradigm shift is actually one of the main reasons why I believe Synphaera will continue to be a viable resource for both artists and fans because our authenticity isn't easily replicated by any means. In an age of technology where music can be created in an instant at the click of a button, labels like
ours who stand firm in their conviction and authenticity will be more valued than ever. People are craving authenticity, especially in music where so much of it now is becoming artificial.
Don: If people hear this music, they’ll fall in love. The current landscape, and the way people consume music, makes getting ears on the music a real challenge, however. Independent labels have always been crucial — they’ve always been the pioneers who help bring new music out of the shadows, as well as a dependable vanguard of quality and taste. That will always be the case. The key to Synphaera is in maintaining our aesthetic and vision.
AV: Looking ahead, what excites you most right now, whether it's new artists, new sounds, or new directions for Synphaera and Exosphere?
Chris: We are still expanding in many forms, and whether that's new artists coming on board, or our latest imprints like Assemblage, our modular electronic-focused imprint, or Material, our platform for soundsets and production tools, we are always on the bleeding edge of modern electronic ambient in all its forms. As the musical and technological landscape evolves, we will continue to innovate and evolve with it for many years to come.
Don: For me it’s all about realizing the potential, identity, and focus of each imprint, and how the whole of Synphaera lives and breathes through these individual worlds. Coming into contact with a new artist is always exciting, too. New music. New worlds. And as always, new sounds.
AV: Chris and Don, thank you both for taking the time to share your story and for offering such thoughtful insight into the origins and evolution of Synphaera. What you’ve built is clearly more than just a label—it’s a carefully cultivated space for artists to explore, connect, and create without compromise. That spirit comes through not only in the music you release, but in the way you speak about the process itself. It’s been a real pleasure digging into the roots of Synphaera with you, and I’m certain readers will come away with a deeper appreciation for the vision and dedication behind it.
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