Mystified Interview

Interview with highly prolific ambient/drone producer Thomas Park aka Mystified.

more info: http://www.mystifiedmusic.com/

Firstly, can you give us a brief history of your project?

Mystified has been around since about 2002. I am mainly an ambient project-- also drone, dark ambient and other genres. The main birth of my project happened when Robin Storey of Rapoon agreed to collaborate with me (on "Music For Transit"), which was a great inspiration and motivational force. Since then, Mystified has taken many different forms. Currently I am experimenting a lot with creating layered organic drones using actual acoustic instruments (like the trombone and flute).

What inspires you to make music? What draws you to the medium of ambient music?

I love to create. As of now I have no children (I hope that will change), so I channel a lot of my time and creative energy into music. Making music also has been a dream of mine since seeing DJs spin as a teenager.

My attraction to ambient is due to great artists like Robin Storey and Brian Eno for showing me some of the minimal sides to music and for breaking rules so I can break them, too.

Your track for the compilation is “Where God Lives”. Can you give us a bit of insight on what inspired the track, how you composed it, etc?

My inspiration for "Where God Lives" came from my friend Martin Hekker, author of groundbreaking internet comic "Manmachine". "Manmachine" is an epic science fiction comic. In it, the main character, a robot, journeys in a spaceship to the place where God lives. He literally rides a probe into the body of God. This imaginary journey inspired my track.

Tell us a bit about your studio. What gear are you using, what is your favorite gear/techniques/etc ?

I have a number of sound sources like trombone, flute, pan flute, and others like kazoo, slide whistle and so forth. I have a Linear recording device, a shortwave radio, and I mix everything down using a 64-bit Windows 7 PC and Sony software. Lately I have greatly enjoyed recording acoustic sources and processing them using software.


You have a pretty large catalog of material. How do you stay inspired to constantly write new material, and how do you keep it fresh (the writing process for yourself, and the music itself for the listener)?

Well, if I write it, I want it to interest me. I want to want to listen to it. So it's not really for success, but for enjoyment that I write, and that keeps it always fresh.

What can we expect in the future from Mystified?

A PBS special I helped to score called "Diamond In The Dunes" is due out in 2012. Also, there will be a collaborative cd with musician Shane Morris on Spotted Peccary / Lotuspike in mid-2012. And lots more, I promise.