Michael Stearns (born October 16, 1948) is an American musician and composer of

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...

. He is also known as a film

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

sound design Sound design is the art and practice of creating auditory elements of media. It involves specifying, acquiring and creating audio using production techniques and equipment or software. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including filmmaking ...

er and

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

producer for large format films, theatrical films,

documentaries A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...

, commercials, and themed attractions.

Biography

Growing up in

Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, Stearns started practicing guitar at 13. At 16, he played in a

surf music Surf music (also known as surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is inst ...

band, sometimes backing artists such as

The Lovin' Spoonful The Lovin' Spoonful is a Canadian-American folk-rock band formed in Greenwich Village, New York City, in 1964. The band were among the most popular groups in the United States for a short period in the mid-1960s and their music and image influ ...

and

Paul Revere & the Raiders Paul Revere & the Raiders (also known as Raiders) were an American rock band formed in Boise, Idaho, in 1958. They saw considerable U.S. mainstream success in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s. The band was known for including Revolu ...

. Evolving to

acid rock Acid rock is a loosely defined type of rock music that evolved out of the mid-1960s garage rock, garage punk movement and helped launch the psychedelia, psychedelic subculture. While the term has sometimes been used interchangeably with "psyc ...

, he began composing music on multiple instruments in 1968 and, while in university and in the Air Force, spent a few years studying

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

synthesis Synthesis or synthesize may refer to: Science Chemistry and biochemistry *Chemical synthesis, the execution of chemical reactions to form a more complex molecule from chemical precursors **Organic synthesis, the chemical synthesis of organi ...

, the physics of musical instruments, and accumulating equipment (musical instruments, tape recorders...) for his first

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

. The studio opened in Tucson, Arizona in 1972 where he produced

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

s and

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

s for local radio and television, and nationally released jingles for Schlitz Beer and

Greyhound Bus Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. is an American operator of intercity bus services. Greyhound operates the largest intercity bus network in the United States, and also operates charter and Amtrak Thruway services, as well as intercity buses in Mexico. B ...

. Stearns's interest in experimental "space" music though left him unsatisfied, as he found no audience to play his musical ideas, which could be at this time only related to the drug experience. After three years, Stearns underwent a spiritual crisis and thought about abandoning his career as a musician. In 1975, Stearns met Emilie Conrad and Gary "Da'oud" David. Emily Conrad ran meditation classes in a workshop named Continuum, with Gary David performing on a

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

and looped tapes during the classes. Stearns and his girlfriend Susan Harper moved in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, to join Emily Conrad, and Michael Stearns became a resident musician and composer until 1981. He developed then on

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s musical ideas that would feed his first solo albums. By 1977, Stearns had formed a small independent record label (Continuum Montage) with Susan Harper and a close friend and investor, David Breuer. The same year came the first releases on tape, ''Desert Moon Walk'' and ''Sustaining Cylinders'', followed by ''Ancient Leaves'', his first album released on LP, in 1978. In the same years, Stearns started out playing with Fred Stofflet a percussionist, then with

Don Preston Donald Ward Preston (born September 21, 1932) is an American jazz and rock keyboardist. He is best known for being a member of the original version of Frank Zappa's band The Mothers of Invention during the late 1960s. He continued to work with Z ...

, the former keyboardist for

The Mothers of Invention The Mothers of Invention (also known as the Mothers) were an American rock music, rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an ...

. Both of them were playing for Emily David's classes. After that, Stearns, Stofflet and Craig Hundley, a friend of Gary David's, started a free jazz group called "Alivity". Kevin Braheny came to one of their concerts and became friends with Stearns. He later joined Stearns to play live for Continuum, bringing his

Serge synthesizer The Serge synthesizer ( Serge Modular or Serge Modular Music System) is an analogue modular synthesizer system originally developed by Serge Tcherepnin, Rich Gold and Randy Cohen at CalArts in late 1972. The first 20 Serge systems (then called ...

with him, on which Stearns would record his album ''Morning Jewel'' in 1979 before building his own Serge synthesizer. In the same period, Stearns started working with Craig Huxley

scoring SCORE may refer to: *SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program * SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network *SCORE! Educational Centers *SCORE International, an offroad racing organization *Sarawak Corrido ...

movies and developed a friendship with Stephen Hill. In 1981, Continuum moved to a new location and Stearns began a solo career. He put together some ideas he performed live during the workshops on his Serge and came to his classic '' Planetary Unfolding''. Ideas of the same kind were put together to form the album ''Light Play'' in 1983 and the track "Return" on the album ''Lyra''. Stearns signed on the label Sonic Atmospheres in 1984, on which some of his earlier works would be re-released (''Light Play'' became '' M'Ocean'' in 1984, ''Morning Jewel'' became ''Jewel'' in 1985, and ''Planetary Unfolding'' was given a new release in 1985). In 1984, ''

Chronos Chronos (; ; , Modern Greek: ), also spelled Chronus, is a personification of time in Greek mythology, who is also discussed in pre-Socratic philosophy and later literature. Chronos is frequently confused with, or perhaps consciously identified ...

'' was the first film music done entirely by Stearns after years of collaboration with Huxley or

Maurice Jarre Maurice-Alexis Jarre (; 13 September 1924 – 28 March 2009) allmusic Biography/ref> was a French composer and conductor. Jarre is best known for his film scores, particularly for his collaborations with film director David Lean composing all of ...

. In 1986, he provided "electronic images and textures" for Constance Demby's album '' Novus Magnificat''. After two more releases for Sonic Atmospheres, ''Plunge'' (1986) and ''Floating Whispers'' (1987), Stearns signed to Stephen Hill's new label

Hearts of Space Records Hearts of Space Records is a record label owned by Valley Entertainment. The label represents several sublabels, including Hearts of Space, Hearts O'Space, Fathom, RGB, and World Class. History Hearts of Space Records was founded in 1984 as an ...

and released '' Encounter''. In the next years, Stearns worked again with

Ron Fricke Ron Fricke (born February 24, 1953) is an American film director and cinematographer specializing in time-lapse and large-format cinematography, known for his non-narrative feature films. Career After serving as director of photography for '' ...

, scoring ''

Baraka Baraka or Barakah may refer to: * Berakhah or Baraka, in Judaism, a blessing usually recited during a ceremony * Barakah or Baraka, in Islam, the beneficent force from God that flows through the physical and spiritual spheres * Baraka, full ''ḥa ...

'', his best-known composition, and released several albums, working with Steve Roach, Kevin Braheny and/or Ron Sunsinger (1989 : '' Desert Solitaire'', 1994 : ''Singing Stones'' and ''Kiva'') or alone (1993 : ''Sacred Sites'', 1995 : ''The Lost World''). In 2000 and 2001, Stearns, now established in Santa Fe,

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, released several albums on his own label Earth Turtle : ''Within'', ''The Middle of Time'', ''Spirits of the Voyage'', ''The Storm'', and ''Sorcerer''. Stearns was involved in the music for the film Samsara which premiered in 2011. In 2020, Stearns scored the music for the movie ''Switzerlanders''. He also released 2 albums, ''Convergence'' with

Erik Wøllo Erik Wøllo (born 6 January 1961) is a Norwegian composer and musician, guitarist and synthesist. He has a background in various genres in music. As a solo recording artist, he is most known for his electronic and ambient musical soundscapes. Mu ...

in 2020 and ''Beyond Space And Time'' with Steve Roach in 2021.

Instruments

In his earlier albums, he often used the Serge Modular synthesizer, giving his music a twinkling and "cosmic" sound. In 1982, he built " The Beam", a acoustic instrument strung with 24 piano strings,Stearns, "Michael Stearns: Technical Bio" designed by Jonathan W. Lazell and built with the help of Paul Abell.Folkvord, "Artist profile: Michael Stearns" He has since used it in many albums (solo or collaboration) as well as in concert and film scores. At the end of the eighties, his sound became deeper and closer to Steve Roach's style. Michael Stearns' music is always very ambient and woven with sounds of nature or human voices. But it can also be more melodic with great themes evoking wide spaces or great landscapes.

Discography

Solo works

* 1977 – ''Ancient Leaves'', Continuum Montage * 1977 – ''Sustaining Cylinders'', Continuum Montage * 1979 – ''Morning Jewel'', Continuum Montage * 1981 – '' Planetary Unfolding'', Continuum Montage * 1983 – ''Light Play'', Continuum Montage * 1983 – ''Lyra Sound Constellation'', Continuum Montage * 1984 – '' M'Ocean'' (''Light Play'' reissue), Sonic Atmospheres * 1985 – ''Chronos'', Sonic Atmospheres * 1986 – ''Plunge'', Sonic Atmospheres * 1987 – ''Floating Whispers'', Sonic Atmospheres * 1988 – '' Encounter'',

* 1993 – ''Sacred Site'',

* 1995 – '' The Lost World'', Fathom/

* 1996 – ''The Light in the Trees'',

Amplexus Amplexus (Latin "embrace") is a type of Mating, mating behavior exhibited by some External fertilization, externally fertilizing species (chiefly amphibians, Amphipoda, amphipods, and horseshoe crabs) in which a male grasps a female with his fro ...

* 1996 – ''Collected Ambient and Textural Works 1977–1987'', Fathom/

* 1996 – ''Collected Thematic Works 1977–1987'', Fathom/

* 1998 – ''Within – The Nine Dimensions'', Earth Turtle * 2000 – ''Spirits of the Voyage'', Earth Turtle * 2000 – ''The Middle of Time'', Earth Turtle * 2001 – ''The Storm'', Spotted Peccary Music * 2015 – ''The Soft Touch Of Morning Light'' (Three Pieces for Serge Synth 1979) * 2016 – ''Music For The Dome'' (Three Planetarium Scores) * 2024 – ''Beyond Chaos'', Earth Turtle

Collaborations

* 1989 – '' Desert Solitaire'', Fortuna/Celestial Harmonies) – with Steve Roach and Kevin Braheny * 1994 – ''Singing Stones'', Fathom/

– with Ron Sunsinger * 1995 – ''

Kiva A kiva (also ''estufa'') is a space used by Puebloans for rites and political meetings, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, "kiva" means a large room that is circula ...

'', Fathom/

– with Steve Roach and Ron Sunsinger * 2000 – ''Sorcerer'', Spotted Peccary Music – with Ron Sunsinger * 2020 – ''Convergence'', Projekt Records – with

* 2021 – ''Beyond Earth & Sky'' – with Steve Roach

Compilations, soundtracks & others

* 1990 – ''Dali, The Endless Enigma'', Coriolis * 1992 – ''

'', Milan * 1994 – ''Deep Space'', Omni * 1995 – ''Musique Mechanique'', Celestial Harmonies * 1996 – ''Storm of Drones'', Sombient * 1996 – ''Celestial Journey'', Rising Star * 1997 – ''Songs of the Spirit'', Triloka * 1998 – ''Trance Planet 4'', Triloka * 1998 – ''Soundscape Gallery 2'', Lektronic Soundscapes * 2002 - '' The Fire This Time'' * 2011 – '' Samsara'' * 2018 – ''

Alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter ''aleph'' , whose name comes from the West Semitic word for ' ...

'' with Joseph S. DeBeasi, Madison Gate Records

References

;Sources * Stearns, Michael
"Michael Stearns: Technical Bio"
at www.michaelstearns.com ;Notes

External links

*

(Hearts of Space Records) {{DEFAULTSORT:Stearns, Michael 1948 births 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American composers 21st-century American male musicians Ambient composers American ambient musicians American male composers Living people