Dirk Reichardt (born September 9, 1964) is a
German 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 designer and
jingle producer.
Early life
Dirk Reichardt discovered his love of the
piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
at a very early age. After many years of private instruction, teaching himself the
drums and a number of early band projects, Reichardt finished secondary school in 1985 in Kiel (
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
). Later, while studying business administration in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, he worked as a
keyboardist and
assistant in a
recording studio
A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...
.
Career
In 1987, he took his first full-time studio job as an
arranger in
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
. For a short time, he also played keyboard in the band
Fex.
As a studio keyboardist, he has worked with a variety of artists including
Dieter Bohlen,
Blue System,
Bonnie Tyler,
Dionne Warwick,
Roy Black,
Fun Factory, and Nana, and has co-produced with Danny Shogger and
David Parker (Taco). At the same time, he worked as an independent producer for
radio stations in Germany and throughout
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
. In 1998 Dirk Reichardt founded the music production company jamXmusic gmbh, with whom he has produced over 100 jingle packages produced for 75 radio stations in Europe and the USA. jamXmusic is one of the most successful German music production companies in this market. In 2004 Dirk Reichardt drew a new type of attention to himself - this time as a composer. Alongside his co-composers Stefan Hansen and Max Berghaus, Reichardt was awarded with the German Film Prize (Gold) for the best film score for the soundtrack to Erbsen auf halb 6.
Since then, a close collaboration has developed with
Til Schweiger, for whom Reichardt has contributed the soundtracks to the film hits Barfuss, Keinohrhasen and Zweiohrküken. The soundtrack for Keinohrhasen was the only German film soundtrack to reach platinum, with more than 200,000 copies sold in Germany. Reichhardt’s most popular works include “A Rainy Day in Vancouver” and “Emma/Leila’s Theme”, written for piano.
In 2010, Dirk Reichardt and Til Schweiger founded their own record label barefoot music for the release of future film soundtracks, and a growing catalog of solo artists.
Filmography
References
External links
jamxmusic company
Book Filmmusik-Bekenntnisse
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reichardt, Dirk
1964 births
German composers
German male film score composers
Musicians by populated place in Schleswig-Holstein
Living people