Johannes Welsch is a German percussionist,

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproducti ...

and producer living in Canada. He is the son of German industrialist Hans Welsch and, on his mother's side, the grandson of European statesman Johannes Hoffmann. He began his career teaching executive programs in Europe before entering the music industry in North America. A percussionist since the 1970s, he has been performing regularly with a large collection of gongs both as a solo performer or in collaboration with other artists since 1994."Bancroft percussion musician uses gongs." by Werner Bergen in ''The Examiner'', Peterborough, Ontario, March 30, 2007, p. B6. He is best known for his Deep Listening Label releases "Sound Creation" (2012) and "Dunrobin Sonic Gems" (2014). Welsch is the founder of the Dunrobin Sonic Gym, a center for the exploration, production and experience of sound and music in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, Ontario, Canada."Gym Dandy" by Fateema Sayani i
''Ottawa Magazine''
February 2012, pp . 64–67."Exploring the Secret of Rhythm and Sound", Interview with Maike Dombrowski i
''Tone Magazine''
April, 2011, pp. 60–61.

Management & management education: 1990–2000

From 1991 to 1993 Welsch served as the Director of Postgraduate Studies at the Universitätsseminar der Wirtschaft (USW) at Gracht Castle near Cologne, Germany, where he taught executive programs. During the second half of the decade Welsch grew critical of management education and academia in general as evidenced by the publication "Reflections on Professional Cynicism in Education and the Management of Education Organisations". From 1993 to 1997 he served on the Supervisory Board of DSD Dillinger Stahlbau GmbH in Germany. From 1996 to 1999 Welsch was an International Fellow at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, Maryland.

Music producer and recording engineer: 2001–present

In 2000, while attending the Omega School of Applied Recording Arts & Sciences, Welsch built a low budget, professional recording studio in Fulton, MD with Scott O'Toole, who served as head engineer. The studio recorded hundreds of local and regional artists between 2001 and 2005, including The Track Record who were signed by

Rushmore Records Rushmore Records was formerly a subsidiary of Drive-Thru Records. As of September, 2006, Rushmore became an imprint label due to the project being largely unsuccessful. History In 2002, two years before the label's official establishment, Rushmo ...

in 2005. In 2002 Welsch was appointed to the Omega School of Applied Recording Arts and Sciences' Curriculum Advisory Board. In 2005 Welsch moved to Canada where he founded the Dunrobin Sonic Gym which he has been managing since. Artists who have recorded and/or performed at the Dunrobin Sonic Gym include

Hamid Drake Hamid Drake (born August 3, 1955) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. By the close of the 1990s, Hamid Drake was widely regarded as one of the best percussionists in jazz and improvised music. Incorporating Afro-Cuban, Indian, and Af ...

, David Mott, Jesse Stewart,

Deep Listening Band The Deep Listening Band (DLB) was founded in 1988 by Pauline Oliveros (accordion, "expanded instrument system", composition), Stuart Dempster (trombone, didjeridu, composition) and Panaiotis (vocals, electronics, composer). David Gamper (keyboard ...

Pauline Oliveros Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music. She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center ...

Glen Velez Glen Velez (born 1949) is a four-time Grammy winning American percussionist, vocalist, and composer, specializing in frame drums from around the world. He is largely responsible for the increasing popularity of frame drums in the United States an ...

, Lori Cotler,

Malcolm Goldstein Malcolm Goldstein (born March 27, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American-Canadian composer, violinist and improviser who has been active in the presentation of new music and dance since the early 1960s. He received an M.A. in music composi ...

and

Elaine Keillor Frances Elaine Keillor C.M. (born 2 September 1939) is a Canadian musicologist and pianist. She has been a professor of music at Carleton University since 1977, specializing in the music of Canadian composers and the music of North American indig ...

. In 2012 Welsch was appointed to the

Board of Trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

Deep Listening Institute The Deep Listening Band (DLB) was founded in 1988 by Pauline Oliveros (accordion, "expanded instrument system", composition), Stuart Dempster (trombone, didjeridu, composition) and Panaiotis (vocals, electronics, composer). David Gamper (keyboard ...

Performing & recording artist: 1994–present

Work with gongs

Welsch has been recording and performing with a large collection of gongs since 1994. In approaching the gong he pays special attention to the instrument's dynamic range and frequency spectrum. He typically develops soundscapes which come out of and return to silence. While the amplitude increases the gong gradually unfolds its frequency spectrum, beginning with low frequencies (fundamental), and subsequently develops a wide array of overtones (harmonics). He prefers large acoustic spaces for his performances.Elaine Keillor quotes Welsch in her album liner notes.

Sound creation album

His album "Sound Creation", an example of his solo performances, features the entire "Sound Creation series of gongs" made by

Paiste Paiste (English pronunciation: , ) is a Switzerland, Swiss musical instrument manufacturing company. It is the world's third largest manufacturer of cymbals, gongs, and metal percussion. is an Estonian language, Estonian and Finnish language, ...

. Released on the Deep Listening label in 2012 the album received a number of favorable reviews. The album credits include

Anton Kwiatkowski Anton Kwiatkowski is a Canadian recording engineer and record producer who began his career in England."John Arpin: Keyboard Virtuoso" by Robert Popple, Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2009, pp. 228-229, . Beginnings in England: 1969–1977 From 1969 t ...

(engineering),

(liner notes),

Louis Helbig Louis Helbig (born in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian aerial photographer who takes photographs from a two-seater aircraft that he pilots. He is best known for photographic projects entitled: "Beautiful Destruction – Alberta Tar Sands" and "Su ...

(photography), and Scott O'Toole (mastering).

Discographies

Selected discography as engineer/producer

"Seek and Find"
by Nana Frimpong (tlr-02-wo-010, 2002)

by Johannes Welsch (tlr-03-wo-015, 2003)
"Sudden Cosmic Dissolution"
by SCD (Sonic Flame SOFL −10-01, 2010)
"The Dunrobin Sessions"
by Pauline Oliveros & Jesse Stewart (NUUN Records, 2012)
"Timelines"
by Hamid Drake & Jesse Stewart (ARTSTEW Records ASR 001, 2013)
"Marking The Infinite"
by Norm Howard & Johannes Welsch (2013) * "Anagrams" by David Mott & Jesse Stewart (ARTSTEW Records ASR 002, 2014)

by

& Special Guests (Deep Listening DL 47-2014)

Selected discography as artist

"Communion"
by Johannes Welsch (tlr-03-wo-015, 2003)

with David Hess and Paul Hinger (Sonic Flame SOFL-07-01, 2007)
"Sudden Cosmic Dissolution"
by SCD (Sonic Flame SOFL −10-01, 2010)

with multi-instrumentalist John O'Connor aka Johnny Black (Sonic Flame SOFL-11-01, 2011)
"Sound Creation"
(Deep Listening DL 44-2012)
"Marking The Infinite"
by Norm Howard & Johannes Welsch (2013)

by

& Special Guests (Deep Listening DL 47-2014)

References

External links

Dunrobin Sonic Gym

Johannes Welsch on Deep Listening
{{DEFAULTSORT:Welsch, Johannes 1960 births Avant-garde musicians German percussionists German expatriates in Spain Business educators University of Navarra alumni Living people People from Saarlouis