Taylor Deupree (born April 30, 1971), is an American

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 ...

ian,

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

graphic designer A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...

and mastering engineer. He is most known for the founding of the 12k record label, along with his work as a member of Prototype 909, and his collaborations with

Ryuichi Sakamoto was a Music of Japan, Japanese musician, composer, keyboardist, record producer, singer and actor. He pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the Synthesizer, synth-based band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his ...

, Marcus Fischer,

Stephan Mathieu Stephan Mathieu (born 11 October 1967) is a German mastering engineer and former musician. He currently lives in Bonn, Germany where he runs ''Schwebung Mastering'', an independent studio for audio mastering and restoration. :"(In 1997), I work ...

Savvas Ysatis Savvas Ysatis (born July 1, 1968) is a Greek electronic musician. Early life Ysatis was born in Athens, Greece, and developed an interest in the synthesizer through exposure to electronic music by artists such as Kraftwerk and Jean Michel Jarre ...

Christopher Willits Christopher Willits (born April 8, 1978) is a San Francisco-based guitarist, electronic music composer and producer, visual artist and scholar. His music is electroacoustic in nature, in that both analogue and digital sounds are meshed into one ...

and others. In 2008, Taylor Deupree was the Président d'Honneur of the Qwartz Electronic Music Awards 5th in Paris (France).

Mastering engineer (2008–present)

Starting with simple mastering duties when he worked as the Art Director for

Instinct Records Instinct Records is a New York City electronic-music record label that first gained prominence in 1989. It is best known for releasing much of Moby's early work. Moby produced a number of tracks under various monikers so that in the early days, th ...

in the late 1990s, Deupree's work as a mastering engineer became a steady job around 2008 when he relocated out of the city. He works in a purpose-built studio every day mastering music for clients of all genres, but often specializing in electronic, experimental, modern classical and other forms of alternative music.

Human Mesh Dance / Prototype 909 / SETI (the Instinct Records years) (1993–1997)

One of Deupree's early solo projects, Human Mesh Dance, which was begun in 1993 and ended in 1997 while he worked as the Art Director for

was an

ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

project that was a strong contrast to Prototype 909's more mainstream techno sound. He released three albums as Human Mesh Dance, along with appearances on numerous ambient compilations. Also in 1993, Deupree teamed up with

, a Greek electronic artist, to create several different projects, each with different sounds.

SETI Seti or SETI may refer to: Astrobiology * SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. ** SETI Institute, an astronomical research organization *** SETIcon, a former convention organized by the SETI Institute ** Berkeley SETI Research Cent ...

produced ambient electronica, with sounds and words from the various

projects from around the world. Futique was the duo's

trip hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

project, and its

Detroit techno Detroit techno is a type of techno music that generally includes the first techno productions by Detroit-based artists during the 1980s and early 1990s. Prominent Detroit techno artists include Juan Atkins, Eddie Fowlkes, Derrick May, Jeff Mi ...

output was released under the Arc moniker. In 1996, the duo formed the short-lived label Index, which released only a single 12" EP, containing four tracks by various artists.

12k (1997–present)

Deupree founded 12k on January 1, 1997, based on the name of the first Arc album, ''12k''. On the name 12k: 12k publishes what Deupree refers to as minimalist electronic and acoustic ambient music, which often features a fragile blend of synthetic sounds, tape machines and a range of acoustic instrumentation. Early productions by 12k were limited to between 500 and 1,000 units, partially because of limited storage space, and also because the small edition size increased the collectability of the albums. Since around 2001, editions became less limited but still started at between 1,000 and 2,000 copies.

Recent

Deupree has stated that he will be focusing on releasing solo music under his own name for the foreseeable future. He has done collaborations with several different experimental artists. In 2022, Deupree acted as mastering engineer for

Alanis Morissette Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, she became a cultural phenomenon during the mid 199 ...

album ''

The Storm Before the Calm ''The Storm Before the Calm'' (stylized in all lowercase) is the tenth (and eighth international) studio album by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, released June 17, 2022, via Epiphany Music and Thirty Tigers, as well as by RC ...

''. In 2024, Deupree collaborated with arranger and producer Joseph Branciforte on ''Sti.ll'', an all-acoustic re-imagining of his 2002 album ''Stil.''.

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

called ''Sti.ll'' "revelatory" and "a contemporary classical composition of arresting beauty."

Bands

* Arc (with Savvas Ysatis) * Drum Komputer (with Schoenemann) * EOX * Escape Tank * Futique (with Savvas Ysatis) * Human Mesh Dance * OHIO ( with Corey Fuller) * Prototype 909 (with Schoenemann, Szostek) * Seti (with Savvas Ysatis) * Skai (with Savvas Ysatis) * Tiny Objects in Space * Unit Park (with Schoenemann)

Collaborations

* Joseph Branciforte *

Frank Bretschneider Frank Bretschneider (born 1956) is a German electronic musician. He works primarily with sine waves and white noise as his source material. He also releases material under the name Komet. Bretschneider was born and raised in Karl-Marx-Stadt (n ...

Richard Chartier Richard Chartier (born March 29, 1971) is a sound/installation artist and graphic designer from the United States. He works in reductionist microsound electronic music, a form of extreme minimalism characterised by quiet and sparse sound. Early ...

* Eisi * Marcus Fischer * Illuha *

Tetsu Inoue is a former electronic music producer from Japan. He primarily made various types of ambient music, such as ambient techno & lowercase, particularly on the label FAX. He has lived in Japan, San Francisco, and New York and collaborated with music ...

* Kenneth Kirschner *

* Sawako *

* Simon Scott * Stephen Vitiello

Discography

* ''Freak Of Nature'' (1996, Tension) * ''Bang Bang Machine'' (1997, Electric Music Foundation) * ''Acid Technology'' (as Prototype 909) (1993, Sonic) * ''Hyaline'' (as Human Mesh Dance) (1994, Instinct) * ''SETI'' (as SETI) (1994, Instinct) * ''Mindflower'' (as Human Mesh Dance) (1995, Instinct) * ''Live '93-'95'' (as Prototype 909) (1995, Instinct) * ''

Pharos The Lighthouse of Alexandria, sometimes called the Pharos of Alexandria, was a lighthouse built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (280–247 BC). It has been estimated to have been at least ...

'' (as SETI) (1995, Instinct) * ''Transistor Rhythm'' (as Prototype 909) (1995, Sonic) * ''

Ciphers In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is ''encipherment''. To encipher or encode i ...

'' (as SETI) (1996, Instinct) * ''thesecretnumbertwelve'' (as Human Mesh Dance) (1997, 12k) * ''Joined at the Head'' (as Prototype 909) (1997, Caipirinha) * ''Arc vs. Tiny Objects in Space'' (1997, 12k) * ''Alphabet Flasher'' (as Drum Komputer) (1998, 12k) * ''Tower Of Winds'' (1998, Caipirinha) * ''Comma'' (1998, 12k) * ''SPEC.'' (1999, 12k) * ''.N'' (2000, Ritornell) * ''Active / Freeze'' (with Tetsu Inoue) (2000, 12k) * ''Focux'' EP (2000, Audio.nl) * ''Polr'' (2000, Raster-Noton) * ''invalidObject Series (continue)'' (2000, Fällt) * ''Occur'' (2001, 12k) * ''Tokei'' EP (2001, Audio.nl) * ''Balance'' (with Frank Bretschneider) (2002, Mille Plateaux) * ''Print'' EP (2002, Audio.nl) * ''Stil.'' (2002, 12k) * ''Invisible Architecture #8'' (with Christopher Willits) (2003, Audiosphere) * ''Post_Piano'' (with Kenneth Kirschner) (2003, Sub Rosa) * ''January'' (2004, Spekk) * ''Mujo'' (with Christopher Willits) (2004, Plop) * ''Every Still Day'' (with Eisi) (2005, Midi Creative / Noble) * ''Live In Japan, 2004'' (with Christopher Willits) (2005, 12k) * ''Post_Piano 2'' (with Kenneth Kirschner) (2005, 12k) * ''Northern'' (2006, 12k) * ''Specification. Fifteen'' (with Richard Chartier) (2006, Line) * ''1am'' (2006, 12k) * ''Landing'' (2007, Room40) * ''The Sleeping Morning'' (with Savvas Ysatis) (2008, 12k) * ''Habitat'' (as Ando) (2008, Bine Music) * ''Transcriptions'' (with Stephan Mathieu) (2009, Spekk) * ''Shoals'' (2010, 12k) * ''Faint'' (2012, 12k) * ''Disappearance'' (with

) (2013, 12k) * ''Somi'' (2017, 12k) * ''Fallen'' (2018, Spekk) * ''Mur'' (2021, Dauw) * ''Harbor'' (2021, laaps) * ''Small Winters'' (2022, Puremagnetik) * ''Eev'' (2023, Nettwerk Records) * ''Sti.ll'' (2024, Nettwerk Records/greyfade/12k)

References

External links

*
12k Records

Official Web Page

12k Mastering

Taylor Deupree at Discogs
Interviews
Taylor Deupree and Joseph Branciforte on transcribing an electronic classic
Create Digital Music, 2024.

Textura, 2010.
Taylor Deupree interview at Grooves Magazine

In the studio with Taylor Deupree
on Headphone Commute {{DEFAULTSORT:Deupree, Taylor 1971 births Living people American electronic musicians