Guitarist, Composer, Performer and audio engineer.
GUITARIST
I played guitar since 1984. Main style rock, new wave and pop.
image 1. Me on my favorite guitar “Lucy” build by Luthier Win Heins. (Lefthanded guitar)
My first steps were in Stoneman, band in Winschoten. We wrote five songs together late eighties. Where does the time go!
- Image 1. Stonemen – Winschoten (1989). Righthanded stratocaster but played it lefthanded.
MAIN ACT – BESIDES THAT…
As a lead guitar, keyboards, bandmember, composer and performer for 17 years my main act was the Band Besides That (1988-2008). In it’s core the band was around writing our own songs. I wrote more than a 100 songs! 44 of those songs are published online and on albums. Full bio and story about Besides That found here
- Image 2. Besides That on a festival in Kampen (1997). After us came AA and the Doctors.
Image 3. Timeline Besides That, me the blue line. 17 years flies by.
The songs from Besides That are released on 66 platforms. Including Spotify. Direct link
Besides That Music is released on the following official music platforms
Amazon (Downloads) ; Amazon Prime (Streaming) ; Amazon Songs ; Amazon Unlimited (Streaming) ; Anghami ; Apple Beats 1Radio ; Apple DJMix ; Apple Fitness+ ; Apple Music ; Audiomack ; Beatport ; Beatport Streaming ; Beats ; Boomplay ;Boomplay ; Capcut ; Claromusica (iMusica) ; Deezer ; Facebook ; Flo ; Google Play ; Google Play All Access ; Groove(Downloads) ; Groove (Streaming) ; iHeart Radio ; iTunes ; iTunes Match ; iTunes Songs ; kkbox ; Luna ; LyricFind ; LyricFindAdjustments ; Medianet ; Medianet (Downloads) ; Musixmatch ; Napster ; NetEase ; Pandora ; Pretzel ; Qobuz Downloads ;Qobuz Streaming ; Resso ; Saavn ; Snap ; SoundCloud ; Spotify ; Tencent ; Tidal ; Tidal (Downloads) ; Tidal Direct ArtistPayouts ; TikTok ; TikTok Music (Audio) ; TouchTunes ; Triller ; Vevo ; Yandex ; YouTube (Ads) ; YouTube (Ads) – Composition ; YouTube (Audio) ; YouTube (ContentID) ; YouTube (Red) ; YouTube (Red) – Composition ; Youtube Creator Music ; YoutubeCreator Music PUB ; Youtube Shorts ; Youtube Shorts Composition .
Image 4. Besides That main albums and releases.
The last album from Besides That and the last singles I was the studio engineer too.
Also played keyboards on the demo Visions (1991) and on the album Driven (2001) and the album 24-7 (2007).
Image 5a. Rare picture of me playing keyboards for the song “Help me” on Driven (2001)
Image 5b. Recording session Besides That (using cool edit pro 2). 16 track Terratec PC Soundcards. (2006).
Image 6. Besides That live at Sunsation Middelstum (2006).
Besides That quit after 20 years in 2008 but we tried to setup a reunion concert around corona times (2019) but besides from some nice rehearsals the plan was put in the fridge.
SIDE PROJECTS AND BANDS
During the nineties and 2000 I played side projects, cover songs with: De Buren, Nynke Hoitsma, Nootuitgang (7 years), C-Level, Cream on Pop, Desnotes.
Two bands where I played and performed some years, Drive of Five and The Triggers.
- Image 7. Playing with Nynke on the lefthanded Takamine (2014)
- Image 8. Drive of Five, gig outdoor in Assen, (2013). April is can be cold!
Image 9. 2009. Attending a masterclass guitar from Steve Vai. He is not only a great guitar player but also a great teacher. www.vai.com
Image 11. MP played a few years in the Veendammer band THE TRIGGERS. (2021).
On my Youtube channel some 35+ public video’s of performances and projects.
Image 12. MP youtube online public videos of performances and projects.
Sound engineering projects and the quests for gear
As a guitar player I was always chasing sound and experimenting with gear.
As pure sound engineer I recorded some projects for bands, choirs and classical performances. The cassette age is not interesting. Around 1998, I started with a four track Sony minidisk (sorry to say, this was an unreliable overpriced product) but cool for that time. A year later I bought a ADAT 8 track recording at 48khz. Analog mixing.
But quickly after that I discovered the 8 track Terratec sound card for PC and Digital Audio workstations (DAW). My first DAW was Cool Edit pro, Reaper, Ableton, Studio One, and back on Reaper for years now. A second Terratec card using the same cpu clock gave me 16 tracks. It now does not work anymore but in Windows XP in Cool Edit pro 2 you could also combine the Terratec with the line6 Pod Pro USB soundcard to get 18 tracks. That is how 24-7 is recorded.
- Image 13. Big pc with 16 tracks input. Image 14 Screenshot of the two Terratec cards in Windows Vista. Phase 88. They were not supported after Windows XP and getting them to work under Vista was not easy and not realiable.
How does that look and sound like?
Image 15. Recording the band Propeller. Yamaha pre amp and one 8 track ADAT. All the ingredients of Rock and Roll. (2004).
AUDIO SNIPPET Propeller (2004)
Image 16 17. Recording a Choir (2006).
Image 18. Recording Classical Rameau. Using ORTF setup. Two high quality mics, 16 cm between each other in an angle of 110 degrees. Experimented with three more ambient mics but the ORTF was the best sounding solution.
Recording part 1 (air soprano) of 7 Cantate Rameau Quam Dilecta tabernacula (psalm 84).
Recording part 7 (choir) of 7 Cantate Rameau Quam Dilecta tabernacula (psalm 84).
Image 19. Years later, some ORTF setup but then direct to pc. 96 khz master. (2025)
Snippet Bach Weihnachts oratorium BWV 248 Cantate (Ere Gott)
- Image 20 Bach. Image 21. Djembe recording, the ORTF mics bottom right.
Cool recording project. Djembé (also ORTF setup!). Check the low bass on this recording of a African Standard called Timini (2008).