About Byetone

Olaf Bender's (b. 1968, Chemnitz, Germany) experimental work with film material started during school time, initiated by the casual find of complete 16mm film equipment. From then on an intensive dealing started film, both as medium as the raw material. After the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 he started working with a music distributor. The experiences there led to the idea of starting his own record label for his music. Together with Frank Bretschneider he founded the Rastermusic in 1996. Besides their own electronic music and they wanted to distribute similar artists. The specific process of creating electronic sound was to be reflected in the graphical presentation of the label and his products. One of the earliest Rastermusic productions was the project Signal, which Olaf Bender has been continuing together with Bretschneider and Nicolai until today. Nicolai owned the sublabel noton, which finally merged with Rastermusic to raster-noton in 1999. Beside the management of Raster-Noton, Bender is responsible for the label's graphic design and public appearance. Additionally he performs solo under the pseudonym Byetone. Bender creates his music digitally, assembling sine tones to complex textures. Digital clicks and effect plug-ins are essential to create the rhythms. All this is brought in a timely relation and so a track is born; an artificial world without any physical effort. Computer music is often hard to perform in front of an audience. Although possibilities seem almost unlimited it is difficult to present this music in a concert setting without an immense deal of technology. Bender therefore uses visuals in the sense of animated light. Abstract animations support the abstract pieces of music, in this way the rhythm of music is transformed into a graphic equivalent. By using the computer Bender controls the animations in real time.