Byetone

Byetone is the solo project of Olaf Bender, a musician and designer from Chemnitz, Germany, born in 1968. He works in electronic music, with an emphasis on glitch, minimal and techno-influenced experimental sound.

Background

Bender begins experimenting with film material while still at school, after finding a complete set of 16mm film equipment. This leads to a sustained interest in film as both a medium and a material. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, he works for a music distributor, and that experience prompts him to start his own label.

Rastermusic and Raster-Noton

In 1996, Bender and Frank Bretschneider found Rastermusic. The label is set up to release their own electronic music and to distribute work by similar artists. Its visual presentation is designed to reflect the same process-based approach as the music itself. One of the earliest releases is the project Signal, which Bender continues with Bretschneider and Nicolai. Nicolai's sublabel Noton later merges with Rastermusic to form Raster-Noton in 1999. Bender also handles the label's graphic design and public image.

Music and performance

As Byetone, Bender makes music digitally, building tracks from sine tones, clicks and effect plug-ins to create layered textures and rhythms. His work is described as computer music, and he develops pieces in a way that gives them a constructed, artificial character. For live performance, he uses animated light as a visual equivalent to the music, with abstract animations controlled in real time to support the sound.