Doug Bielmeier, Buffalo, New York (b.1979)
Bielmeier creates commercial drone/experimental electronic music featuring his performance on lap steel with live processing. Bielmeier’s music has been described as an extension of Xenakis’s early electroacoustic tape pieces (American Record Guide, 2018) and “Gentle (Cinemusical).” Other reviewers explain Bielmeier’s music is “drone work meant to shake you out of your shell of complacency (Midwest Record)” and “hypnotically static yet ever moving within itself (Classical-Modern Music Review).” Album releases include Beast of Bodmin Moor (Noisy Buffalo, 2019), Costa Mesa Rocking Chair (Ravello, 2018) and Betty and the Sensory World (Ravello, 2017), which have been performed internationally at Circuit Bender’s Ball (Nashville), Brooklyn Arts Gym (Brooklyn), and Muse Gallery (London), and broadcasted on WMBR (MIT, Cambridge), KALX (Berkley), WUTL (New Orleans) being heard by over 10K listeners on Drone Zone (Somafm.com).
Bielmeier’s albums explore his technique of Windowing, which deals with the manipulation of found sound files by the stretching and compressing time, sample rate, bit depth, and window size. The layering and temporal placement of these windows create larger sonic landscapes for the creation of new musical works divorced of the source context. The mediums of his works include stereo and multi-channel tape, video, and live-instrument with computer.
Bielmeier is a champion for new music composers and recording by working with Indie and start-up artists in Nashville, DC, Indianapolis and Boston. Bielmeier designed/managed the C.L.E.A.R. Lab at Purdue School of Engineering: a state-of-the-art facility for creating, mixing, and mastering new electronic works. His work as a recording, mixing, and mastering engineer has helped fellow composers release new albums dedicated to electronic music for Centaur, New Amsterdam, and Iridian record labels. Bielmeier studied under composer Robert Carl (student of Iannis Xenakis) at Hartt School of Music (Composition and Sound Recording BM) and Elainie Lillios at Bowling Green University (Composing MM).
Bielmeier holds a doctorate in education and his research explores the relationship between audio education and industry, DIY circuit building for self-directed instructional methods, and high resolution/multichannel recording via internet. Currently, Bielmeier is a professor at Northeastern University and lives near his family in Boston.
