An Interview with Simon Heath ('Atrium Carceri')

D.C. Perry: As a prolific dark ambient producer, active for almost fifteen years, therefore clearly showing passionate dedication for the genre, what does dark ambient represent to you? Would you say it's more personal, or that it is more closely intertwined with the greater world around us?

Simon Heath: As a kid I played around a lot with microphones and trackers. I created soundscapes that would serve to replace the feel of my environment. I would loop them for days, my room would be transformed to space ships, ancient civilizations, or humming engine rooms. Ambient, for me, came to represent an extra layer of reality, something to explore for an open mind. So I'd say it's more about inner spaces and inner worlds than it is about the greater world around us.

What would you have to say in regards to the claim that your work, particularly your project Atrium Carceri, represents the face of dark ambient?

That's very flattering, if so. I think I took dark ambient in a slightly different direction back in the day; it was for a long time very focused on the industrial scene. Me starting the label Cryo Chamber was me breaking free from the shackles of metal/industrial to get a chance to focus on more cinematic dark ambient. As a big film soundtrack lover this was something I had wanted to do for a long time. My Sabled Sun album was my first chance to really dig into this soundtrack like style even more.

While there is a vast selection of clearly-purposed tools and softwares—and a hundred thousand tutorials for each one—meant for larger and more mainstream genres of electronic music, what sort of tools do you use, or see commonly used in the industry?

My main tools of use are field recorders and microphones; those are by far my most important tools and what spikes my creativity.

Furthermore, what advice might you have for those wishing to break into dark ambient production?

Lift your head from dark ambient to produce other genres of music to fully understand your DAW. I see too many artists stuck from progressing their skill level due to sticking to what they know.

Dark ambient, perhaps unsurprisingly, is almost uniformly aesthetically associated with themes of decay, apocalyptic events, Lovecraftian gods and entities, and other, similar things; do you think perhaps that dark ambient has a greater potential for thematic and/or aesthetic versatility? And if so, how far could it stray into other such themes before it ceases to become dark ambient? Or is dark ambient even so clearly definable? Would you even consider dark ambient to be a musical genre, or really something else?

Dark ambient is most often a narrative genre; it's no surprise that there is overlap between metal (which often tells stories with their lyrics), more than pop or hip-hop, which tends to be self biographical. So absolutely there is a great potential for thematic versatility when you aren't tied to telling your personal story. As for how far it can reach before it loses its "dark" name, who knows, but I don't think that really matters. I like ambient without the dark just as much.

Dark ambient has seen a surge in popularity these past few years; what comments might you offer about this? Is dark ambient perhaps better suited to a niche audience?

I don't think it's better suited to any audience really, but it attracts a lot of introverts who feel liberated by inner exploration. At least for myself, to lie down on a couch in a dark room and put on a new dark ambient album is pure bliss.

Furthermore, if I am not mistaken in the above observation (that is, that dark ambient has seen a spike in popularity), what do you think might have caused this?

I've seen a few labels go under these past few years so I'm not 100% sure it is growing just as much as people think. However, Cryo Chamber has certainly been growing; our artists are quite humble and great at collaborating and helping each other out. I think that plays a big role in our success.

Who is your favorite non-Cryo Chamber dark ambient producer?

Hey now, a lot of these producers are my friends, I couldn't possibly put one above the other.

Do you believe in God?

No.

Do you believe in eternity?

Maybe, eternity is too long of a time for me to wrap my head around.

Do you believe in good and evil, and the traditional dynamic between the two?

No.

If a dark ambient producer wished to join your label, what process would he/she have to undergo?

Send us a private message to our Facebook page with a private Soundcloud link to the album. No need for artwork or mastering, but present your concept for the album clearly and make sure to only submit full albums. Also listen to the type of music we release and don't submit genres far outside our scope.

Do you think that just anyone can be a dark ambient producer? And if not, what sort of person do you believe it takes?

I think it takes a person that thinks a bit outside the box and has a passion for telling stories in some way.

How did you first discover dark ambient?

I had been producing this kind of music for a long while as a kid, so it was more like trying to name a genre that was unknown to me.

Field recordings, nature and the like, are a common tactic used by dark ambient musicians, but would you say that they are necessary, or at the very least, important? Do you believe that (quality) dark ambient can be made in a room with without any such recordings?

I don't think you have to use any of that for dark ambient. It's just a stylistic choice.

What sort of music aside from dark ambient inspires you?

All of it; cliché but true.

Do you believe that human knowledge is all-encompassing, or at least has the potential to be, or do you believe that we are forever limited in our ability to perceive?

We will always be limited, no way around it.

What might your process for the design and crafting of a track or even an album look like? Do you have habits, rituals, or tried-and-true methods?

It's all intertwined, I will have my notebook with scribbles and ideas and small pieces of artwork ready at all times. Often I will work on a piece of music, then listen to it while doing artwork, then get inspired by the artwork and go back to producing , back and forth the artwork and the music inspire each other. Inspiration is granted its own life when put into that loop-state.

How heavily, in your opinion, can one's cultural or geographical location affect their dark ambient?

Probably more than we'd like. We always want to be in control of our brain.

Last question: what sort of non-musical activities might you involve yourself in to find inspiration, if you must? Do you have games you play or books you read? Or perhaps do you draw a picture, or take photographs? In other words, in what other ways do you find yourself creating?

It's a luxury to wait for inspiration to hit you; instead, I try to create an environment where I force it into existence and that environment is my studio.