Short Biography

Roger van der Veken is a sound artist & designer, field recordist and musician from the Netherlands.
His specialty is creating sounds,  soundscapes and nature recordings. He also works on sound art projects, in highly varying setups. Often he makes use of contact microphones and hydrophones to create exciting and surprising sounds.  

His soundscapes have been presented in several exhibitions and art festivals. He also gives live performances, solo or or together with other artists.
 A selection of his work is available online for streaming and download. 

Artist approach

projects

An experimental bluesy soundscape based on a water bottle played with fingers, together with a few string plates played with a bottleneck and accompanied by feedback and turbine sounds.
Inside the bottle a hydrophone is hanging in the water that records the sound of the tapping fingers. The string plates, one metal and one wooden, are recorded with contact microphones that are attached to the bottom of the plates.
In the video there's a glimp of the hydrophone cable behind the bottle that gets transformed because of the view through the bottle. This effect is enhanced by aiming a few small torches equipped with color filters on the bottle and the cable. The soundscape is also available on:
Spotify
Bandcamp
Apple music

Waves on waves, a sound and video art production.
The Video is made by recording the output of a camcorder monitor to create an infinite loop. Aiming several flashlights to the monitor gives colorful objects.
The soundscape is based on an improvisation on the sound of the Norhtsea. Beside the sound of the Northsea you can hear my mono string sound objects, guitar and bass clarinet, played by Jaap Verseput.
The soundscape also available on:
Spotify
Bandcamp
Apple music


The sound farm orchestra, soundscape made of farm sounds from past present & future
The soundscape was intended as a brake track between al films during an open air film festival that was held in a farm field in Ellemeet.

Beats 'n Bits, a musical composition containing three tracks, that are entirely made of sound bites coming from several field recordings. The tracks can be played separately, or can be combined in a loop. 

The composition was presented at the Art&Culture trail Midden Walcheren, and received many positive reactions.

Dancing bricks, a sound and video art production made in cooperation with Dutch video artist Jaap Verseput. 
The video has been used used for several occasions, as in this live performance of Kaviaar playing an improvisation on the brick sounds. 

The recording was made with a hydrophone and multiple underwater cams. 
A full length version of the soundscape is also available for streaming and download on Bandcamp


Underwaterfantasy, an underwater fantasy sound trip. First floating on the surface of the ocean, then slowly sinking into the deep, where strange creatures are passing by. Then rising up again to the surface.

This soundscape has been built up entirely from field recordings and has been presented at several art festivals. At some as a soundscape only listening experience, at others integrated in art installations, f.e. in a dome.

The sound of Couscous, an impression of a sound table  that is used in live performances. One of the used objects is a plexiglass plate equipped with some contact mics, which makes it a kind of amplifier for all kinds of tiny materials, like couscous. 

All performances with this table are improvisations. These can be solo, but also in combination with other artists. It even gives the audience the opportunity to participate in creating sounds, which is something especially kids love to do.  

Windorgan at Vlissingen boulevard, a field recording for which 7 microphones have been used at several spots and mixed into a stereo soundscape. 

The recording was made together with German sound artist Nils Mosh, and used for online publication.


The Sound of Zeeland, an online collection of field recordings and soundscapes that are typical for Zeeland, the province where Roger lives. 

You can find this collection on his (dutch) weblog, hetgeluidvanzeeland.nl

Contact

Feel free to contact Roger by email or send him a message on one of the social media platforms below. 

Check out Rogers profile on Spotify: