Fred Greenhalgh of Radio Drama Revival interviews Dieter Zimmermann of protophonic here.
19 November 2023 - Sound Affects Radio broadcasts Brad Lansky and the Lazy Eight. This will take place in two parts; the first half on Sunday 19 November and the second on the 26'th. Thank you Jerry Streans for keeping the airwaves alive with Science Fiction!
1 September 2023 - After six long years Brad Lansky and the Lazy Eight has finally been released! Check out the press release here.
August 2023 - Our Galaxy Is Home to Trillions of Worlds Gone Rogue. Astronomers have found that free-floating planets far outnumber those bound to a host star. This fact is a key plot point in Brad Lansky Episode #6
June 2023 - Mixing almost done. Episode 8 should be out by the end of the year! Click HERE to listen to the trailer.
October 2022 - Tardigrades found to stop aging when frozen This ability is a key plot point in Brad Lansky Episode #8
May 2022 - Recording done! Let the mixing begin :-)
March 2022 - Recording date set for April. How wonderful it will be to get the crew back together again in the studio after 5 long years!
December 2021 - Just as we were brave enough to get together in a studio - wave number 4 - enough already! With luck it's a mild one and we can record early in 2022.
May 2021 - Scientists are looking for Anti-stars! You can wait until they find anti-stars and anti-life, or you could just listen to Brad Lansky Episode #4 :-)
January 2021 - The Brad Lansky #8 script is ready, perfectly preserved in cryostate whilst the foul pandemic pestilence blows over. Bringing voice actors together in the same room has not been safe in 2020, and we do believe they need to share a physical space for certain scenes. Patience then...
To J.D. Venne however pandemics are like planets to neutrinos, and we gather he is already coggling the landscape for Brad Lansky #9. As per usual there‘s not much forthcoming from the writer, just that it will explore what more than a few heavy-weight scientists consider a ‘pressing issue‘ for the future survival of humanity. We hope that means many new and exciting SF audio stories to look forward to, starting 2021 !
January 2020 - after a long break, J.D. Venne has written the first scene of Brad Lansky #8. We tried to find out what it was about, but the reclusive writer was reliably taciturn. All we could gather was that 1) it follows on from The Result War (which is good), 2) that it deals with a very current existential topic, and 3) that for the first time the title was already cast in stone before the script even existed - must be a good title then! Well that's a solid start for the new decade isn't it?
June 2018 - Protophonic has been selected as a Mark Time Award winner. These awards are given to honor the Best Science Fiction Audio Productions. They are presented every two years at the Hear Now Festival in Kansas City.
‘Brad Lansky and the Result War‘ was awarded the Gold prize and Dieter received a Grand Master Award for Lifetime Achievement in Science Fiction Audio.
Congratulations to the extended Brad Lansky cast and crew here in Cape Town and in the US. Brad has come a long way since that first summer recording in the Catskills in upstate NY, but each and all have given this project your creative edge and enthusiasum, for which I am priveleged and grateful. Keep creating, beautiful people, wherever you might be! D
June 2018 - Brad Lansky and the Result War makes Finalist level in New York Festivals World's Best Radio Program in New York City!
May 2018 - Brad Lansky to be played at the HEAR NOW FESTIVAL in Kansas City, MO.
December 2017 - Result War broadcast on Jerry Stearns' Sound Affects Show in three parts. Thank you Jerry!
16 Nov 2017 - The Result War is out. Check out the press release here.
Nov 2017 - Mixing done. Pretty soon into the mix we realised we had to launch a new sub-genre in audio drama. This is very exciting as we can finally say we found our own voice; a coming-of-age moment for many artists, and in our case it only took fifteen years! We will add it to our press release.
Just as exciting is we have a new Mastering Engineer in Tim Lengfeld. He is an audio drama connoisseur and we are delighted to get the benefit of his valuable ears...
Feb 2017 - Voices recorded. What enviable talent we had in that studio... Now let the mixing begin... Did we mention we got the awesome Jeremy Crutchley to join our cast? We don't mean to gloat but....wow!
January 2017 - The voice actors for The Result War. Shown here are: Matthew Roberts (actor), Dieter Zimmermann (actor, producer, composer, sound designer, mix, writer), Susan Danford (actor), Stephen Jennings (Director, Actor), Luke Turnbull (actor), Zoe Zimmermann (actor), Peter Pearlson (recording engineer). Not shown: Jennifer Beattie (actor), Nigel Vermaas (actor), Jeremy Crutchley (actor), Kevin Stoloff (actor), Wiseman Sithole (actor), Marty Kintu (actor), Tim Lengfeld (mastering engineer).
Jan 2017 - Recorded live bees in the field - boy, that was exciting! Thank you Jacques and Amber for letting me record your wonderful bees.
Dec 2016 - Final script done! Thank you Scriptwitch. Your valuable advice is much-appreciated.
Oct 2016 - Script complete! Oh shucks, first version only. Scriptwitch is gonna tear it apart. Poor J.D. Aw, let him suffer, I'll be breaking out a new pair of headphones soon - always a cause for celebration :-)
June 2016 - Episode 7 mind map and plot complete. Try using a mind map for your next project. We find it a good way to logically bring together disparate ideas.
May 2016 - Brad Lansky and the Rogue Era makes Finalist level in New York Festivals World's Best Radio Program in New York City!
April 2016 - Brad Lansky to be played at the HEAR NOW FESTIVAL in Kansas City.
November 2015 - Rogue Era reviewed in the Seattle Star. It's usually tough going for SF writers and producers when reviewed outside the cocoon of genre aficionados, but we were actually encouraged by this review. Best of all was the fact that the Mark Time awards got press in the mainstream media, exactly what is needed for introducing audio drama to a wider audience.
July 2015 - Rogue Era podcasted by Jack Ward, tireless champion of new audio drama at the Sonic Society. Thank you Jack and Ginny for your valuable contribution to audio drama :-)
June 2015 - Brad Lansky to be featured in an audio theatre event at Worldcon 2015 in Sasquan, WA. Worldcon is a large annual gathering of SF and fantasy fans. It is held in a different city every year and is the home of the famed Hugo awards.
June 2015 - Rogue Era podcasted on RadioDramaRevival Episode 413. Thanks Fred. Listening to Locke & Key and loving it! Keep breaking new ground.
May 2015 - Protophonic has been selected as a Mark Time Award winner. These awards are given to honor the Best Science Fiction Audio Production of the year. They are presented annually by the American Society For Science Fiction Audio (ASFSFA) at the Hear Now Festival in Kansas City. As an award winner, The Rogue Era will also be included in the ‘featured listening‘ lineup.
‘Brad Lansky and the Rogue Era‘ received the Silver prize for production year 2014.
Congratulations to the entire Brad Lansky cast and crew here in Cape Town - you haven‘t lost your touch!
Thank you Judith Walcutt and David Ossman for your good work in running the awards, and for including the international community in your selections. We share your excitement for Audio Drama and your awards are the perfect showcase for this wonderful medium. After many years of neglect, I think there's a genuine buzz around the modern incarnation of this lost art form. Dieter Z
April 2015 - Rogue Era to be broadcast on Jerry Stearns' Sound Affects Show on May 17 and 24. Thank you Jerry!
April 2015 - Planet X now available as a free torrent bundle! Get it here.
March 19 2015 - The Rogue Era is upon us! Check out the press release here.
January 2015 - The voice actors for The Rogue Era. It was a great day for us all. Shown here are: Jennifer Beattie, Matthew Roberts, Dieter Zimmermann, Susan Danford, Stephen Jennings (Director). Not shown: Nigel Vermaas, Adrian Galley, Shannon Fourie, Jayne Batsofin, Sally Toosey, Kathryn Grody
January 2015 - First time recording on 4 mics - Lewitt LCT940 Authentica, MIKTEK C7 FET condenser, AKG C414. We were also lucky to get a very experienced engineer for the session - Peter Pearlson.
November 2014 - script rewritten, and rewritten, and rewritten... version 10...
October 2014 - First draft for Brad Lansky #6 script completed. Can't say much at this point, but J.D. Venne has shattered the appalling mold of female stereotypes in SF history and created "Brinn", one of the strongest bona fide characters in the genre. Now to find an actor who can bring this awsome character to life...
July 2014 - All tracks of the new Planet X are now available as podcast! That’s right folks- Just type http://protophonic.net/RSS-PX.xml into your podcast receiver and enjoy the full feature for free!
May 2014 - All tracks of the award-winning Brad Lansky and the 4D-Verse are now available as a podcast. That’s right folks- Just type http://protophonic.net/RSS-4D.xml into your podcast receiver and enjoy the full feature for free!
April 2014 - New ring- and SMS tones available from the new Planet X as well as the 4D-Verse. Go to the AUDIO SAMPLES PAGE to get them.
March 2014 - The brand new Planet X is now available for free as promised...Go to the SHOP PAGE and grab it!
February 2014 - Mastering done! As this is the fifth Brad Lansky mastered by David Maclean, we thought it time to post a pic of the master at work. After all, no serious audio production is complete without being subjected to this black art.
David in the mastering room with Waves software and Genelec hardware.
January 2014 - This year is our ten-year anniversary, and to celebrate we've decided to make Planet X available to all for free for a limited time! Watch this space....
December 2013 - Mixing done! Planet X has finally been given the production value it deserves. We're excited to hear what Brad Lansky fans have to say about this one, especially the opening scene.
November 2013 - The voice actors for the remake of Planet X have been recorded. A fine cast of actors took the completely rewritten script and brought it to life. It was wonderful to be swept away by their enthusiasm and formidable skill. On the technical side, it was our first valve mic recording (NT Rode). Some binaural recordings were made too. (Not shown here).
June 2013 - Brad Lansky to be played at the Hear Now Festival in Kansas City.
Mark Time Celebrates 15 Years Friday, June 21st and Saturday, June 22nd from 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM. Click HEAR!
The Mark Time Awards are pleased to be joining HEAR Now in celebrating the ever-growing art form of audio story-telling. The Mark Time and Ogle Awards were established in 1996 and are the only international awards dedicated solely to recognizing the best in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and multicast AUDIO DRAMA. Two 90 minute Mark Time sessions are planned for the Festival - one on Friday and one on Saturday see times above.
Independent producers from every corner of the United States and around the globe have been honored by Mark Time and have trekked phenomenal distances to appear at CONVergence, Minneapolis‘ largest science fiction convention, to accept their plaques in person. Preceding the awards ceremony, every year Great Northern Audio Theatre presents the Mark Time Radio Hour--a live original comedy show written especially for the occasion. At HEAR Now we will be playing featured selections from winning works by many of the independent audio theater producers who have won Mark Time and Ogle Awards over the past 15 years.
May 2013 - J.D. Venne has finally finished the rewrite of the script for the New Planet X (Episode 1). Apparently it was much harder to rewrite an existing script than to write a completely new one - who would‘ve thunk it? Anyway, we‘re excited to have the go-ahead and have already begun with auditions!
October 2012 - A fan suggested creating a Brad Lansky ‘lava lamp‘ - something to look at while listening to an audio on a device like an ipad or web tv. We thought it was a great idea and hastily slapped something together. Go to the SHOP page to see them. Of course we‘d love to hear your creative ideas for making them better!
July 2012 - Receiving the Mark Time gold award in St Paul Minnesota. David Ossman on the left and Phil Proctor on the right, both from the Firesign Theater. If David looks familiar, it's probably because he was the model for the Mark Time award character!
June 2012 - Protophonic has been selected as a Mark Time Award winner. These awards are given to honor the Best Science Fiction Audio Production of the year. They are presented annually by the American Society For Science Fiction Audio (ASFSFA). ‘Brad Lansky and the 4D-Verse‘ received the ‘Gold‘ prize for production year 2011.
This is wondeful news for us. Congratulations to the entire Brad Lansky crew here in Cape Town! Thank you to Jerry Stearns and the folks of the Mark Time Awards for including the international community in your quest to elevate the Science Fiction Audio Drama genre. I'm looking forward to meeting you all at CONvergence in Minnesota this year! Dieter Z
The full list of award winners is posted here.
April 2012 - A special treat for friends of audio: A playlist of Dieter Zimmermann‘s favorite Brad Lansky tracks, as well as his comments on the production of each, so put on your headphones and enjoy the freebies right here.
February 2012 - Fred Greenhalgh of Finalrune Productions interviews Dieter Zimmermann of protophonic. You can read the interview here. The audio version is also tagged onto the end of Fred’s Radio Drama Revival podcast: Episode 265 – Anti-STARC Realities.
January 2012 - New pictures of the Lander done - see them here.
December 31 2011 - Mixing is done! These last two months have been intense but this is where we love to be - in a dimension where voices, music and FX battle it out for a spot in the limelight. The best part though is knowing our listeners out there will be inhabiting the same dimension and enjoying it as much as we do. No reviews yet, but here is an excerpt from the press release...
’J.D. Venne has chosen a subject that has baffled even the best imaginations: that of four-dimensional space’ says Dieter Zimmermann of Protophonic. How did Venne intend his audience to follow such a visually-demanding subject? ’By telling a good story in audio. Of course we at Protophonic revelled in this opportunity and we broke quite a few sound barriers in the mix.’ Venne's comment on the result: ’The pictures are always better in sound. ’
October 2011 - Mixing is finally underway for Episode 5. Listen to the first track here and you'll see why we think this episode will be a Brad Lansky classic!
October 2011 - The voice actors for Brad Lansky Episode 5 have been recorded. What an exciting day it was! So much talent in a beautiful studio: the NEVE desk, the C414 mic....oh yes, and the actors were talented too :-)
MARK TIME AWARD WINNER
June 2011 - Protophonic has been selected as a Mark Time Award winner. These awards are given to honor the Best Science Fiction Audio Production of the year. They are presented annually by the American Society For Science Fiction Audio (ASFSFA). ‘Brad Lansky and the Anti-STARC‘ received the ‘Honorable Mention‘ prize for 2010. We savor many firsts at protophonic, but this is the first official recognition of our work by the SF audio community and it sure feels great. Thank you to Jerry Stearns and to the folks of ASFSFA. Your vote of confidence has definitely put a spring in our steps! DZ
May 2011 - J.D. Venne has finished the script for Brad Lansky Episode 5. The title is still under wraps but the script is true to form and Brad Lansky fans will not be disappointed.
April 2011 - Help us make the Ultimate SF Audio!
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We love SF audio. In our quest to create the ultimate SF audio experience, we‘d love to hear ideas from the experts, that is YOU, the listeners. What is it you would like to hear more or less of in the next Brad Lansky episode: More action? More sound FX? Less music? We‘re also collecting ideas for the ultimate SF audio plot. Tired of listening to a narrator reading from a book? This is your chance to be a part of the creative force behind the new full-cast SF audio revival. We‘ll publish our favourite plot idea on our site and send the contributor a free Brad Lansky CD, so put on your creative thinking caps....and remember, anything goes!
CLICK HERE to give us your ideas
April 2011 - All tracks of Brad Lansky and the Anti-STARC now available as podcast! That’s right folks- Just type http://protophonic.net/RSS-AS.xml into your podcast receiver and enjoy the full feature for free!
23 November 2010 - You can now download RINGTONES from Brad Lansky and the Anti-STARC. CLICK HERE
3 October 2010 - Brad Lansky and the Anti-STARC has been released and can be downloaded from SpokenNetwork.com! See the audio samples page for details...
’We’ve raised the bar again. Not only is this an original plot for Science Fiction per se, but this episode utilizes binaural foley and special convolution processing to yield the first ’true’ first-person scenes in SF audio. The Anti-STARC has brought us another step closer to our goal of total immersion through audio.’
J.D. Venne
See the Anti-STARC trailer here
Although I’m pretty sure binaural recordings will find their way into the mainstream one day, they do have one disadvantage: they only play back well on headphones. This is not a problem if your audio productions are only intended for the earbud/headphone listener, but we’re still trying to render a decent experience for stereophiles using speakers too. To this end then I built my own ’Jecklin disc’ (as described by audiobuff prof. J.Jecklin) which is said to translate well for both headphone and speaker playback. The rig basically consists of a soundproof disc (simulating the sound-shadow cast by the head) with two identical mics at a certain distance (highly-contested by audiobuffs!) on either side.
We used this rig with AKG C414 mics (cardoid pickup) in a small studio to record certain foley sounds. The idea was to enrich a jungle scene (track 2 of the Anti-STARC, in which Brad Lansky is stalked and ultimately attacked by nasty creatures) with real sounds (i.e. foley like snapping branches, charging aliens, versus the usual sound libraries) that were coming from the sides and from behind. This was a fun audio DIY project with rewarding sonic results. DZ
September 2010 - Brad Lansky and the Face of Eternal Fire up to track 13 now available as podcast! That’s right folks- Just type http://protophonic.net/RSS-EF.xml into your podcast receiver and enjoy the full feature for free!
August 1 2010 - ‘Brad Lansky and the Face of Eternal Fire‘ on the airwaves.
Jerry Stearns (of the Mark Time awards ) broadcast Brad Lansky 3 on K.F.A.I. on August 9. This is the first time a full Brad Lansky feature was aired on FM radio and needless to say we’re very excited here at protophonic. Thank you for your kind words Jerry and here‘s to hearing another Brad Lansky on your show one day!
Some of the best Brad Lansky music has been mixed into an album! Please visit the Shop to preview or buy the album...
If you‘ve listened to a Brad Lansky audio before, or you have your own ideas about what the perfect SF audio should be like, we would be grateful if you shared your thoughts with us. Go to the Links page and take our survey.