Composer/executive producer Georg Bissen and composer/business director Shahin Motia have opened New York-based music house MetaTechnik. Victoria Gross is the new venture’s composer/sales rep.
The three have varied musical backgrounds: Bissen is an electronic music specialist and DJ; Motia is in a rock band, and Gross plays guitar-based pop and folk.
Bissen was raised in Dusseldorf, Germany, and Tokyo, and graduated from Brown University, Providence, R.I., in ’99 with a degree in electrical engineering/electronic music. For the past year, Bissen has worked as a freelance composer, writing demos for New York-based houses like Wax Music & Sound Design, Zen Music and Rave Music. Through Zen, Bissen composed music for Jaguar’s industrial, "Model Year 2000," via Ogilvy & Mather, New York.
Bissen also composed an experimental electronic musical called Atreus Dawn, which was produced in Providence in November ’98. He also wrote part of the soundtrack for the independent short film Jack & Jill.
New York native Gross graduated from Emerson College, Boston, in ’97, and also studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Between ’97 and ’98, Gross was the assistant to Robbie Kondor of Kondor Music (formerly known as Robbie Kondor Music), New York. There, she served as sound engineer on the soundtrack for the Todd Solondz film Happiness. In the fall of ’98, Gross joined the long-running children’s television program Sesame Street as assistant to the musical director. Most recently, Gross spent a year and a half as studio assistant to the chief engineer at Zen Music, New York. Like Bissen, she composed music for the film Jack & Jill.
Motia hails from New Jersey and was a classmate of Bissen at Brown, where the two played music together. After graduation, Motia had a short-lived career as a junior financial analyst. He is the singer/guitarist for a band called Ex Models.
Motia recalled how the idea for MetaTechnik developed back in June: "Georg was telling me about the work he’d done (Bissen was then a freelance composer) and we rekindled the fledgling interest we had in working together." Motia had been helping friends raise money for their Internet startups and thought the idea of a music company was financially viable. Motia soon convinced Bissen that the two should open a studio.
Bissen explained, "Most of these forms of popular music have evolved from the underground, and we being very active parts of these scenes—myself in the techno and rave scenes, and Shahin in the independent music scene—have a knowledge of what might become popular a few years from now. Electronic music has become more popular in commercials lately, especially in the last half year."
Bissen and Gross met in ’99, when Bissen freelanced at Zen and Gross was on staff there. They became friends and started collaborating as pop/electronic duo boy&girl. Bissen explained, "We realized we had a lot of common interests. Even though Vicki’s a lot more acoustic-oriented, we wanted to collaborate. That’s why we’re here together now."
Gross’ studio experience and musical influences impressed Motia and Bissen. Gross left Zen in August to pursue her career as a rock artist but, as Motia explained, "Once she left Zen, we started talking to her and kind of convinced her to come on board and take a risk!" Or, as Gross put it, "I realized I needed to pay my rent."
Motia identified the composers’ youth (all three are under 25), their involvement in popular music scenes, and their technical and business knowledge as being prime MetaTechnik attributes that can help advertisers effectively reach the coveted 18-24 age demographic.
