composer

Rens Machielse composes and produces sound and music for moving images such as fiction, documentary and animation in close collaboration with Willem Schneider (Studio Masch). Both have long standing and award winning careers as composer and sound designer. Rens has a particular interest in projects that offer time and space for experimentation with sound and music in order to deepen the narrative of the moving images, and provide them with an extraordinary soundtrack. He has done so in the past with directors such as Nicole van Kilsdonk, Paula van der Oest, Simone de Vries and Pieter-Rim de Kroon. His music has been awarded with a.o. the Stemra Music Award and a Gold Medal Best Original Score New York Festivals. Examples of his music can be found on SoundCloud.

In 2020 Rens and Willem finished the sound track for the short animation film See Me which won the award The Gouden Kalf for the Best Short Film 2020 at the Dutch Film Festival and the Best Dutch Short Award at the Kaboom Festival 2021. See Me was selected for a variety of international film festivals such as the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. In 2022 they have worked on two animation films: Balcony Cacophony together with animator Quentin Haberham and producer Chris Stenger from Family Affair Films + FLY together with director Patty Stenger, animator Mackenzie Fincham and producer Peter Lindhout from Spotted Bird. FLY was selected at the Dutch Film Festival 2022 for the Best Short Film Award. The soundtrack of Balcony Cacophony was nominated for the Peer Raben Music Award 2023. In 2023 they worked on the new animated films Love on The Edge and Crumble and they composed the music for the feature film Witte Flits together with Luuk Hoogstraten en Zita Leemans. Witte Flits is the opening film of the Dutch Film Festival NFF in 2024. The music for Witte Flits was nominated for the Gouden Kalf Best Music 2024 at the Dutch Film Festival. In 2024 they will again work on a number of animated films: Coorage of Alina Milkina and Vleestomaat, the successor to the successful See Me.

lecturer

Rens Machielse gives guest lectures, master classes and workshops about sound and music for moving images. His expertise covers specific topics such as ‘the design process of the sound track’ and ‘the role of the sound track in audiovisual storytelling’. He has experience in guiding freelancers and SME’s in setting up and developing their professional practice. Rens has been lecturing at a variety of institutions such as the Film Academy Amsterdam, the Film Academy Baden Württemberg, HKU University of the Arts Utrecht and the Reid School of Music University of Edinburgh. In 2020 Rens did a master class at the Master The Sound of Innovation of ArtEZ, and he was keynote speaker at the IMMSANE Zurich 2020 Congress. From 2018 onwards, he has given annual workshops and master classes on composing film music at, among others, the Summerschool Utrecht, at MediaSound Hamburg, and at SAE Auckland, New Zealand.  More information about his teaching experience can be found in his CV.

researcher

Rens Machielse has been leading the HKU Research Programme Music Design that investigates the different creative processes involved in music design in the broadest sense of the word. His own research focuses on ‘The design process of the composer and sound designer in audiovisual storytelling’. His book The Sound Track about the design processes of the sound designer and the media composer is published by International Theatre & Film Books in collaboration with HKU Press and co-financed by the Dutch Filmfund. The Dutch version is presented in February 2020 at the EYE Filmmuseum, the English version is presented in May 2020. Both books are available through regular and online bookshops such as Amazon DE and Amazon UK. More information including a number of reviews can be found at the related website De Sound Track. Nowadays, Rens is developing the interactive website "The Art of Design Education|The Design of Art Education" in close collaboration with his former colleague Jan IJzermans, which will premiere in the autumn of 2024. A number of his other publications can be found at download & links.

advisor

Being the Director of HKU Music and Technology for many years Rens Machielse has gained a lot of experience in developing specific curricula within the field of music and technology. In addition he was interim-Director at HKU Design, HKU Theatre and at HKU Arts and Economics. Based on this broad experience he has advised many educational institutions in Vietnam, Macedonia, Indonesia, South-Korea, Switzerland and Lithuania such as the Vietnam National Academy of Music and the Faculty of Music SS. Cyril & Methodius University Skopje. The major part of these advisory trajectories and related projects were supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, EP-Nuffic or the European Union. Rens is also a recognised peer-reviewer at MusiQue for accreditations of higher music education. Other nowadays positions and activities are chairman of the MIMM board and chairman of the board of Sounds Like Touch. A general overview can be found in his CV. From 2021 on, he is producing for MiMM the online magazine Private Kitchen about mediamusic together with Sebastiaan Donders and ShortCutz Amsterdam.

info & contact

Rens is available for:

  • - guest lectures and workshops on a national and international level;
  • - advisory work with regard to higher education in music technology or in sound and music for moving images;
  • - designing soundtracks for moving images in collaboration with Willem Schneider (MASCH).

You can download a full CV of Rens Machielse. You can contact Rens through mail (info@rensmachielse.nl) or phone (+31 6 3823 7630).

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