Grounded: Seb Redgrove, composer, producer and sound artist.

Meet the Grammy – winning producer and creator of MADE IN GERMANY’S spectacular sound.

Seb Redgrove’s involvement in the world of music production has been nothing short of packed. After qualifying as a sound engineer in London in the 1990s, the composer, producer and sound artist was asked to open a studio with sophisticated pop maestro and former Orange Juice vocalist and guitarist Edwyn Collins. “A studio is such a weird environment. It is unreal. It sounds dead, like a sort of police interview room,” he says. “So we would always try to create as much fun as possible. For about 20 years, we were just messing about!”.

Seb’s years of play in the world of pop were not wasted. When he was tasked with creating the soundtrack for BIRKENSTOCK’S MADE IN GERMANY series, for which he teamed up with his cinematographer brother Ben Redgrove, the sibling creative crew created a visual and sonic masterpiece.

“The project was initially a bit overwhelming,” he says. “ I was handed hundreds of sounds harvested from the factories – from beeps, thuds, pings, and jingles sourced from deep within the buckle-pressing machine to the tonal hum of the footbed press.” But it did not take long for his creative instincts to work their magic. “By initially categorising the sounds I was able to isolate different beats and tones, helping me to create distinct tracks for each film.” He used a drum machine driven by an AI engine to make a bass tone, with individual sounds being added later to tell each individual story and match actions to sounds.

Seb’s years of play in the world of pop were not wasted. When he was tasked with creating the soundtrack for BIRKENSTOCK’S MADE IN GERMANY series, for which he teamed up with his cinematographer brother Ben Redgrove, the sibling creative crew created a visual and sonic masterpiece.

“The project was initially a bit overwhelming,” he says. “ I was handed hundreds of sounds harvested from the factories – from beeps, thuds, pings, and jingles sourced from deep within the buckle-pressing machine to the tonal hum of the footbed press.” But it did not take long for his creative instincts to work their magic. “By initially categorising the sounds I was able to isolate different beats and tones, helping me to create distinct tracks for each film.” He used a drum machine driven by an AI engine to make a bass tone, with individual sounds being added later to tell each individual story and match actions to sounds.

As part of the commission, BIRKENSTOCK asked Seb to focus on the theme of heritage, one of the brand’s fundamental pillars. “It was a tricky idea to approach, given its subjective nature,” he says. He chose to focus on the processes within each individual film, and zoomed in on them using accents (moments of strong emphasis) in the music. The artist took inspiration from German electronic music in the late 1970s. “When Kraftwerk hit America, it really influenced electro and techno, and it still does,” he explains, “I wanted to have a New York side to this music, and a German side to open it out, showing the way it has hit other parts of the world, in the same way BIRKENSTOCK has as a brand.”