Toby Hrycek-Robinson

Toby Hrycek-Robinson is a British producer, composer, and recording engineer from London, UK.

Toby Hrycek-Robinson
Birth name	Toby Robinson
Born	Cape Town, South Africa
Genres	avant-garde, experimental, Krautrock
Occupation(s)	Composer, producer, engineer
Years active	1970 to present

Biography

Hrycek-Robinson began his career in Germany where he spent time as a sound engineer working for Karlheinz Stockhausen and Péter Eötvös in Cologne's Westdeutscher Rundfunk Studios.^[1] By the early 1970s he had moved to Dieter Dierks' studio, where he recorded with a number of krautrock bands, including work on CAN’s Landed album in 1975.^[2]

During this period he used spare studio time to experiment with visiting musicians, often working under pseudonyms such as "The Mad Twiddler" or "Genius P. Orridge".^[3] He also teamed up with Fluxus artist Robin Page, creating the mythological Pyramid label to release the tracks under names such as Cozmic Corridors and Golem.^[4] Much of this material was eventually released on the Virgin and Psi-Fi Labels from 1996.^[5]

After returning to Britain, he opened Moat Studios in London and worked with a wide range of avant garde and rock musicians including The Monochrome Set, Acid Mothers Temple, Rhys Chatham, Bellowhead, David Sylvian, and Gong.^[6] He also engineered a series of recordings with Derek Bailey from the mid-1990s until Bailey’s death in 2015.^[7]

Apart from his work with musicians, Hrycek-Robinson has composed the themes and incidental music for television, including a number of audio plays for Big Finish Productions.^[8]

Selected discography

Hrycek-Robinson served as producer or engineer on the following records:^[6]

• 1975: Can – Landed (Mixing)
• 1976: Pell Mell - Rhapsody (Engineer)
• 1998: Derek Bailey – Play Backs (Engineer)
• 1998: Derek Bailey – Tohjinbo (Engineer)
• 1999: Scarlet's Well – Strange Letters (Producer)
• 2000: Union Wireless – All Her Life (Producer)
• 2000: Gong – Zero to Infinity (Engineer)
• 2001: Bows – Cassidy (Producer)
• 2001: Derek Bailey and Shoji Hano - Fish (Engineer)
• 2001: Billy Mahonie – What Becomes Before (Engineer)
• 2001: Derek Bailey – Ore (Engineer)
• 2001: Pat Thomas – Nur: Solo Piano 1999# (Mastering)
• 2002: Scarlet's Well – The Isle of the Blue Flowers (Producer)
• 2002: Derek Bailey & Franz Hautzinger – Derek Bailey / Franz Hautzinger (Engineer)
• 2002: Derek Bailey – Ballads (Engineer)
• 2003: Ivar Grydeland / HISS – Zahir (Engineer)
• 2003: Rebel Powers (Acid Mothers Temple and David Keenan) – Not One Star Will Stand the Night (Engineer)
• 2003: David Sylvian – Blemish (Engineer)
• 2006: Derek Bailey – To Play: The Blemish Sessions (Engineer)
• 2006: Joseph Holbrooke Trio – The Moat Recordings (Engineer)
• 2006: Tender Trap – Language Lessons (Producer)
• 2006: Mothers of Invasion / Makoto Kawabata – Hot Rattlesnakes (Engineer)
• 2006: Tender Trap – 6 Billion People (Producer)
• 2008: Bellowhead – Matachin (Mixing)
• 2014: Gong – I See You (Engineer)
• 2017: Can – The Singles (Mixing)
• 2020: The Monochrome Set – Little Noises 1990-1995 (Composer, Producer)