Producer/Musician RALF HILDENBEUTEL; Sven Väth's Electro MAESTRO, Netflix SUPERSEX Composer

Ralf Hildenbeutel takes Steve Blame inside his creative partnership with Sven Väth—and the journey from Frankfurt’s electronic music scene to composing the score for Netflix’s Supersex.

He recalls how a DJ and classically trained musicians challenged one another to think differently, breaking away from conventional song structures and bringing unexpected instruments, field recordings and visual ideas into their music.

Ralf discusses the Eye Q years, An Accident in Paradise, Barbarella and The Harlequin, the Robot and the Ballet Dancer. He describes hearing his own tracks in clubs, watching the crowd react, and recognising the significance of that period only later.

The conversation follows his move into pop production and screen music, the intense demands of scoring a daily television drama, and the challenge of creating Supersex’s mix of orchestral emotion, vintage electronics and music spanning different decades.

A conversation about collaboration, reinvention and learning when to move in a new direction.

This is an archive interview recorded around the release of Supersex in 2024. References to current projects and future opportunities reflect that period.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction and interview highlights
01:28 Meeting Ralf Hildenbeutel in Frankfurt
01:53 Childhood, musical tastes and discovering the piano
04:15 The teacher who broadened his musical education
05:19 Discovering jazz at a young age
06:24 Family support—and expectations of a secure career
08:03 School bands and his first keyboard
09:09 Music as an escape and a means of expression
10:08 Finding his own musical circle
11:12 Early recording experiments and production work
12:14 Confidence, early opportunities and being the youngest
14:12 Meeting Sven Väth through Matthias Hoffmann
16:02 How the studio partnership began
16:47 Open minds instead of a fixed plan
18:04 An equal creative partnership
19:05 Frankfurt’s clubs and the new electronic scene
21:18 From the dance floor back to the studio
22:36 Hearing his own records and watching the crowd react
23:42 The shared experience of club music
25:02 Looking back on the Sven Väth years
26:57 Why they made different music together
28:38 Field recordings and imagining stories through sound
30:33 Sven’s visual ideas for An Accident in Paradise
31:50 Hommage à Noir: composing without dialogue
33:51 Creating an original score for the finished film
35:21 Eye Q’s financial difficulties and changing direction
38:05 A fresh challenge in pop production
39:27 Bringing electronic influences into pop songs
42:18 Choosing a future in film music
44:02 Verbotene Liebe: learning through a daily TV drama
45:34 Deadlines, directors and creative freedom
47:08 Joining Netflix’s Supersex
49:20 The conversation turns to the adult-film industry
50:25 Finding the musical approach to Supersex
53:22 Connecting contrasting emotions and musical themes
55:12 Balancing the director, producers and Netflix
57:15 The response to the series and its music
58:38 Bringing classical training and electronic experience together
1:00:26 Recognition and possible new opportunities
1:01:08 Closing thoughts and farewell

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