Nick Klimenko Interview on Upcoming Album "Chronos"

Alex Di Donna, team leader at Synthcloud and Synthonia, had the pleasure of interviewing Nick Klimenko on the occasion of his 25th album, Chronos.
Amid rare synthesizers, live performances, and reflections on time and inspiration, Nick shares his approach to sound design and music as a way of life. This conversation reveals the passion, experience, and humanity behind every composition, offering readers an intimate glimpse into the sonic universe of a truly unique artist.

This album marks your 25th full-length release. Looking back at your journey so far, what does this milestone represent for you personally, beyond the numbers?

Twenty-five years of a musical production career have passed. Technologies change, approaches change, but what never changes is the inspiration behind music production and working with sound waves in every possible way: arranging, mixing, mastering, sound engineering, teaching, sound design, recording, and live staging.

After a quarter of a century, you understand that working with sound is a lifestyle — it is oxygen you cannot live without.

It is a great gift from the universe to live and do what you love since childhood.

Chronos was recorded inside your newly opened personal synth museum. How did this space come to life, and what does it mean to you on an emotional level?

I started collecting synthesizers in 2006, twenty years ago.
At that time, it was much harder and more expensive to get any keyboard than it is today, so it took time and hard work to acquire instruments. The first ones were the Korg Wavestation, Access Virus B, Yamaha AN1X, and Roland JX-3P. Later, I created personal sound collections for each of these synthesizers, and that’s how our sound design company, www.lfo.store, was born.

Today, it is much easier to find almost any model on the second-hand market — European or Japanese — as well as new instruments from stores such as www.musicstore.de, for example.

A few years ago, I realized that we had so many keyboards that they were getting closer and closer to my sleeping area. The next step would have been to sleep with synthesizers — or to build a new studio. So we chose to build a 60-square-meter space dedicated entirely to sound work.

It took three months to build the house with a team, and nearly two years to complete the interior: acoustics, walls, shelves, connections, and routing.

Now anyone can visit our museum and have a live experience with almost 200 hardware and 150 software instruments — all fully functional and ready to use.

This is extremely inspiring: meeting new people who share the same passion and come to visit our space to play, record, learn, and jam together.

This is a fully live-played album, recorded in one take for each track. Why is live performance so important to you, and what does it allow you to express that studio editing cannot?

In the past, I was always composing using DAWs — Cubase, Logic, Ableton — creating hundreds of tracks in software. Often, the workflow becomes more like programming and sound engineering rather than actual musical performance on hardware instruments.

Yes, you can create very deep arrangements and compositions, but something is missing: the live experience of playing instruments, sculpting sounds in real time, composing without bars and numbers — just one continuous flow.

That’s why, in the museum, I always create small jamming setups focused on three to nine instruments, ready to play and ready to record.

This helps a lot with focus and workflow. Having too many instruments can sometimes be disorienting.

I’ve developed my own methods to focus on a limited number of instruments and effects, allowing me to perform and record a complete composition live.

Your music is often described as ambient, cosmic, and cinematic. How would you describe your own approach to sound design, and what kind of inner world were you exploring while creating this album?

I often wonder how people can make music in just one genre for ten or twenty years.

For me, it’s always a mixture of styles, cultures, approaches, and genres.

From ambient to trip hop, from breaks to jungle and drum’n’bass, from house to techno and psychedelic trance.

Sometimes there are jazz elements, sometimes rock and rock’n’roll, ethnic and oriental influences, classical orchestral elements, even flamenco — all of this exists within the Chronos tracks.

There are even rare Soviet funk elements in the track “Gagarin” — how about that? 🙂

It’s also a great opportunity to collaborate with musicians from all over the world, bringing new colors and new life into electronic music.

For my 25th album, the idea was to perform nine pieces of music in real time using both modern and vintage synthesizers.

Some of these synthesizers are extremely rare — you may not find them in proper working condition anywhere else in the world.

Thanks to my master technician Alex Taber, one of the best specialists in the world when it comes to repairing any kind of instrument. He helped tremendously in bringing new life into machines we sourced from all over the world.

Philosophically, the album raises important questions. For example, “Silentium Universi” asks: are we alone in the universe? Or are we still at a low level of consciousness, while more advanced civilizations believe we are not yet ready for contact?

These are questions that can arise in the mind of anyone on our planet.

Chronos feels deeply connected to the concept of time and memory. Is there a personal story, feeling, or life phase that influenced the atmosphere of this release?

That’s true. My primary education is in culturology, and we studied ancient cultures extensively — Greek, Roman, and many others.

Time has always been deeply connected to the human race and its decisions.

I’ve also been interested in ufology and space research since childhood, and much of that inspiration was transferred into the album.

Today, we have strong evidence that many key events in ufology were mystified — such as Roswell, the Cascade Mountains events of 1947, or the Washington Flap of 1952.

When you encounter this evidence, it feels a bit like realizing that Santa Claus doesn’t exist… oh no! 🙂

But still — we all want to believe.

How has your personal life and inner evolution shaped your music over the years, and how is that reflected in Chronos compared to your earlier works?

Compared to earlier times, there is no longer a need to prove anything to anyone.
It’s simply about following your feelings and inspiration, without fear of criticism or ego.

Today, how would you describe yourself as an artist — and as a person — compared to when you released your first albums?

I’m almost forty now — more experienced and calmer, digging deeper into things, feeling more open and relaxed than ever before. All of this is reflected in my creativity and ideas.

Overcoming the darker sides of the soul makes you stronger, eventually bringing you to a point where you can help other living beings instead of focusing only on self-development.

What message, or emotional state, would you like listeners to take with them after experiencing Chronos from beginning to end?

First of all, a sense of immersion through different worlds over the next six to sixty minutes — different emotional states — and to feel stronger and more optimistic at the end of the journey.

My goal is always to support people emotionally and help them trust themselves through music.

I receive that same support when listening to my own masters — Solar Fields, for example.
Their music heals and gives hope.

I often feel that my tracks are better than me: they help, support, and inspire people to become a better version of themselves.

Finally, looking toward the future, what excites you most about the next chapter of your life and career?

For fifteen years, I worked as if there were a nail in my back. 🙂
The discography of projects I’ve been involved in now exceeds 300 releases.

Today, I’m slowing down and learning to enjoy simple things: nature, traveling, volunteer work.

At the same time, I already have ideas for three future albums — they exist on paper, in DAWs, in my mind and in my heart.

So this feels like a great opportunity to combine the pleasures of life with sound work for the next fifteen years.

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With Chronos, Nick Klimenko invites the listener into a suspended space where sound, time, and memory converge. This conversation reveals an artist guided not by genre or trend, but by a lifelong devotion to sonic exploration and human curiosity