Tobias Freund is a German electronic musician, composer, producer, and sound engineer whose work has shaped experimental and club-oriented music for more than three decades. Based in Berlin, Freund is known for his analog-focused production methods, his sensitivity to texture and space, and his commitment to sound as both an artistic and emotional medium. In addition to his artistic output, he has a long-standing career as a studio engineer and runs his own Non Standard Studios, where he also offers sound-engineering classes and individual training.
Beginning his career in the late 1980s as a sound engineer at FAR Studios, owned by Frank Farian, Freund worked on major productions for artists such as Boney M, Milli Vanilli, Meat Loaf, La Bouche, and No Mercy. Alongside this demanding studio work, he spent all of his free time experimenting in his home setup, developing the personal techniques and sonic curiosity that would later shape his own musical identity. His releases under aliases such as Pink Elln and Tobias. have appeared on influential labels including Saasfee, Multicolor Recordings, Ostgut Ton, Sähkö, Concentric Records, Delsin Records, and his own Non Standard Productions.
Collaboration forms a central axis of Freund’s artistic life. His pioneering project Sieg Über Die Sonne with Dandy Jack, his long-time creative partnership with Atom™, and his work with Max Loderbauer as NSI. Non Standard Institute all reflect his belief in sound as a shared exploratory practice.
A significant strand of Freund’s work is Recent Arts, his interdisciplinary project with visual artist Valentina Berthelon. Their performances merge electronic composition, choreography, visual dramaturgy, and improvisation, creating immersive environments where sound, dance, and generative video interact. Works such as SKIN and Hypertext explore embodiment, perception, and the blurred boundaries between physical and digital realities.
Freund’s collaborative range extends further into darker, rawer territory with The Mutual Torture, his post-punk project with Chilean artist Javiera González. Combining cold, angular electronics with stripped-down rhythms, spectral vocals, and a distinctly post-punk emotional directness, The Mutual Torture channels tension, vulnerability, and confrontation into a stark sonic language. The project marks a departure from Freund’s techno-based work, highlighting his ability to move fluidly across genres while maintaining a strong artistic identity.
In addition to these collaborative endeavours, Freund curates the platform Eclectic Effigies, a Bandcamp-based space for experimental works, archival studio material, and non-standard sound research. Through this platform, he continues to cultivate an ecosystem for unconventional and exploratory music, treating his studio practice as an “audible diary” in which daily processes, intuition, and emotion are transformed into sound.
Recent releases include his first fully ambient album Hall Ov Fame on Concentric Records and the collaboration with the japanese artist Doltz, with whom he released an album on Delsin Records in 2025, a second follow up album is planed for beginning 2026.
Across all of his projects—whether techno, ambient, audiovisual performance, or post-punk—Tobias Freund remains a boundary-crossing artist dedicated to curiosity, craft, and continuous evolution.