Henning Schmitz, born December 26, 1953 in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, is a member of the electronic

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

/experimental

Krautrock

Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...

 pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 band Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...

.

Background

Henning Schmitz studied at the Musikhochschule Rheinland and the FH Düsseldorf, and in 1980 he received his Diplom-Ingenieur qualification (the German equivalent of a Master of Science degree) in sound and image technology. From 1978 he began working with Kraftwerk as a sound engineer, was first credited on the sleeve of the 1986 album Electric Café

Electric Café

Electric Café is the ninth studio album by the electronic group Kraftwerk, originally released in 1986. In October 2009 it was re-released under its original working title, Techno Pop.-Background:...

 and later replaced short term member Fernando Abrantes

Fernando Abrantes

-Background:He is a former live member of the electronic/experimental pop band Kraftwerk. Fernando joined the group on stage in 1991 shortly after the departure of electronic percussionist and songwriter Karl Bartos. Serving as Bartos' replacement, Abrantes performed during the first leg of The Mix...

 in concerts from 1991 onwards. He has also created various pieces of music and sound effects for radio programmes produced by WDR since the mid-1980, currently also works as a freelance lecturer at the Robert-Schumann-Institut and in addition undertakes occasional sound production work on other artists' projects.