Volker Hinkel (born 21 June 1965) is a German musician, composer and producer, best known as a founding member of the pop rock band Fool's Garden.

[9] However, as Hinkel mentioned, success came to the group very quickly, for which the musicians were not quite ready: they had to conduct frequent and long tours, give many interviews and participate in music shows.

[10] The debut album In The Wake Of Thunder, which also featured bassist Thomas Mangold and drummer Ralph Vochele of Fool's Garden, was released in 1994 and later reissued in 1996 by Intercord.

The Italian magazine Rockit praised the release, noting that the two artists complement each other: Hinkel conveys an MTV-style pop vibe, combined with The Mirrors' rock sound.

[15] Volker played as a session guitarist during recordings of Sensor (2003) and Relocated (2006) by the German synth-pop band Camouflage,[16] which included Marcus Meyn, Heiko Maile and Oliver Kreyssig.

[20] The participation of Hinkel and Schmalbach in concert performances made it possible to diversify Camouflage's live sound and bring new elements to the band's style beyond electronic music and synth-pop.

[27] In the beginning of 1990s, Volker Hinkel founded his own record and audio distribution company, Hinkelstone Productions, at which a lot of releases by Fool's Garden and many other artists, including Camouflage, Dirk Blümlein Terzett, Brainstorm, Cae Gauntt, Yannic Guenther, Mira Kay, Daniele Groff, as well as compositions for Toyota and Mercedes-Benz advertisements were recorded, mixed and mastered.

He also co-wrote the music and lyrics with Freudenthaler for "Engel Sterben Nie" by Hannah Schulz,[31] "Lonny Losseplads" by Bonbon's Bedste Backing Band,[32] "Zironenboom" by Queen Bae[33] and "Dörp-Reggae" and "Dörp-Disco" by Ina Müller.

[34] Volker Hinkel assisted in the experimental study by the German musicologist Hans-Joachim Maempel, the main purpose of which was to determine the extent to which sound design at different stages of music production, including recording, mixing and post-processing, affects the perception and quality evaluation of pop songs.

[36] In 2008, Volker was invited to record the compilation album Beautiful Escape: The Songs of the Posies Revisited,[37] in the same year he participated in the recording of the third studio album Kennzeichen D by German rapper Thomas D.[38] In 2009, Hinkel was included in the jury of The Music Think Tank music competition along with many famous musicians such as Curt Smith, Morgan Fisher, Roger O'Donnell, Jimmy Destri, etc.

[42] Hinkel also assisted as a sound engineer on the albums Malaria by Schweisser,[43] Don't Wanna Be Everybody's Darlin' by Silke Besa,[44] Annie by Partly Dave,[45] ToyZ by Cinema Bizarre[46] and Goldstadt by Thomas Glöncker.

[65] In 1998, Volker Hinkel came up with the arrangement for the first international English-language single "Under My Wing (Is Your Sweet Home)" by the Latvian rock band Brainstorm and later became its executive producer.

[66] Due to Hinkel's suggestions, the song began to sound melodic, light, with obvious references to British music of the 1960s, which made the single commercially successful.

[70] Hinkel also produced Cae Gauntt's album Hopegarden,[71] for which he also composed music for some of the songs, Partly Dave's Annie[45] and Mira Kay's Sister Moon.