Stimming is an acclaimed music producer known for his inventive field recordings, esoteric hardware, and organic approach to electronic dance music. In this episode, Stimming surprises with left-field gear choices, from pen-controlled production workflows to budget synths with remarkable punch. Along the way, pick up tips on stereo recording, learn how he makes live electronic sets punch as hard as DJ mixes, and discover which sense he thinks is overlooked in the studio.
Stimming is an acclaimed music producer known for his inventive field recordings, esoteric hardware, and organic approach to electronic dance music. In this episode, Stimming surprises with left-field gear choices, from pen-controlled production workflows to budget synths with remarkable punch. Along the way, pick up tips on stereo recording, learn how he makes live electronic sets punch as hard as DJ mixes, and discover which sense he thinks is overlooked in the studio.
Season 7 of the My Forever Studio Podcast is supported by Audient, and the incredible new iD48 audio interface.
https://audient.com/
https://audient.com/products/audio-interfaces/id48/
STUFF WE TALK ABOUT (SPOILERS AHEAD)
https://stimming.org/
https://solomun.org/
https://www.diynamic.com/
https://diynamic.bandcamp.com/album/alpe-lusia
https://rog.asus.com/laptops/rog-flow/rog-flow-z13-2025/
https://www.bitwig.com/
https://www.neumann.com/en-gb/products/audiointerfaces/mt-48
https://www.merging.com/products/interfaces/hapi-mkIII
https://torsoelectronics.com/products/s-4
https://www.bricasti.com/en/pro/m7.php
https://savantaudiolabs.com/product/quantum-room-simulator/
https://reverb.com/uk/item/2217614-quantec-yardstick-2402-f
https://musictech.com/reviews/universal-audio-lexicon-480l-review/
https://www.shure.com/en-GB/products/earphones/kse1500
https://aearibbonmics.com/products/n28/
https://www.moogmusic.com/synthesizers/dfam/
https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=0718-ABM
https://soundgas.com/products/cwejman-s1-mk2-semi-modular-analogue-synthesizer-s1-mk2-031
https://www.twistedelectrons.com/megafm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_YM2612
https://doctron-imc.com/
https://www.elektron.se/explore/octatrack-mkii
https://www.tcelectronic.com/product.html?modelCode=0828-AAL
https://soundcloud.com/stimming
https://www.escentric.com/collections/escentric-molecules-01
Chris Barker:
Hi, I'm Chris Barker.
Will Betts:
And I'm Will Betts. And this is the music tech My Forever Studio podcast brought to you in partnership with Audient.
Chris Barker:
In this podcast, we speak with musicians, DJs, engineers and producers about their fantasy Forever Studio.
Will Betts:
The Fantasyland studio that our guests dream up is one that they must live with for the rest of time. But even in the world of studio foreverdom, we have some rules.
Chris Barker:
Indeed, our guests will select a computer, a DAW and an audio interface. Those are the three items that we let everybody choose. Then they will select just six other bits of studio gear, plus one non studio related luxury item.
Stimming:
But oh yes, no bundles.
Chris Barker:
That's right, no bundles.
Will Betts:
Choosing something sold as a package of separate software or hardware as a single item is strictly forbidden.
Chris Barker:
That's right. Okay, so our guest this time is a German electronic music producer who uses esoteric hardware and inventive field recordings to make a unique blend of organic but club friendly music.
Will Betts:
That's right. Over the last 15 years, he's released a string of acclaimed albums and remixed tracks for previous guests Claude von Stroke and deadmau5. And even invented his own bit of studio hardware.
Chris Barker:
Unsurprisingly, his new album 'Friedrich' is full of brilliant sonic experiments. But what may surprise you is that he controls his computer with a pen.
Will Betts:
That's right. This is my Forever Studio with Stimming.
Chris Barker:
Welcome, welcome.
Stimming:
Hello. Thanks for having me.
Chris Barker:
And we are right, it is still the pen. The pen in control.
Stimming:
It's still a pen, but a combination between pen and classic Touch, but not classic in the DAW sense, because there is no DAW that is really controllable by touch exclusively. Except Bitwig.
Chris Barker:
Okay, okay, interesting. Well, we will, we'll get to that. But like first let's talk a little bit about your journey as Stimming and the project and how it began. I mean, how did you get into this old music production game?
Stimming:
It all started with like one session with a friend of mine. I think we had a spliff and listened to some downbeat electronica. Back then, like end of 90s, there was this television show called Space Night where you saw videos from space from NASA combined with electronic music. And this combination, it was so powerful to me. I really, I can still remember that flash that I had that brought me into okay, I want to do this and that. This is where I discovered that a computer is totally capable of making pretty much anything in music. That was the moment when I realized it, and I think I was 15 back then. And I'm saying that because it was quite a journey to really come to the point to meeting the right people.
Stimming:
And until then I just basically I just worked for the draw. Like hundreds of tracks for just for nothing. But I kind of developed my sound already. That's why it already sounded quite mature when I started the career back in 2007. And I started the career with meeting Solomon in Hamburg. And that's basically that was the point, the knot where our path kind of joined and we started the dynamic label. And it wasn't just us too, it was also Hoch. There was another guy and from there it pretty much took off.
Stimming:
So 2007 to 2025 full time music producer, live act
Chris Barker:
So did you have any musical training before then?
Stimming:
Yeah, yeah, I did. Like my parents wanted me to play some instruments so I played the violin very early and I hated it. And then I played the piano. I actually played up until now. Not ambitious, but I have a little bit of knowledge about tones and harmony and how they like react with each other and that stuff. And I also played the drums. So in my heart I'm basically a drummer.
Chris Barker:
That makes sense. Me too. So yeah, I guess the step into the computer world was just about doing the recordings and actually making the tracks on your own. But in terms of musicianship, you were capable of like writing a song or making a song, you know, in traditional terms, you know, in your teenage years. And then it was the transfer of.
Stimming:
Yeah. Knowledge into the electronic possibilities. And also the realization of the rules. Don't 100% apply either way.
Chris Barker:
If it sounds good, it is good.
Stimming:
Absolutely. That's the general rule. Like you don't need any education beforehand, but it helps quite a lot to get like a musical logic that is able to translate to others.
Chris Barker:
That's interesting, that topic though, because I am never really sure at what point a level of musical knowledge is good or not for electronic music, if you know, I mean, because I think sometimes it can be a hindrance of you making decisions based on rules.
Stimming:
Absolutely, 100%. I totally agree. There's this very interesting thing in musicianship where being a musician is more like a top athlete. Like think about progressive rock, fusion, that kind of stuff. And like it's incredible athletics. But it's not music anymore, to be honest. Like really it's just for that 5,000 people on Earth that can also play very good and they are astonished by how fast you can play. But it's not music.
Stimming:
Come on, seriously, no one wants to listen to this.
Chris Barker:
It's, you know.
Stimming:
Yeah, I think that's an extreme example, you know.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, but I think it's a great example. Like if you go to the concerts of those kind of bands that you describe, it is just full of other musicians.
Stimming:
Yeah, musician police and a musician police. Yeah, full of musician police. And they're not really enjoying it, they're enjoying the athletics, but not the feelings, the emotions, the core of what music I think actually is. So I never studied in like a university and from my now point of view I would say that's a big win because I'm not in that trap of knowing too much. I had a little bit of education, but luckily not too much that I kind of lost my, my inner child in that.
Chris Barker:
Did you start as a DJ or did you start straight away doing live?
Stimming:
I never DJed at all. And there was a point, I pretty clearly remember when Solomon came up to me and told me, like, listen, you have to play live, you have to make money and that's the only way to make money. So you play a live set in two months, just so you know. And I was like, okay, what should I do then? And I think I experimented with like reactor patches, regenerative stuff and so on. It was quite okay, the first life. And it was, honestly, it always was a challenge up until now to find the right balance between pre recorded, secure path stuff that kind of gives me self confidence and I know I'm standing in front of 1,000 people and I'm getting like serious money for that and I need to deliver. Plus the playfulness of improvising this balance. It's always a challenge.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, I think it's a unique challenge to electronic music and every year it gets different, more and more different because where do you draw the line between DJing and performing live?
Stimming:
It's a very, very technical thing and a very theoretical. Like you really need to understand the logic of what he's actually doing to be able to judge it. And no one can do that. Of course no one can. And also like General Knowledge doesn't have any clue about the difference between a DJ and a live set. And also like the fact that a DJ makes his living with the work of other people that are not getting paid for it. Yeah, not properly paid. Right.
Stimming:
So famous DJs do a pretty good living with other producers work and the producers don't practically, they don't get anything from that actual gig. They get a little bit of fame and they sell the music a little bit. It's tiny against what the DJ does.
Chris Barker:
And you've got, you've Got in certain scenes you've got editors and remixers that are essentially like bedroom based and they're providing most of the material for big headline DJs that get decent fees but they're not getting booked for the gigs.
Stimming:
Yeah, it's unfair. I have to state it right here, right now. This is unfair.
Chris Barker:
But yeah, it's. It's a strange, it's just I've always thought that it's a strange situation, like I could play a gig with other.
Stimming:
People's edits and get real making real money. Everyone's like, oh, that's so interesting what you do with the original. Wow. And the group is so different and there's so much energy and you getting the money but not the one who's actually doing it.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, yeah. Like would you think you would be able to have this career you've had if you'd never made a record, just be, be a live act?
Stimming:
No, not at all. No, no, no, not at all. But I also like, I wouldn't be able to be a live act without producing. So that's. It's just the other side of the coin. Basically.
Chris Barker:
That's what kind of DJing is becoming though, isn't it? I think people expect when they go and see major famous commercial DJs that 90% of their set is going to be their music.
Stimming:
Made by other producers that they actually, that they pay, that they usually pay nicely. Ghost producers that they nicely. That's so that's a serious business and that's totally fine. But it's just like 50 people on earth, you know, like 50 superstar djs that are in what you was telling in that way.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, that was true. Okay, well, let's move on to building this forever studio. Like you heard the intro there and first we start with where in the world you would have this studio and why?
Stimming:
It's actually pretty simple. In my album Alpelusia. For the album I spent a month in a hut in the Italian Alps, Northern Italian Alps. And it was like a wooden cabin. It's on the COVID Like an abstract of a picture of that cabin. It's on the COVID And I spent there a month up in like 1,800 meters, like close to 2,000 meters for the American listeners, like a little less than 6,000ft. And the surrounding of the Alps like really, really massive impressive mountains. And the feeling of history of hundred thousands of years energy like pressing against each other.
Stimming:
This majestic feeling did something to the actual music and it still does. I have been there two, three weeks ago, together with A friend only for a couple of days. And the feeling was there again. So I would definitely go for a wooden cabin. Like in general, wood would be my preferred material for studio. Even here I would love to plant it all in wood like wooden planks or I don't know the actual word in English.
Chris Barker:
Panels.
Stimming:
Yeah, panels. Yes. Thank you. Simply because it sounds so good and it has this very organic, warm sound and feeling to it. And so the wooden cabin itself solar powered. Not necessarily Internet connection if you. I don't necessarily need it. I need to deliver the tracks.
Stimming:
But then I could go into the next city to deliver the tracks that I made. Yeah, a wooden cabin in the Alps. Not too high because it's getting unhuman, let's. Let's say like this. It's getting too rough up there, but somewhere in the highest tree line probably.
Chris Barker:
And when you were there with the album, did you take a lot of equipment or just. Just a laptop or how so I.
Stimming:
Think it was 2014 and back then like literally the. The gear was bigger than nowadays. I had like a 19 inch rack with I think eight units and the computer was like three units already. And everything was bit pretty big and clunky and nowadays it would be a lot smaller and especially a lot more energy efficient.
Chris Barker:
Okay, well let's get to your three free items. Tell us about the computer First I assume we're going to go pen operated. Tell us about that journey.
Stimming:
So the idea is a Wacom screen which is made for graphic design works. The pen from the Wacom has 2000 or something pressure levels. But I'm just using it as a mouse basically. So windows things. I'm just using a mouse so I can pretty much use any program with it and I don't have to have the actual mouse in my hand but a pen which in my impression is the lot more like natural or historical accepted input device. I don't know how many of you out there. Also the listeners do work with the mouse like for hours a day and how bad your. Your wrist feels.
Stimming:
And everyone needs like a gel pad so the wrist doesn't go broke. Basically breaks. You know, it's so unnatural and it's such a minimalistic movement. I simply. I couldn't stand. I couldn't stand using the mouse anymore. So that's why I choose to. Okay, at least I use a pen.
Stimming:
Feels a lot more natural. So back then when we met, I was using Cubase with the mouse input, but the pen was a mouse. And then In I think 2017, Bitwig came on the market with a touch interface, which was still is a screen layout that is made for touch input. So the problem is the finger itself is vastly different to the position of a mouse pointer. Right. So you really need different approaches to the UI design choices. And I have to say, like, bitwig did it once and never really cared about it anymore. So I'm the one who really fought, like, seriously fought.
Stimming:
Every time I meet one of the guys, I tell them, listen, you have to at least do this little tiny little detail to simplify my life a little bit, like it's a joke. They will laugh about it in a good way, in a positive way, because I'm the one is really fighting for improving that touch interface when I meet them. So, like, it was supposed to only like to place the cursor only in that little thin line above the actual arranger, which was so silly for a touch input. So because of me, you can double press anywhere in the arranger and it sets the cursor and starts it from there.
Will Betts:
Nice.
Stimming:
Yeah, so thank me for that. Still, the hand movement is a lot. I feel a lot more human using a touch input.
Chris Barker:
So you interface often because you can use the pen on the screen, right? But you can also use the pen on a pad.
Stimming:
I use it on the screen. I use it on the screen.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, but you can use the pen on the Wacom pad as well. Like a mouse.
Stimming:
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Chris Barker:
So in theory, could you use the pen in your right hand and touch the screen with your left hand at the same time?
Stimming:
Absolutely. And I'm doing it, but on a screen, on the screen itself, like right now, because the reason why I said they never really developed the UI interface a lot further, I think to really reach every possibility, every function. And I mean, in the modern daw, it's like a lot. It was too much of work, too much thinking and too much changing the whole UI experience in difference to the classic input, because they usually, of course, they have a classic input with mouse and keyboard anyway, I still need the mouse input to reach certain functions and therefore I have the pen right next to the screen and I use both, basically.
Chris Barker:
Okay. And so just to confirm, on this computer selection, we're going to need a.
Stimming:
PC because Windows allows proper touch input out of the box and Apple made the decision not to do so. Apple made the decision to only allow proper touch input for their iOS and pad OS, but not for macros. So that's not going to work. And trust me, if Apple would allow that in the next hour, I would buy a Mac computer because it's simply the better computer. It's more efficient, it's more clean. So it would be a Windows tablet and I think the fastest like all in one Windows tablet on the market is from Asus from their ugly Republic of Gamer series. But it's a freakin fast machine given that it's just a 30 inch tablet. I don't know the actual model number but it has like a Ryzen 9 engine in it and it's pretty, pretty fast and pretty impressive for the form factor.
Chris Barker:
Do you ever hit processor and speed limits though when making music? Do you ever find yourself exhausting the power nowadays?
Stimming:
Well, I work on 96k and yeah, if I open adaptive app for example adaptive app from Synaptic, it's at the end of the processing possibility. There are some plugins also Zeus also I wish and also I want to be as close to real time as possible to make it feel as natural as possible. Right. And this combination very, very low latency, high sample rate and pretty complicated algorithms at times. Therefore I need pretty much the fastest processor on the market.
Chris Barker:
Fair.
Will Betts:
That machine is the Asus Republic of Gamers. Flow Z13.
Stimming:
Z13, correct. Yes.
Will Betts:
Yeah. And do you find you sort of run out of space a little bit with such a, a small screen relatively compared to, you know, a lot of producers have much, much bigger screens than that they're working on.
Stimming:
Why I need like big speakers, of course, giving the biggest speakers possible. But I like my screens small because the screen and the visual shouldn't be the main part of making music. I totally don't get why people use incredibly big screens to have all the overview of the world. But they're making music, not visuals. Right.
Chris Barker:
I've noticed that in DJing as well. Obviously the DJ equipment, the screens have got bigger and bigger and bigger and I can imagine that the screens are just going to get even bigger to almost like laptop sized screens on decks and clubs. Which is kind of crazy because you're just playing some songs and you might have, if you've got a laptop as well, you might have four laptop sized screens facing back at you and you're just playing a few records. They had less screens going to the moon.
Stimming:
Yeah, it's totally, it's mental. Yeah. So yeah, I prefer my screens small and also still I very much like love the idea of the main computer. The main working horse workhorse is like a, a sheet of paper, you know, it's an old school approach with the highest tech possible.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, yeah. And it kind of, it feels Traditional, doesn't it? It just being.
Stimming:
Yeah, yeah. And there's a reason why people, while we kind of all agree to that size of a sheet of paper, I know Americans have a different norm, but it's pretty much. It has the same surface. Pretty much, yeah.
Chris Barker:
And I guess for the daw, you're going to be selecting Bitwig.
Stimming:
Bitwig, of course, yes.
Chris Barker:
Tell us about that transition though, because you were hardcore Cubase guy when I met you and you'd been using that for a while. What transitioned you to bitwig?
Stimming:
Yeah, it was definitely the touch input, but also like the modulation system is so powerful and so promising that I think those two really sold me the modulation system. Just for anyone out there who doesn't know what I mean. Bitwig brings a pretty extensive set of modulators. Imagine all the modules that you would have in an analog modular system, including a step sequencer, an envelope follower, and you can apply those modulators to any parameter of the daw, like literally any, maybe a third party plugin, maybe the master out, maybe any parameter from your mixer. So it has all the possibilities to go totally mental with whatever you do and you have no clue what's going on. And you're creating like an organic machine that you give just one ping as an input and it folds out totally, which no one does, of course, because it's too complicated. It gets too complicated easily. But the sheer possibility is great to have.
Stimming:
Like, seriously.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. You would never be trapped in an idea because if you feel like something's too normal or too average, you've got these possibilities to just modulate it endlessly and see what happens.
Stimming:
Yeah, but then if it's like too complicated, too architectural whatsoever, then it's not music again, so it's not purely positive. But I'm using it for very simple things, to be honest, like sidechain compression, but with a different signal. It's pretty much my main go to because it's so easy find the mix process that it's like this alone is gold.
Chris Barker:
So let's lock in Bitwig.
Stimming:
Yes, please.
Chris Barker:
And let's talk about the third free item, which is the audio interface.
Stimming:
So I'm using emerging HAPI right now and yeah, I'm afraid I would want to have that as well. It's an audio over IP interface. It's from Switzerland and it's like unfortunately pretty expensive, but I'm the strong believer in audio over IP in general because it's so flexible. It works really nice. I think I'm losing a little bit of Latency, which is contradict from what I said earlier. But not being bound to USB or other whatsoever and just using a proprietary LAN cable is really a big step forward.
Chris Barker:
We need to hear more about this. So what's the brand merging? So just to clarify, you don't connect it via USB to your computer. It's connected via Ethernet.
Stimming:
You connect it via Ethernet? Yes. Wow. Just like the Focusrite Rednet series.
Chris Barker:
The Rednet stuff.
Stimming:
Yeah. Actually, I have to say the DANTE driver is really, really good. The Dante driver is rock solid. It never makes any problem. They're using another protocol called Ravenna. The new ones are compatible to Dante and it would totally switch to the new ones.
Chris Barker:
But we can do that in the dream studio though.
Stimming:
Yeah. I would use the MK2 then merging Harpy Mark 2 and it has extension cards. So it has two slots which you can put extension cards in there and they usually have eight ins or eight ins and outs.
Chris Barker:
But the, the extension cards would be part of a bundle which wouldn't be allowed, right?
Stimming:
No, no, no. Like the, the mainframe is so basic that the. So it's not complete. No, no. It's like you need an extension card for the analog ins and outs. Otherwise it would just have a headphone out and some digital connections.
Chris Barker:
So you need to look. So is this two purchases or one? Well, it feels.
Will Betts:
I think you can buy it in different configurations.
Chris Barker:
Right, okay.
Stimming:
You can readily buy it in. Yeah, you can readily buy it in.
Will Betts:
Different configurations and I think we might be able to. Martin, there is a Mark 3 available as well.
Stimming:
Holy shit.
Chris Barker:
It's one better.
Will Betts:
The MK2 has now been discontinued. So.
Stimming:
Yeah, like Neumann. Neumann bought merging. That's why they implemented. They have this new. The desktop interface. I think it's in the 2000 area somewhere.
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Stimming:
And they have the audio over IP connection built in already. And like the sound of it is like really, really good. It's crystal clear. It like it doesn't alter the sound at all. It's like the most neutral and natural sounding converter that I ever heard. In a good way.
Will Betts:
That's the Neumann MT48, isn't it?
Stimming:
I think so, yeah.
Will Betts:
For people at home who maybe hadn't heard of merging, you might have heard of Pyramix, which was an editing system, but so the Neumann. I didn't realize that Neumann had bought merging. That's an interesting development.
Stimming:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, isn't Neumann bought by someone else anyway?
Chris Barker:
Sennheiser.
Stimming:
Isn't it? Isn't Sennheiser. Yeah, yeah.
Chris Barker:
And then Sennheiser are owned by everything and then everything's owned by the space aliens.
Stimming:
Eventually one of the three. One of the three space aliens.
Chris Barker:
Then yeah, they own everything.
Stimming:
Drinking with each other and like talk more. We should okay, you take this company and then.
Chris Barker:
Okay, well we've got those three items locked in
Chris Barker:
The music tech. My Forever Studio podcast is supported by Audient, makers of the iD range of audio interfaces.
Will Betts:
Yes. Building on Audient's decades of design heritage, the iD range spans from the portable ID4 to the feature packed ID14, 24 and 44 interfaces. Plus an awesome brand new flagship.
Chris Barker:
Lets get into it. The new interface is called the iD48 and it completes the range with a whopping 24 ins and 32 outs. It also features switchable balanced inserts allowing users to record with outboard kit and easily process stems via hardware when mixing.
Will Betts:
Yes. Aimed at both producers and engineers, the iD48 packs in eight Audient console mic preamps, advanced 32 bit ESS converter technology and that all new switchable analog insert technology too. Add to that professional must have features like ADA expandability, JFET DI inputs and customisable monitor control and it makes for a really serious audio interface for your studio.
Chris Barker:
Yes, the ID48 is ready to transform your studio for US$999, 899 Euro, and 749 pounds.
Will Betts:
Visit audient.com for more information and to explore the full breadth and features of the iD interface range.
Chris Barker:
Well, let's get on to your first proper selected item.
Stimming:
Yeah. Okay. So I would definitely choose the Bricasti M7 reverb simply because I, I love good sounding reverbs and I think it's a very, very important part of music or my music. And this would be the number one hardware that I would bring just to be sure that my reverb always has the best quality possible.
Chris Barker:
Is it still the. The M7? Still the top one Will?
Will Betts:
Yes, seems to be.
Chris Barker:
Got that lovely remote control with it as well, hasn't it?
Will Betts:
Yeah, the M10.
Stimming:
How much is it right now?
Will Betts:
Oh, how much is it?
Chris Barker:
It's over 10. Is it?
Stimming:
Is it over 10? Oh no, no, no, no, no, no.
Will Betts:
No, no, no, no, no it's not. It's thankfully not. No, I mean just the processor is about four and a half and then the, the remote is another two. So you're looking at six and a half, six, seven.
Stimming:
Interesting. Yeah, the price pretty much stayed the same for like 15 years now.
Will Betts:
Yeah, it's crazy. So are you using this on A lot of your material. Do you have one right now?
Stimming:
I have one right now. It's in every track of mine. Yeah.
Will Betts:
Oh, wow.
Stimming:
The thing is, it's not an impressive type of reverb. It's that type of reverb that you miss incredibly if you switch it off, you know, it's just a very natural sounding. It's not an artificial wash, everything with a beautiful texture kind of reverb. There's. There's plenty of good plugins for that. But to get like the best possible room simulation or just like an impression of roominess, but a very natural, organic sounding one that's. I think it's still the best one on the market. I haven't, I haven't tried the other ones, to be honest.
Stimming:
It's just that one. I bought it pretty early on and I love it so much still.
Will Betts:
Are there plugins that you found that can do similar things?
Stimming:
No.
Will Betts:
Really? Okay.
Stimming:
No, there's a strict. No. So there's the one, this Quantum Room simulator, I think. And then there's another one from the same company. So the, the yardstick. Yeah, the yardstick is one of those 80s reverb algorithms that created a roominess that has never been heard before. I think Apple bought it and it's just a part of logic right now. Correct.
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Stimming:
But there's an independent company, I think Quantum is their name.
Will Betts:
Oh, Quantec. Yeah.
Stimming:
Yes, thank you. And they, they have this room simulator and they also have another reverb that is also very good. Yeah. But it's no plugin. Beats the roominess of the actual M7, unfortunately. I would love to use a plugin, but it's not possible.
Chris Barker:
I mean, why is it just processing power then? Because if it's, if it's algorithmic, that, that Bricasti rack is just a lot of chips.
Stimming:
I'm even just connecting it digitally. So it's not the converters, it's very. Yeah, purely the algorithms on those shark DSPs from the beginning of 2000s.
Chris Barker:
So if they wanted to, they could create a plugin of it.
Stimming:
I have no clue. Seriously. I don't know.
Chris Barker:
It must be technically possible. If it runs on, yeah. Chips, then.
Stimming:
Yeah, yeah. My mind says yes. And yet I'm not finding a plugin that comes close.
Chris Barker:
I guess it'd be hard to charge six and a half grand for.
Stimming:
For a plugin.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Stimming:
But I'm not. I also guess they're not selling them like cake.
Chris Barker:
No, no, they have become. They're kind of like the very modern equivalent of like where you would see those Lexicon 480s that used to be in every studio in the 80s with.
Stimming:
The white controller, with the, with the faders.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, yeah. Is it the 480? My model numbers might be off today.
Will Betts:
There's the 224 and then I think that's the 480 is the other one.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
Stimming:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
With the white controller that you used to see, you know, you see in music videos from the 80s when people are in studios and stuff and it seems like the Bricasti is basically the modern version of that. Every major studio has one.
Will Betts:
Well, wasn't it people from Lexicon who went to go and start Bricasti? Ah, I have a vague recollection of that. Yeah, I think that's right.
Chris Barker:
Research that. That's good knowledge. If so we've got Ableton Defectors making Bitwig, we've got Steinberg Defectors making Studio one and we've got Lexicon Defectors making. And this happens all over the industry though. It's great. It's how it pushes on because isn't happens in the guitar industry a lot. There's a lot of amp guys, aren't they that are former Marshall guys or.
Will Betts:
Yep.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. And obviously we're not getting into the. The horrible business of it, but it's kind of cool that people push stuff on like this.
Stimming:
I have a piece of gear where we can talk about that in detail.
Chris Barker:
Okay, let's do it.
Stimming:
Let's talk on the Bricasti M7.
Will Betts:
Yeah, done.
Chris Barker:
Okay, well let's move on to item number two.
Stimming:
So I need to listen to something. Right. And I would choose the Shure KSE 1500 for that. It's a bit of a weird choice.
Chris Barker:
It is. I mean to be honest, they're all quite weird choices so far which we're very much enjoying.
Stimming:
Yeah. So the definition, it's an in ear monitor, but it's an electrostatic one. That means they kind of shrank the, you know, electrostatic headphones from Stax. Those are the most famous ones. Sure. Shrank the membrane down into the size for an in ear and it's still a one way speaker which leaves the face coherency intact, which is very important for in ears. And also that's why I like listening through headphones because it's just one membrane and like the signal is the signal and it's not divided into two different drivers and there's like in ears that have six drivers whatsoever. And then I doubt I heard One from Audio Technica and it was really, really bad.
Stimming:
You know, like a bass drum was split into three pieces and you could hear it, you know, really bad. So the Shure KSE 1500 is. I think it's discontinued now.
Will Betts:
It is, yeah.
Stimming:
And it's quite an expensive piece of equipment. Unfortunately it's not fitting 100% and the cable is pretty noisy because it needs to be a very thick cable. I think they transmit 400 volts of current through those cables because of the electrostatic thing and it comes with a little amp, but the membrane is lighter than air and it's simply the, the most crystalline, clean, clear signal that I, that I hear from any source except like real, real sources. And yeah, it's a bit of a, it's a brave choice because it's also goes on. It would go on my nerves, I'm pretty sure, but it's. I'm totally trusted. 100 like.
Chris Barker:
Well, yeah, I think what it has done is enabled us to use the, the jingle that will create for the show because we, we predicted you might have some unusual choices, but this. I think now it's time to press the jingle.
SFX:
Unexpected item.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, unexpected item. I mean headphones are not unexpected, but that is, that is unique. And I never, I've never actually heard of that model.
Will Betts:
There are two though, there's the KSE 1500 and the KSE 1200.
Stimming:
Yeah, the 1500 has a USB interface built in and the 1200 is purely there and I would use the amp purely without the usb, just as a headphone. As a headphone amp, basically.
Chris Barker:
So we go for 1200 and are they discontinued?
Stimming:
Yeah, I think they're discontinued, yeah.
Chris Barker:
Wow. Which means they'll be really expensive. Second hand, I guess.
Stimming:
Yeah, I didn't check it. I think I paid a bit more or something around 2000 back then when I bought them. And I'm not listening to them on a daily basis but every so often I bring them to the studio and like in an active thought, like I want to do a work session on them and it's. I can I do it for three, four hours? And it's the most intense. Yeah, it's, it's just very, very lovable. Unfortunately not for the whole period. So after like three, four hours my ears are like, okay, this is a bit too much now. Let's tame it down, you know.
Stimming:
Yeah, but okay, they're great. They're really great.
Will Betts:
Interesting choice though.
Chris Barker:
Well, let's lock them in.
Will Betts:
So we're going the 1500s or the 1200s?
Stimming:
1500S to be a bit flexible.
Chris Barker:
Sold.
Will Betts:
Item number three.
Stimming:
Then I need a mic. So the thing is I would need a pair of Neumann KM 80185. I thought so. I thought so. Okay, so we need to find a stereo condenser mic in the thousand area. Thousands area. And I'm not in the microphone market anymore, so I don't really know what to buy.
Will Betts:
Why does it have to be in the thousand area when it's your forever studio?
Stimming:
Yeah. Because from experience, the better the mic becomes, the more complicated the actual recording becomes as well. Because it's catching up so much stuff that our brain sorts out immediately without thinking about it. And when you use a very, very expensive mic then you hear so much stuff that you couldn't even imagine. And this is. I don't need that. As simple as that. I practically don't need that.
Chris Barker:
It's just overcomplicating things that's just made me remember like when I first used really good microphones. Unless you monitor on headphones so you can just put a good microphone in the room and you think you sound great.
Stimming:
It doesn't. It sounds shit.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. And then. And then when you listen back to the recording, it's all the stuff. Yeah. Like you see your. Your brain naturally gets rid of all of the echoes in the room. All of the.
Stimming:
Yeah. Also like the room itself is so important all of a sudden it's like the most important thing. If you have a shitty room, you can never, never in your life get a proper recording out of it. Yeah.
Chris Barker:
And like you say, it's only worth having that really top end mics in either really dead spaces or really pleasant sounding spaces because you will capture all of it.
Stimming:
Yeah. Yeah. So the. Even if it's like the one. The incredibly expensive Sony or once.
Chris Barker:
I think it's the 800 talking about, isn't it? With the big heatsink.
Stimming:
Yeah, with the big heatsink. The famous Michael Jackson mic whatsoever. Yeah.
Will Betts:
Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Stimming:
You would be a bundle because you would need the room with it. Oh yeah. Because it's not. It's. It's worthless. Otherwise you couldn't even put it outside because like the. The tiniest hint of little bit of breathe of air would be a woo in that mic, you know.
Chris Barker:
Well, don't forget you can have a beautiful room in your alpine cabin that we can. We can build that in. So.
Will Betts:
And we can. We can turn off the wind as well. Enough in the fantasy foreverland.
Stimming:
Yeah. But a matter of fact and from experience our way of living is so loud that it's practically impossible to. To record something out in nature without hearing something man made from the horizon. And being in the Alps is great, but there's a plane every half an hour at least because like the north and the south of Europe are connected into Africa and so ever. So with a mic like that, even if you damp everything down whatsoever, you're gonna catch the plane that is crossing over you.
Chris Barker:
So what we thinking for this pair then? What are the options?
Stimming:
There's this company who does ribbon mics, but very, very high quality ribbon mics. And there it's usual to also have stereo ones. Is it AEA or something?
Will Betts:
AEA, they have a thing called the N28 which is a stereo ribbon.
Stimming:
So I, I would go for that one. It's like 1800 something.
Will Betts:
Yes, exactly. It's 1875 right now on sale. Yeah.
Stimming:
So that would be my choice then. A very natural musical sounding, not too over complicated to handle kind of mic.
Chris Barker:
Okay, lovely. Let's lock it in.
Will Betts:
And have you used many ribbon mics in your time and how do you feel about the sound?
Stimming:
Well, I've used enough to have an idea of what they can do and what not. So they're not too crisp and not too crystalline while still having a very real sounding tone to it. While also being more complex than a classic dynamic mic, of course. I mean that's not complicated, but they are better than a dynamic mic. But not as complicated as a condenser.
Chris Barker:
Okay.
Stimming:
That's how I would use them. And that's what would be the quality that I would love.
Will Betts:
And would that be something that you would use to capture field recordings as well? Is that why you need stereo specifically?
Stimming:
I generally want to have the option to use stereo as an option.
Will Betts:
Yeah, like for capturing the, the fly sound for instance, flying around your head.
Stimming:
Also, if I want to use the room, the wooden room by its own, as like it's part of the recording and you can only capture it practically with the stereo mic. As simple as that.
Chris Barker:
Okay, understood.
Will Betts:
Yeah, interesting.
Stimming:
So you could, for example, you could like place the mic on, on the one side of the room and you can walk through the room while playing the shaker or whatsoever. And the, the roominess is on the recording, on the stereo mic. On the mono it's a bit dampened if it's far away and you know, so.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Oh, so you're sort of thinking about the dimension. Yeah, the, the stereo image from the recording point rather than necessarily thinking about it later. You're kind of Trying to capture that very early on in the process.
Stimming:
You need to. Otherwise it's gone. It's. It's unused.
Will Betts:
Yeah, that makes perfect sense.
Stimming:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Item number four.
Stimming:
Item number four. Okay, now here we get to the core. I would use a Behringer Edge. What?
Chris Barker:
A Behringer Edge.
SFX:
Yes. Unexpected item.
Chris Barker:
I don't know what a Behringer Edge is.
Stimming:
Okay, so it's a clay.
Chris Barker:
I expect it's inspired by somebody else's Edge, of course.
Stimming:
No, it's inspired by a Moog DFAM. It's not inspired, it's cloned. Sorry for swearing. Yeah, it's like brutally cold heartedly cloned. Yeah. And it's only. It's like €200.
Chris Barker:
So why the edge instead of the original DFAM? I mean, budgets aren't an issue in the forever studio. And why get a drum synth in general?
Stimming:
So from my experience, analog circuitry still sounds a lot better than digital. Like it simply. It's a fact, unfortunately. Like there's no plugin that comes close to the punch and the attack while maintaining correctness of tone of an analog drum synth. And that's why I would need one of these. And there are not so many. Of course there are modules a lot, but in the, in a very like. It's a kind of a simple design, but because it has these two oscillators with FM and also the patch points, it can become impressively complex.
Stimming:
Also in the sequencer plays an important role for the sound creation or the drum creation on its own. And as much as I really like the original dfam, I'm having a problem with the MOOC sound in general because you can recognize it and it's pretty much immediate. It always has this Moog. Moog to be precise. Watermark on it. You know what I mean?
Will Betts:
A signature.
Stimming:
Yeah, yeah. So the, the Moog filter, the saturation, they always implement in pretty much any machine. I haven't extensively heard the newest one, the Traveler, what it's called, this is. This can be annoying at times. And for a strange reason. The Edge, the Behringer clone sounds as punchy as the original without this Moog watermark on it. So in a sense it's more useful. And I would use it for.
Stimming:
That would be my bass drum, that would be my snare drum. Hi hats. Strange organic percussion thing which is going on. I would send like a clock into the sequencer, but would like skip a 16th every two bars. So the pattern would be like always be different. And there's so many great Possibilities. I would use the filter alone, sequenced with an external signal.
Chris Barker:
Well, it is unexpected, but yeah, it sounds amazing to be fair. And it's interesting how for something that, you know, you would claim to be a straight clone. It has actually got its own little tone to it. Which, you know, is a good thing.
Stimming:
It's a good thing. Yeah. I'm like the whole question of Behringer, yes or no, for me. I answered it with if it's a good synth. It is a good synth. I don't.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Stimming:
That's what. That's what counts in the end. And I've heard plenty of. Of Behringer synths that are totally shit. Like they weak and whatsoever. They just pretend to be what they pretend. But the edge, they kind of nailed it. And also.
Stimming:
Also one another. Another aspect, because of its rawness in the analog tone, I would use it as a. As a raw material for the internal sampler for Bitwig. So it would deliver straight square, for example, properly tuned. But only that one tone would do something else. Maybe a polyphonic pad all of a sudden or something.
Chris Barker:
Okay, nice.
Will Betts:
And has that appeared on the new record on Friedrich?
Stimming:
Yeah, yeah. And quite a lot. But hidden. Like there's this one medium wooden, percussive stuff that. Or it's just. I just recorded one shots out of it and rearranged it in the black box, for example. So it's a very cheap, very useful machine that I'm sure has a lot more depth and usefulness to it than you would think in the very beginning.
Chris Barker:
It's the. The first budget item that you've chosen as well. Really budget friendly?
Stimming:
Yeah. There's another one.
Chris Barker:
Obviously you don't have to be budget friendly because it's the Forever Studio, but it's.
Stimming:
Yeah, I'm totally serious. Yeah, I'm totally serious. I have a Swayman S1 in the studio and I don't know if you know that. Yeah, do you know that one Swimming as well? Yeah.
Will Betts:
What is this?
Chris Barker:
The Cwejman S1? Is it Cweejman?
Stimming:
Swimming "Swayman" C W E J Man.
Will Betts:
Oh, I've never known how to pronounce that. I know the name. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Chris Barker:
I think I've seen it in Schneider's land at some point.
Stimming:
I have it and it's too complicated. It's like one of those items that it's great to have and I somehow love it. And I always use like one module out of it. But the whole concept exceeds my brain processing power, if you will.
Will Betts:
Yeah, it sounds like you've been around a lot of bits of gear. Do you have any real pet peeves when it comes to gear?
Stimming:
Well, there's plenty of course but I have to say like usually those machines don't stay with me and I just forget it, you know, I don't. And I have the kind of. I would have needed to prepare for that question in a sense I'm pretty sure I would have. Like funny, I mean funny examples but honestly like the PC on its own is like the most love hated piece of gear that we all have. I mean all this update policy kind of thing, all their izoto portal go, you know, native instruments. I just need that one plugin. Oh no, you have to install another and you need your in credentials beforehand and you need to register and it takes so much time. Windows doing some bullshit somewhere in this update and like it's not breaking anymore.
Stimming:
At least like it's pretty stable, I have to say. Or another good example is like if I was to have like a big rack of synths, five or six at once, I have them in my bag but they're all in luggage and they're all safely stored and I just bring out one because the time it would need to those synths to be immediately playable, always and the MIDI connection, the audio connection, the routing would eat up so much time simply by its logistics that I decided no, no, I'm not going that path anymore.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, I did a similar thing. I don't have much gear anymore, but when I had lots of gear I had the patch bay and it all rooted and I had channels set up in Cubase, like virtual instruments that would control the hardware and all of that. And then something goes wrong or something changes.
Stimming:
Yeah, something changed and you're, you're fucked.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, and then it's days and days of work and actually I got inspired by, you know, my time interviewing other producers and you see how other people work and some people have it all set up like that but there's a lot of people that have the kit but they kind of get it out like a, like a toy from the toy box for the day and go right, let's use this.
Stimming:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
And actually that appealed to me more like the idea of just like setting something up and working around one bit of equipment for an afternoon making sounds rather than thinking, oh, I need to be able to send channel three through the, you know, the, the Roland rack and then back in and be able to control it via the keyboard controller or an iPad. And I think that stuff's cool if You've got a full time engineer.
Stimming:
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Who's taking care. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like your personal roadie for your own home, for your studio.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. Like if you're a big producer guy or you're Peter Gabriel or something and you've got an engineer, it's cool to be able to come in and just go, right, make this work on here. And it does. And it's quick and then he's sick.
Stimming:
But you need to record something and you're totally lost. You have no clue where one signal goes to another one. Yeah. So the toy approach, that's exactly what I do. And I love to imagine like two combinations because usually, like combinations sound very pleasant, especially if it's like different techniques. And then I. Like during a track, my desk gets more and more crowded and then when I kind of finished it, everything gets. Gets back into the.
Stimming:
Back in the box. Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Okay, so what we on item number five?
Stimming:
Yeah. That's also on a budget item, I would say. And I would use the Twisted Circuits, the Mega FM
Chris Barker:
Every time. You're gonna have to explain what this is.
Chris Barker:
I'm glad we made this jingle. I knew this was gonna happen. Twisted Circuits, Yeah.
Stimming:
Is it Circuits? I think so. Twisted. I think it's Twisted Circuits. Mega FM.
Will Betts:
Oh, Twisted Electrons. Mega FM.
Stimming:
Twisted Electrons, Yes.
Chris Barker:
Twisted Electrons. Mega FM.
Will Betts:
Never heard of this. What is it?
Stimming:
So it's. It's an.
Chris Barker:
It's another Schneider's laden delight.
Stimming:
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's so. It's a very, very dirty sounding FM synth. Okay. Which uses. I'm.
Chris Barker:
Is it Mega Drive? I'm just saying that because the Mega logo looks like the Sega logo, doesn't it?
Stimming:
Or maybe it is. So it's a. It's a synth on a chip. I think it's two times six voices, if I'm. If I'm correct. And all the FM functionalities that you need for since, like that on that one little chip that I think Yamaha sold back then, and they kind of got hold of plenty of them to be able to like build a synth with a proper fader based UI on top of it.
Chris Barker:
And yeah, the UI is very like simple and nice. It's kind of like sh.
Stimming:
It's very inviting. It's very like you can spend a lot of time with it. Your finger will hurt a bit because the edges are so sharp. But it's a very happy accident machine kind of thing.
Chris Barker:
There we go. Okay. I've done my research for a change. Will. The updated version is identical in appearance. But will include a pair of YM3438 chips. Instead of the YM2612 chip, it's a Yamaha chip, right?
Will Betts:
Yeah, that's right.
Chris Barker:
Yes. The YM2612 is identical in functionality and was used in the Sega Mega Drive 2.
Stimming:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Okay, so, yeah, so you can make your Altered Beast and whatever Mega Drive game soundtracks.
Stimming:
No, no, it's. No, actually not. It's impressive how much punch and. Yeah, it's actually punch and rawness comes out of it. It really is something that you will not get in a plugin sort of way. It's something that is a hybrid real, I would say.
Will Betts:
And what do you use it for?
Stimming:
So it's incredible for techno chords and like you. You would traditionally use it as a dub chord, but for me, I would use them more dry and musical. That would change their harmonics. And for bass lines.
Will Betts:
Okay.
Stimming:
Also, pads are pretty cool and it. It has a lot of noise, like in the end of a tone like comes up and then it's like crystal, all that stuff. Which is beautiful to sample.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. Amazing.
Stimming:
As a hi hat, as a shaker, as a crisp, crispy, crystalline noise in the background. Pitch down, all that stuff. It's also. It's more. I would see it as a sound delivery, just like the edge. It's. You need to really push its boundaries, but you get something very useful out of it without it being too complicated. That's the thing.
Stimming:
It's still some kind of a simple machine.
Will Betts:
Yeah, that's such an interesting choice. Okay, so it's an eight bit sound chip. Okay.
Stimming:
Awesome.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. 12 voice polyphony, though. It's stacked FM chips, six voices each.
Stimming:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
So that brings us to item number six, your final studio item. And I think maybe we can guess.
Stimming:
What this one is. So I guess. Yeah. I would use a Doctron IMC as the final item here.
Will Betts:
Okay.
Stimming:
Simply because the saturation quality it delivers is a quality that I would love to have in my final studio for the rest of my life.
Chris Barker:
So tell us about this. It's a device you worked on in collaboration with Doctron.
Stimming:
With Doctron.
Chris Barker:
But what's the concept?
Stimming:
Yeah, so it's a bit of a. Sort of a strange fact that the sound quality of the Octatrack made me crave for some mastering device that repairs the bad impact of the Octatrack, what it does to the actual audio. Because, like, I don't want it. The Octatrack is an incredible piece of equipment. Unfortunately, the converter they built in is of a very, very low quality. And we're not talking charming low quality like the Mega fm, but like just simply cheap converters. It is what it is. I'm so sorry for that.
Stimming:
Yeah. And the fact that I wanted to get rid of the computer on stage, to be more free, to be more on the instrument and improvising side of things, to simply have more fun and more engagement on stage. That's why I decided to get rid of the computer. It brought up the problem that without a computer I would need some type of loudness making device. If you're just playing an Ableton Live set, of course you put a limiter in the back with the short latency and it's not a real problem. You're loud enough, no problem, no questions asked. But as a purely analog or purely hardware based live act, it's. You really need something that fattens your sound to be able to compete with the DJ and stuff.
Stimming:
So I brought the TC finalizer with me for more than half a year and guess what? It's not that good. It sounds strangely. Sounds like a 90s device practically. It worked half of the time, let's say like that. Yeah. And I think I was in Brooklyn and together with the friend Johannes Brecht who's like the ghost producer of Solomon right now. But we were like brainstorming of what could we do to kind of tackle this problem. And that made me like write down a list of what it should need to do and how big it should be.
Stimming:
And because we are like, as a, as a frequent traveler you need to, to be as everything needs to be as small and light as possible to not being forced to give up your. Your luggage every time because it's wasted lifetime and wrecked nerves for, for a very long flight. Oh, does it come with me? Does it? Oh no. Hopefully it comes out. Hopefully. No, it's not, it's not coming, it's not coming out. What the. And you know, so that's, that's what made the IMC what it is right now.
Stimming:
We went through a couple of iterations and right now the MC5 is basically Lundial transformers that are saturated to the very last possible bit basically. And to reach that loudness, there's a compressor and EQ before and the EQ is more like a practical thing that you need on stage for. By doing the sound check to just balance the, the set to the pa. Very simple, very useful. And the compressor is for kind of conditioning the signal before it's get. It's getting punched into the Lundy transformers. And that's how it works.
Will Betts:
So is it sort of limiting it as well to an extent through saturation?
Stimming:
Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because the. The transformers, they let a certain current through and everything else is kind of cut off and it's practically a limiter on a physical basis, like on an analog basis.
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Stimming:
The tricky part was to find the right current that it can kind of still eat without puking, like, literally, because it sounds totally ugly if you exceed the limit. It can handle. But we managed to stay pretty close to that. And that's why we need the compressor, basically.
Chris Barker:
So the compressor just kind of tweaks the signal before that saturated kind of clips stuff off so you don't. You don't compress so hard that you lose punch and transients. It's just to kind of in a.
Stimming:
Not very explainable way, it's still keeps the general picture very intact, but only kind of loudens it and lifts it. If I was hearing it on my speakers, it feels like it's coming closer to me for like 2 meters or something.
Chris Barker:
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Will Betts:
And so you said there was an IMC5. Is that the 500 series version of the.
Stimming:
The 500? No, no. It's like the fifth iteration of our circuitry.
Will Betts:
Ah, okay.
Stimming:
And there's a 500 rack version for studio use and it's a bit cheaper. And the original is the portable one.
Will Betts:
Right. And so this is also a useful tool in the studio. It's not just a live.
Stimming:
Absolutely. It runs. Any of my drum busses run through this imc on the Friedrich album, I even mastered it through the IMC and then of course the Pro L2 from Fabfilter at the very end. But it very lightly dialed in. It's. It gives a bit more grit even to a program signal.
Will Betts:
That's very cool.
Stimming:
Amazing. Right?
Chris Barker:
Well, that's your six items. Will is going to give you a little rundown. So sit back and listen to the studio that we've just built.
Will Betts:
We're in a wooden cabin in the northern Italian Alps, the same one you used to make your album Alpa Lucia. You're at 1800 meters elevation. Probably no Internet for your three free items you have chosen for a computer. The Asus ROG Flow Z3 touchscreen 2 in one laptop. Your interface is a merging happy mark 3 with analog IO. Your DAW is Bitwig Studio. I notice here you haven't got a pen, but we can worry about that later. So onto your first item.
Will Betts:
And you have chosen a Bricasti M6.7 digital reverb. Item number two is your 400 volt electrostatic in ears, the Shure KSE 1500. For a microphone, you've chosen the AEA N28 stereo ribbon mic. For analog percussion, you have the Behringer edge at only 120something pounds. For a synthesizer, you have chosen the Twisted Electrons Mega fm. And your final item for playing out live and for saturation and the end of your chain is the Doctron imc, which you helped to develop. How do you think that would serve you in a studio context for making music?
Stimming:
So first of all, for me this sounds very attractive. I mean, of course I've chosen it, but I think I would have a fulfilled life. Well, I now know that there's different things that music that also count, but I didn't know 10 years ago. And back to your question, it would be like in the practical music making context, it's a tool that shapes pretty much any signal except the very clean ones. You know, if I want to have a very breathing and fresh sounding pad, I wouldn't use the imc, but for anything else, for any percussions to just make it a bit louder while still very pleasant sounding and in a way that plugins. That's the reason why I'm on 96k, because saturation distortion sounds a lot better on that, on the sampling rate. But to already get a very useful bass drum, for example, before even recording it, I would use the imc.
Chris Barker:
It's a pretty, It's a pretty sexy studio that you've built, let's be fair. And the location is a win as well.
Stimming:
Thank you.
Chris Barker:
I think. Thank you. I love that.
Stimming:
Thanks for resonating with my feelings about it.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, well, I think it's cool and it's all, it's. It's exciting to me because most of it I haven't heard of and that's obviously exciting with bits of equipment that you've never used before and never heard of.
Stimming:
Same.
Chris Barker:
So, yeah, I'd be a bit nervous about the headphones, I think, having a penchant for very loud signals. I think I might be deaf in the Alps using your studio. But yeah, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Let's have a talk about your luxury item then. Now the studio is locked in. What are we thinking?
Stimming:
Yeah, it's a bit of a. It's the luxury item comes from the experience that I had like literally had on that cabin back then. Because up there I was very like just carrying the gear and was very efficient about anything else. Like, I just brought the. The lowest amount of, like, anything. Luxury, luxurious. I didn't actually bring anything except, like, my toothbrush and clothes, of course. And after two weeks, I figured I need some perfume.
Chris Barker:
Perfume?
Stimming:
Perfume, yes.
Will Betts:
Okay.
Stimming:
Yeah. Because I realized I am a city guy and I am modern society, kind of. I need.
Chris Barker:
I need a signature fragrance.
Stimming:
No, no, no, no, no. Not a signature one, but I need the composition on a different sense of my sensory. You know what I mean?
Chris Barker:
Okay. Oh, you mean sort of the room. Not for you.
Stimming:
No, no. For me. To breathe something else than the fresh air.
Chris Barker:
Country.
Stimming:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. To still get the glimpse of. Okay. Like, modern society uses those compositions as a sensory input, basically. Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Right. So we're not talking about a fragrance. We're talking about the smell of city living.
Stimming:
No, no, no. The smell of city living is shit.
Chris Barker:
That's what I thought you wanted.
Stimming:
I thought you were missing it.
Chris Barker:
Okay, well, so what scent are we talking about?
Stimming:
Yeah, that's. That's. That's a pretty good question. I probably just would go with the Molecule One from.
Chris Barker:
I love the fact that even the perfumes we haven't heard of. Press the thing again, Will.
Will Betts:
Okay.
SFX
Unexpected item.
Will Betts:
It's amazing. Is it made by eccentric?
Stimming:
Yeah, Escentric molecules. The Molecule 01. Yes. That's pretty awesome. It's a pretty awesome perfume.
Chris Barker:
It sounds like a perfume of techno, doesn't it?
Stimming:
Yeah, it does.
Chris Barker:
It's like if techno were to make a perfume, it definitely would be called centric molecule 1.
Stimming:
No, the thing is, it's more like. It's like the imc. He was talking about the parallels in cooking. Right. The IMC is more. Is maybe something like glutamate, you know, so it's like heightening the taste without destroying it.
Chris Barker:
Oh, are you thinking MSG?
Stimming:
Msg, yes, yes. Yeah, that's what IMC does, right?
Chris Barker:
Studio MSG. That's cool.
Stimming:
Studio msg, yes. And the molecule one is the same, but for perfume. Okay. Yeah. So any perfume has this as a component, but the creator found, like, a source for that component in a much better quality than usual. So it's basically using your natural smell and kind of transforms it into a perfume way.
Chris Barker:
I need to get this.
Will Betts:
Okay, so just to be clear, on the website, it says this fragrance is considered a dangerous aphrodisiac under whose narcotic influence people become intoxicated and infatuated.
Stimming:
Marketing is a bitch. Always. Like, they talk so much stupid stuff just to. Just to say you haven't found it.
Will Betts:
To be a dangerous ant aphrodisiac, then, Stimming.
Stimming:
Well, I'm, I, I, I have a different. I have a different. No, let's.
Chris Barker:
He's not saying no. He's not saying no. Okay. Not a perfect end to the podcast.
Stimming:
Sure.
Chris Barker:
Okay. Stimming is winning.
Will Betts:
What were you gonna say?
Stimming:
No, I've, let's just let. Keep it.
Will Betts:
Sure.
Chris Barker:
Okay.
Stimming:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
But it's, this is an unusual choice, I would say. I don't think anybody's ever chosen a perfume before. The theory being that you want to stimulate the other senses in order to create a different mood for your music or to stimulate your mind in a different way for music creation.
Stimming:
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Will Betts:
Yeah, that's a very cool idea because.
Stimming:
Like, we forget the smell sense and it's, for me, it's somewhat important and it reminds me of stuff. No, no, no, no, no.
Chris Barker:
60 of the time. It works every time.
Stimming:
No, no. So, like, if you, if you buy it and you will recognize, it's just very pleasant.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. I actually am going to check it out. I see.
Stimming:
Yeah. It's like, it's really, it's invented in.
Chris Barker:
1973, the ISO E super molecule. So it is Sex Panther. Okay. I love this. I love this. Okay, well, we're gonna have to wrap things up before we go down a very dangerous, dangerously scented road. Okay, well, all that's left to say is thank you so much, Stimming, for joining us on the podcast and building your Forever Studio. We hope that you enjoy it and we will come and see you in the Alps very soon.
Chris Barker:
Thank you, Stimming.
Stimming:
It was a pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Will Betts:
Thank you, Stimming.
Chris Barker:
Well, that’s all for our seventh season, but never fear. We will return. So all that’s left to say is thank you so much for listening to the MusicTech My Forever Studio podcast, and we’ll catch you next time, not too long from now, for more adventures into studio forevor-dom. Bubye!
Will Betts:
Bu-bye!