Weapons of Choice - part 1 - DAW
For the friends of electronic music without the knowledge about production: DAW means digital audio workstation and most of the times the main tool for music producer. You may skip the rest of the post now - its just for the nerds out there interested in “the tools” 
For now i work with LOGIC PRO 8 on a Apple Mac Pro “Quad” with 3GB RAM and more than 2TB harddrivespace plus a 23″ Apple TFT. I have two UAD cards with nearly all Plug Ins Universal Audio sells. For controlling the levels and writing automations i use an EMAGIC LOGIC CONTROL plus XT extension - giving me 16+1 real faders and knobs with high resolution. For Monitoring i use PMC DB1SA speakers (the smallest they have) and a GENELEC subwoofer. If you just got to much money and are interested in great sound - get some big PMC speakers - you wont regret it… i might even come listenig to some music at your house for fun :DÂ
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The Headphones are Sennheiser HD 650 and the Keyboard is a new Korg K61 - hope it works longer than that Edirol PCR i had before. Behind the white screens of aluminium and fabric are the absorber for the acoustics… at least a minimal approach… its not a full blown studio anyway… the studio ill use is ten minutes away from my “headquarter” and will also be described in detail in a future post.
The Monitor Controller is a PreSonus Monitor Station that substituted my Mackie Big Knob some days ago because the Big Knob was… well… too big. Its cool because its smaller and lighter in color (silver) but be warned - it makes an awful loud noise if hooked to active speakers and switched off. Maybe the Big Knob will stay…Â
09. May 2008 at 20:43
I don’t know, where your money comes from….
“nearly all Universal Audio PlugIns” - that must have cost a lot. I don’t know, if it’s worth, but I guess. They have digitalised some real quality hardware and I read some interesting things about them, though I haven’t used them to date. The sound system sounds nice either. Genelec isn’t the worst choice! 
09. May 2008 at 22:33
nestle payed them i guess, didn´t they :))
10. May 2008 at 11:30
I will later have a post about the plug ins (including the native ones i use) with details. just a short remark - the uad neve eqs are my first choice for characterful eq-ing. especially locut+bass adding for bass/drums, adding mids for guitars and putting a shine on anything that needs it with the high shelf…
10. May 2008 at 11:34
hmmm, nice tools. well, days of fast tracker are over, i guess
10. May 2008 at 16:54
Great, it seems to be an animated conversation. Your tips are “administrable”. Since “Reality” I’m dreaming to produce in quality like you. And now it make sense. THX for oll your audiophile-tips!!!
[one-score]
14. May 2008 at 16:23
most of the setup is equal to mine :p
okay i have to retire my mac in winter. the machine is too slow for some newer plugs and for my operation method. i`m too lazy to bounce all the time
16. May 2008 at 09:00
i mainly bounce because of using analog gear multiple times, not because of cpu cycles… i would be too lazy for that, too… or better, i´d rather like to keep the flow… only interrupting for knob-tweaking and getting that grin and rhythmic movement of body parts when i am able to improve an already good sound…
20. May 2008 at 21:14
Great Eqip:) but the picture looks a little bit sterile;)
no Atmosphere for me
A Few people i know got Genelec Monitors
i trust in my good Behringer B2031A Truth
03. December 2008 at 02:16
Rolf,
please tell me about your experience of other seq. software.
(primary for midi seq.) and my ProTools for mastering.
I have experience with Sonar, Cubase, Reason, Samplitude, ProTools… and I always get back to my favorite Cubase
The only thing I can never tested is Pro Logic it because i’m a pc user.
03. December 2008 at 11:46
As i started making music i used a commodore C128 but the first real “objectbased” sequencer was cubase on an atari st… i recorded redemption with cubase on an atari falcon (and manually had to shift all events at the end of each bar to achieve an acceptable timing… 8 tracks of digital audio was a lot of work for that computer)
I then switched to apple mac (a quadra 650 if i recall correctly) with logic “audio” and never switched back although i used digidesign HARDWARE many years (most of the “RMB” years)
In these days i used a lot of midi equipment and so i only used the DSP cards still with logic as a front end - and never gathered a lot of experience in the SOFTWARE ProTools…
Some years ago i played around with reason and fruity loops to see if i can sketch ideas with them, but with my experience on logic/mac i can nearly be as fast and the mix possibilites are much better in logic for me (bussing, sidechaining, automation, better plug ins…)
Finally with Logic 8 (and a fast Mac) i am really happy with my choice… Especially if i see user of other software (mostly on PCs) struggling
Concerning PC/Mac… i lived through A LOT of computer generations and most of the time used Macs, but in the days of the superslow G4s i had 1-3 PCs as well running in the studio and a PC laptop for my office stuff… i am now very happy to ONLY use macs for everything… but its still only a tool and not a religion… so, if you like to manually tweak your system every weak stay with a PC
03. December 2008 at 13:36
Interesting article. You’ve been through a lot of DAWs. Just out of curiosity, did you use any of the trackers? I mean FT, IT…etc. I started off with them and they are always good remembrances.
cheers,
boka
03. December 2008 at 18:51
Thanks Rolf,
MAC is still expensive to me (in my country), and for years, after ZX Spectrum and Comodore, i’m mostly PC user
boka, i’m totaly forget the trackers
Many years ago I use FT, but for now from time to time I use Renoise Tracker. It’s realy cool tracker. Month ago, my friend visit me, he is also Cubaseoid 
and i show him a Renoise, he just tell me: “you’re crazy man, what is that ? That for music creating !!!!” 
03. December 2008 at 19:02
Mmmmh…. When you mention redemption!. Redemption… it’s just a powerfull song i don’t know
This is great idea !
Every time I listen that song, and after 10-15 years, it’s just a power song, it’s realy simple (in the eyes of todays music producing), but it’s powerfull.
Your Redemption and Westbam’s Celebration Generation is my two favorites from 90’s, and glad to speak with you on this blog
20. July 2009 at 21:47
Sennheiser HD 650 ist ein offener Kopfhörer
ich hab immer geschlossene benutzt
gibt es einen Grund warum du den offenen benutzt??
20. July 2009 at 22:03
oder,- worauf achtest du beim Kopfhörer?
20. July 2009 at 22:31
das klangbild is viel präziser! nur man sollte schon in einem ruhigeren raum sein…
und geschlossene sind irgendwie gedrungener und vom tragekomfort nit so doll.
die hd 650 sind in ihrer preisklasse wirklich ne referenz! total frequenziell ausgeglichen. die akg in der gleichen preisklasse sind mir zb zu basslastig, also nix für musikmachen….
21. July 2009 at 09:12
danke fürs antworten
geschlosenne kopfhörer machen natürlich dann sinn, wenn schall abgeschirmt werden soll… wenn es nur um guten klang geht, sind offene kopfhörer deutlich besser…
ich empfehle aber auf jeden fall das ausgiebige probehören, denn marke/klang ist immer auch geschmackssache…
22. July 2009 at 20:25
Danke!
so wie ihr es umschwärmt - muss es ja was gutes sein!
04. August 2009 at 21:14
sooo!! - hab die 650, aber kein “Wow”
aber das soll ja auch eher ein natürlicher klang sein
ungewohnt wenig Bass aber guter raumklang
sonst gut!
hab auch AKG getestet - etwas mehr bass und schlääächter tragekomfort
“als ob man gertenschuhe über die ohren zieht”
nobel geht die welt zugrunde - ich behalte die 650, nur weil du die hast
- nein bevor ich lange suche und mir trotzdem teuren schrott kauf -kann ich doch gleich vom profi ab gucken
05. August 2009 at 08:37
und zum bass: du willst ja hören, ob du nur viel bass-pegel hast (was dir auch ein analyzer verrät) oder ob der bass in dem song auch funktioniert… höre einfach mal einige stunden (!) am stück referenzsongs (keine eigenen) und am besten auch WIRKLICH gute aufnahmen (sind leider selten im elektronischen bereich zu finden sondern eher im rock & pop)
ich bin ziemlich sicher, dass du einige details zum ersten mal hören wirst…
so, ich stelle dann jetzt mal meine provisionsrechnung an sennheiser
05. August 2009 at 21:46
ich bin schon zufrieden mit!!
ich meine wenig bass zu normalen kopfhörern wo der bass künstlich weicher gemacht wird.
und wegen provisionsrechnung an sennheiser
dann auch gleich an Native, da hab ich auch schon was erworben, soft und sogar hardware
ich hoffe ich habe mir jetzt eine vernünftige “basis” damit geschaffen
was musikproduktion angeht.
05. August 2009 at 22:16
jetzt noch logic, talex
05. August 2009 at 22:48
genau das neue logic studio 9 schon mal ordern
da haste eigentlich alles wat du brauchst
06. August 2009 at 09:01
its a never ending game
06. August 2009 at 20:52
Logic ???
- da fällt mir grad ein, angeregt durch diesen blog !!! -du bist schuld Rolf!
i am cubase user
aber bei den ganzen treiber und software problemen im PC bereich überlege ich echt als nächstes Apple anzuschaffen, dann ist auch logic ne überlegung wert. solange muss ein dell quad reichen.
auserdem ist das nur mein teueres hobby, was ich seit langem wieder betreibe