David August

My Studio – David August

My bedroom studio in Kreuzberg, Berlin. This is where I’ve been producing my music for two and a half years. Nothing really special, but a cosy place to stay. I’m actually really digging for more hardware stuff, but for that I definitely need more space as this room is already more a musical space than a bedroom should be. As soon as I get a real studio room, my equipment will probably increase. Here is part of my equipment.

Roland Juno-60 & DSI Prophet 08

The Juno is my latest buy and definitely worth it. The fact that you have every parameter there, so user-friendly, makes a very good workflow out of it, especially because you have no encoders or rotary pots. You adjust every parameter with faders – I love it. The chorus is pretty powerful but not less than the mighty arpeggiator. I have been really using this synth lately in my productions. One thing I have in addition to the usual Juno-60 is a MIDI upgrade, which I can highly recommend.

The Prophet is a classic which might be in a lot of producers’ studios. Beside the sound of the synth, which I would describe as clean, precise and less dirty than the Juno, it’s the endless options you have with the Prophet which blow me away. I’ve had it half a year now and it seems the new possibilities and new ways of creating a sound will never end.

Jomox MBase 11

This is surely as much of a classic as the two synths I have. It’s just perfect for finding the right bass drum. Very user-friendly as well and powerful as hell. I wasn’t using it for a while but I’m discovering it again at the moment. Nearly every bass drum on my latest productions (unreleased as yet) came out of the Jomox. There are a couple of parameters I usually always put on a certain value – you have to figure it out, but once you have your workflow with it, results come quickly.

PMC TB2A

I was searching for new monitors two years ago and tried a couple of pairs. The usual ones: Adam, K+H, Dynaudio… but then Martin (Stimming) told me about PMC and about how good they are. It’s an English brand. I tried them out and I must say, I haven’t heard anything comparable at the price. They have such a neutral frequency response, such a bright and clear ‘room realisation’ and an honest way of reproducing music. The only missing thing for electronic music might be the deep sub frequencies – I bought the Adam Sub8 as an extension.

RME Fireface UFX

When I bought myself a new sound card two years ago I thought about buying a small one or just something bigger. I knew I wouldn’t use all the functions immediately but I knew as well that I wouldn’t regret buying it. Beside the fact that I have been always in love with RME – you just plug it in and can start to work and it never (and I mean never) disappoints you. I am now using a lot of slots I couldn’t get with a smaller interface. There is just no other brand with such an amazing price to performance ratio. Highly recommended.

Ibanez SD-GR Bass

I used this bass on a lot of my album productions. I think its clear sound fits perfectly to what a studio bass guitar should be like – it doesn’t have a strong character, but it just gives you a solid base even without any effects on it. Its line signal works perfectly – that’s how I mainly used it. What makes it easier to play is the fact that it’s very thin. Not like a Fender jazz bass for example, where large hands and fingers might be recommended if you’re not a trained bass player. Beside that, it’s very cool that you have three very nice EQs and a mid-range boost to give the sound more presence if needed.