blockstudio

Archive
Studio

We’re alive and well but still busy running the house and rebuilding the studio. This spider is from Italy and remained there as far as I know. For infos about renting rooms and getting in contact with us please read the previous article down here.

Read More

blockview

That’s the look from our studio’s window before sunset. Inside it’s more like drums and guitars and microphones but moody vibes as well. All we need and all we got is some time to develop our style. The rest will be history?

Read More

The Cold View releases his first Split-EP so far called “Songs Of Deepest Skies” the partner act being the Abysmal Growls Of Despair from France. The single song by The Cold View nevertheless takes its space on this split with more than half an hour playing time. So it’s a massive piece of music in any way. Mixing was done at the blockstudio on analog gear right out from and back into the DAW.

Read More

MD421onUSA2004

Our new Ludwig Maple Set paired with K Custom Hybrid HiHats and a Gretsch Maple Snare aimed at by Sennheiser’s MD 441. We are testing clear Aquarian heads for this set as well as Pearl P-1002 double pedals. Sounding really good so far. Now we are looking to catch that sound on tape (HD) and then record the drum tracks for the musical material we are working on this year. All is laid out pretty much ready for action – a new studio PC, new instruments, new songs. All we need is time!

Read More

Maybe our earliest approach on serious music production whatsoever – my colaboration with beat mate Oliver Wicke and lovely voice Viola Manigk. The fundamental elements (samples, guitars and synths) came together already 10 years ago and were complemented time after time by additional recordings namely drums, strings and keys. And of course – the voice – being the point where it all started to make sense. Also Oliver created fine video clips for some of the songs (see track information). Because we never knew how to take up the thread again we decided to just put it on Bandcamp in the realm of the blockstudio. So here you have it, please enjoy!

Read More

Welcome Goodbye

We happily announce the premiere of “Welcome Goodbye” a film directed by Nana A. T. Rebhan. Mainly a documentary this film includes fictional passages to trigger certain facettes of Berlin’s touristic life. Our studio was responsible for OFF-text editing and the main mix. And it was our first full-length film project so far. So the opening night will take place at the 28th of May at the Moviemento in Berlin. We hope for massive attendings!

Read More

Last week we finished the mix of another album. This one is called “Into” (Noorden) by Frankfurt-based artist Jogging House and you could get it on tape and iTunes as of Thursday, March the 20th, this year. It’s electronic and rather mellow so maybe we’ll have a remix by Christian to make up for this (and get it on the dance floor). Mixing was done in analogue summing fashion trying out 88200 kHz via Apogee’s Rosetta 200 to get it back in the box. Looking forward to the public’s response (like this and like that).

Read More

ADA-OM_BIG

It’s been a while but here we go again. The last mixing job we did was Achterbahn D’Amour’s first full length album “Odd Movements” released on Absurd Recordings. The Achterbahn features Edit Piafra as well as Sweat Lodge artist Iron Curtis. Meaning analog machines got analog mixing and the rest is Acid (House). So please check it out. More mixing is about to take place during the next few weeks and naturally we’ll keep you informed on that matter.

Read More

Ghost Guitar

Although the picture above does not suggest this I will talk about my digital setup today. Because I recently purchased some of my favourites I also streamlined my plug-in folder quite a bit. And these remained in the mix: If equalisation is necessary I put up the DMG Audio EQuilibrium – one of the most versatile EQs to date. Don’t let the complex settings fool you, just choose a preset to start with and go on from there, you can easily strip down the feature-heavy UI into a straight forward display. While mastering I use a linear phase FIR mode with M/S ability. On solo tracks I choose a more light weight design, often cutting with precise “digital” curves and boosting with broader “analogue” filter models. Marvelous sound really.

Read More

As the studio is ready to mix again we updated our SoundCloud playlist and references. We’d like to mention particularly the guys above (to be watched in an older live video), a music project called “Aktion X”. Coming all the way from Leipzig they visited our studio to record vocals and some additional takes. The instrumental mixes were already done elsewhere so Christian just had to fit in the new stuff. The results you can listen to when you get to the Cloud and via the player on this website’s right side.

Read More