Me in my studio: Acid Pauli
Acid Pauli
"Hello! I'm Martin Gretschmann, here in my little studio in Berlin. I am working under the names Acid Pauli, Console and also as a part of the Notwist and 13&God.
"Recently I moved from Bavaria to Berlin where I have this little room in a building that used to be the home to the legendary "Planet" club quite a while ago and is now known as Kater Holzig.
"As I had to empty my studio in Bavaria some weeks ago, I am somewhat in an interim situation with all my stuff being wrapped up in boxes waiting for a bigger room, which is being planned at the moment, but here's a little insight into my studio set-up..."
Studer 963 with Lemo-patchbay
"On this first picture you can see my old studio called 'Paul's Pop Store'. It's almost empty, there is just the mixer and its pachtbay left, a Studer Broadcast Desk: the 963 series that I have owned for five years now. I recorded and mixed the latest Console stuff and also Acid Pauli's 'mst' with it and I am really loving it.
"I especially love the huge patchbay which has all my little boxes and machines connected - it's a great set up and lots of fun to work with. I felt like a mad professor when I was standing in front of this thing, the only downside was that I didn't have enough of these Lemo-patchcords and they were playing really hard to get with me."
Studer - 963
"When I moved to Berlin a friend of mine offered me a smaller version of the same mixer. It's very simple, but makes a good job in this tiny room and you don't need a crane to install it. I can't wait see both mixers together one day... father and son."
Modular
"What you can see here is my modular system, which is staying in another place, as we are recording a lot of stuff for the Notwistat Alien Research Centerthese days. So, studio-wise these are really weird days for me... having my gear spread in different places makes me feel a bit homeless to be honest. But at the same time it's good to preserve some flexibility... It keeps me fresh.
"I am quite new in the modular business, but it's catching me more and more. There are so many little companies that build crazy modules. Every time I visit Schneiders Laden there are some new modules to go crazy about. And the best part is that there is no memory. When you start to patch, it's always like giving yourself into a new adventure without knowing how it's gonna end."
Vermona - Kick Lancet
"Also a little magic box. I bought it when it came out and ever since have been using it for kicks or snares. It's a very good feeling to use some knobs for designing and tune a kick-drum instead of previewing two hundred different samples."
Fixers
"First I intended to write about my Roland MC-202, but most people know how amazing a 202 can sound, so I thought it was more important to write about these little helpers.
"It's so great that there are people who commit themselves to creating these little boxes, cable fixers, tools, adapters, labelers, all these things that seem a bit boring in the first place, but make our lives at the studio so much easier... Thank you!"
Oberheim SEM
"I am more and more convinced that Tom Oberheim is my favourite synth-maker. This is one of the three synths I have in my Berlin studio and I am hardcore using it. It took some time until we both got along, but now we already feel like an old couple. To be honest, I hardly ever open the filter, I just like this deep sound that always finds its space in the mix."
Bereich 03 - Density
"This is a pair of Density's made by Bereich 03 and they do exactly what their name implies. They make the sound more dense, just like the famous tape saturation. They work in a subtle way, as long as you use moderate settings, but what they do is very excellent. And if you want, there is a switch for some really nice bass enhancement. Loving them in the mix."
Record collection
"I grew up with sampling and sampling is still the most important source of sound for me. Sampling is just like having all the musicians, all the gear and all the amazing engineers of the world at hand. My album 'mst' is mostly made of different samples. Only kicks and basses were provided from my modular system and the Vermona."
Kurzweil K2000
"The Kurzweil K2000was my first sampler - more or less the first electronic instrument I ever owned. Back then, it was a very special machine, as it was a synthesizer that could be upgraded with a sampling option, which made all synthesis functions available for samples as well.
"I made my first records with only this machine, I was even using the built in sequencer before I bought my first Atari ST and I knew all the pages and functions by heart, so that I could give friends who owned the same machine exact instructions even without seeing or touching the machine."
Doepfer MS-404
"The Doepfer MS-404 was the first analogue synthesizer that I bought. It's one of the most heavily used pieces of gear that I own.
"Mostly I wasn't even using the built in OSCs, but sending other signals through it, chopping them up and attaching this nice FM to the filter, which is the special part about it, 'cause the LFO goes deep inside the audible frequency range. Later on I bought another one to do stereo processing... then another one and another one."