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Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna

Marco Scherer's Patchwork 17

Reported by Tom Cypher / Submitted 24-11-11 17:53

Alongside doing sound design jobs for Loopmasters, Digidesign, and Tone2, Marco Scherer spins Techno, House, Minimal and Trance, always touched by Deep Tribal rhythms and rocking grooves. He has recently created Patchworx 17 – House FX for Loopmasters, a fresh and exclusive collection of hand crafted patches designed to complement Progressive, Tech and Mainroom House productions, amongst other styles. We catch up with Marco to find out a bit more about his new pack and what plans he has for the future.

Describe your studio set-up

After collecting a lot of gear for years I recently sold most stuff and dramatically minimized the setup to keep it easy and usable. My main synth is a Waldorf Blofeld keyboard besides a Korg Radias. My MPC-1000 is my magic beat station. If my beats don't sound I record them into the MPC and the result are massively stomping grooves.



Everything else comes from software on my iMac where I use Ableton Live. The most important plugins are Synapse-Audio Dune, Sonic Charge Synplant and MicroTonic as well as Native Instruments Battery and Massive. Reaktor is nice for experimental stuff. On the processing side my favourites are several T-Racks compressors and EQs. As with my hardware synths I try to keep my plugin folder clean and reduced.

What’s the essential bit of studio kit to your sound and can you briefly tell us how you use it?

Hard to say because I love to change the way of working all the time. But something that is always part of my tracks is automation, so the main sounds constantly change their character. This makes a track feel very organic.

Sound-wise the Blofeld keyboard is an important source of inspiration. Often I shutdown my computer and just play around with this synth. And most times it ends up with an idea for a new track. Playing a synth without staring on a monitor definitely feels different from using plugins and thus can be very inspiring.

Could you tell us a bit more about your new Loopmasters pack?

The House FX pack is a preset library for Native Instruments killer synth Massive. It contains 64 flexible patches, making extensive use of the plugins features and possibilities. So it's not just a collection of some average fx sounds, but offers nothing less than totally up to date presets. And as far I know it's the only FX library making use of Velocity, Modwheel and Aftertouch, enabling you to 'play' these effects like an instrument. In addition the user gets several massive tutorial videos showing how to program their own patches.

What kind of producer can you envisage using it?

Mainly producers of all kinds of electronic music in need of presets that are usable and customisable in seconds.



What else have you got coming up production-wise?

After releasing the Sparky EP on Joof Records my main studio project Meller has another EP upcoming on Shabu Vibez Records, a great label with smooth music vibes from Germany. Furthermore we're working on our fourth album coming up in 2012. For all who don't know: Meller is my eleven years old baby which I'm producing together with my friend DJ Mel. Last year we redefined the project with finding a new style which could be called something like "Serious Trippy Techno Trance". And for sure we're happy to see that the audience and labels like it so much. And there will be a debut EP of my techno project Villa Violet on Martin Eyerer's label Kling Klong, which I'm very proud of!

Sound design-wise there will be more releases for Loopmasters, Tone2, Best Service and several other plugin producers.

What would you say is the most difficult aspect of music production?

Nowadays it got important not to get lost in the flood of new sounds and plugins that are released every single day. Everyone can have top quality sounds and half-baked songs with just one mouse click. Although that doesn't mean that everyone with good sounds on their hard disk can produce good music, you still have to keep the quality of your tracks higher than ever before. And in general you have to keep it rolling all the time. If you want to play as part of the music game you have to increase your skills constantly.

Who would you say are your studio production heroes and who has inspired the sounds you create today?

All Harthouse and EyeQ artists, Oliver Lieb and some Thunderdome acts as well have definitely inspired me. My first Mayday rave was another milestone. At the age of 17 I sat on the bottom of the mainfloor and dreamed of playing my own music on parties like this.

Which producers are you digging at the moment?

Modern acts I like are Alex Di Stefano, Dualitik, Julian Jeweil, Deefunk, Cid Inc and Shabu Vibez. They all have pumping groove and that magic in their tracks.



Do you have one top tech tip for our readers?

You can have thousands on your harddisk but there should be at least one synthesizer you know like an expert. When song ideas start to form in your brain it's so important to have a tool you can work with very fast.

Comparing own tracks to commercial ones will show the productions weak points and can help to increase quality. Sure, at first it will be frustrating but it definitely helps. There ais tons of other advices but finally everyone has to make their own experience. Although mistakes will happen, it is just important to learn from these mistakes. This applies to music and life in general as well.

If you want more tips, you can checkout my German tutorials and workshops I wrote the Beat magazine on my website at www.plasticage.de/scherer

What’s next for Marco Scherer?

Hopefully loads of DJ and live bookings and tons of sounddesign jobs in 2012 Smile Seriously, we're going to Brazil for a little tour soon and besides that working on the next Meller album will take some time. The next gigs are happening in Vienna and Berlin, so hope to see you there! You can check out these dates, my Podcast, links to social media and much more at www.meller.de and www.plasticage.de

Images courtesy of Marco Scherer. Not to be reproduced without permission.
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Other Features By Tom Cypher:
Perfect Stranger Takes a Leap of Faith With His New Album
Lee Mortimer goes Loopy.
My Digital Enemy
Studio Talk with Organ Donors
Essential Hardcore with Sy & Unknown
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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