Ulrich Schnauss Studio Tour

Saturday Synth Porn: This video, via MusicTech, takes a studio tour with German electronic musician and producer Ulrich Schnauss, best known for his multi-layered, deep and melodic music, on albums like Far Away Trains Passing By and A Strangely Isolated Place.

Ulrich’s studio houses a huge array of classic synths, including:

  • Oberheim 8 Voice;
  • Yamaha DX7 with rare DX Programmer;
  • Waldorf Wave;
  • Elka Synthex;
  • Rhodes Chroma; and
  • Walls of rack-mounted outboard kit.

18 thoughts on “Ulrich Schnauss Studio Tour

  1. I always wonder how musicians like US afford all their gear. I mean, he’s not some #1 selling pop artist, churning out hit singles left and right, and yet we’re all told now that unless you are, you can’t make any money making music.

    He’s obvious doing all right, with tens upon tens of thousands of dollars worth of super rare gear.

    Was he independently wealthy before becoming a musician?

    Or, is the story that piracy and iTunes/Amazon/Spotify have destroyed the working musician’s ability to generate money just a myth?

    1. He’s done soundtracks for film and games, as well as commercials (one of them played during the Super Bowl). He’s also done mixing/session musician work on other people’s albums, plus remixes and collaborations. A lot of “day job” style work, which would account for his income. Not throwing shade here; he’s a antastic composer and it’s great that he gets paid for his craft! But, perhaps, not everything he does is for the love of artistry.

  2. All these synths are very expensive now but a few years ago you could buy them for a few bucks. I bought some synths (like Arp solus, OBX8, matrix 6 and others) for the price of a microkorg. 15 or 20 years ago nobody wanted these synths (too big, too hard to tune, too expensive to maintain…).
    But this guy have a really nice home-studio, lot of good stuffs !

    1. Ulrich Schnauss performed at Mountain Oasis music festival last year. It was one of the highlights of the shows that I attended. Big big sound, maybe too loud at times, but very engaging and enjoyable.

  3. unlike the other comments. mine will be directed to the person behind the camera. this is not a place where you want shallow depth of field. this is a musicians studio. everytime you go to show a part of a synth you freak my eyes out with all the focusing that you need to do, and then you don’t give us enough time to get our eyes focused so we can enjoy the beauty of these electrical monsters. Please begin using a 5-8f-stop in your lens so more will be in focus. I’m feeling like you used a 2.8f-stop instead. Which should only be used for sit down interviews. Interviews like these are really better with a camera with an auto focus, as it is much quicker than a human.

  4. Everything looks knackered.
    It’s because of guys like these that vintage synths become more rare.
    Shelving them like books is really shameful.

    1. …And yet they all probably are eventually used on recordings many people will enjoy. It’s not successful, productive musicians who make vintage gear more rare. It’s the vast majority of gear-craving hobbyists who buy all that stuff up. Besides, a vintage synth/guitar/whatever that is in a well cared for collection instead of being thrown around a tour bus is something that will still be here decades from now.

  5. Very creative environment if get all this managed somehow. I always try to keep things tidy but then
    all this tidiness keeps me away from being creative. I feel sick then not to have both together. 🙂
    Most impressive thing to me was the DX7-Programmer. FM still is the next generation
    of synthesis if you have become able to control it. Let’s see what Korg is doing that way in future.

    1. Jellinghaus! Was definitely surprised to see one. Eno was a user as well, though I believe he abandoned it later.

      Would definitely be cool to see korg revisit the ds-8/707. Even as a Volca! A little dx200-style thing with a software editor could be really neat.

  6. I think I see a pair of headphones on his desk, but I don’t see any monitors near his computer. With all that gear, that really surprises me.

  7. Wow, all those synth dreams stored in an incredibly dusty room; and on their ends no less. That wasn’t synth porn, that was synth hell.

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