Ask The Producer: Steffi (Electronic Beats TV)

Steffi is the next guest on Telekom Electronic Beats TV’s Ask The Producer Series. She has produced several albums which were released on the legendary Ostgut Ton label but is also known for her own record labels, which include Klaxon, Dolly, Dolly Dubs and Dolly Deluxe. Steffi is also one of Panorama Bar’s longstanding residents. During this video, she answers questions people asked via social media and via our YT community, about audio routing, sequencing, dealing with latency and much much more.

00:09 Which audio interface do you use and how do you route your audio?
01:29 How many channels can you use at the same time?
01:40 How do you use the Cirklon in your setup?
02:37 How is the Cirklon connected?
03:04 What do you like about the Cirklon?
03:52 What is your favourite sequencer aside from the Cirklon and why?
04:24 How do you master the Yamaha DX200?
05:52 How do you record and finalize tracks?
07:17 How do you deal with frequencies in the mix?
09:24 Do you use frequency- or spectrum analysers?
10:10 Have you managed to program any great sounds from your Microwave?
11:12 When arranging do you have any particular 'rules' that you follow?
13:28 What percentage of software do you use in your production process?
15:22 How is the cable management, messy or organized?
16:09 Ableton or Cubase?
17:17 If you could keep only one piece of analogue gear which would you choose?
17:29 What is your ritual to induce creativity?
18:04 Tell us about Polymeter/Polyrhythms.
18:57 What is your ratio of started ideas to finished tracks?
20:04 Do you record synths through preamps?
20:51 What are some essential effect pedals or plug-ins you would recommend?
21:51 Do you have mixing and mastering project templates in Logic?
22:53 How to handle latency whith so much stuff connected?
24:18 Do you know any basic music theory and do you find it helpful?
25:13 Are you a manual reader or do you just dive into gear and experiment?
25:57 What is your favourite percussion machine?
26:29 What do you find more important: Investing in audio quality or sound sources?
28:16 What is your approach for making the beginning of a track more dynamic and varied?
29:22 Have you ever used or thought about using Eurorack?

[christurbiville]

I love how she just gets straight to it with no pretentious fluff when she answers these q's. Great interview.

[Moolanescu]

"If you don`t wanna do music, you don`t do music!" ...really, that`s all there is to it! loved it!

[jozard]

I love that she's her direct and no-bs attitude. I was inspired when she said she doesn't go to the studio unless she's already inspired to making music, and that she records jams and only gets back to them after several months to actually see if she likes them and to arrange them.

[RenniefosterRF]

Love Steffi's work and play her trax out often.. great artist and pragmatic, informative interview. Real deal.

[gaoeykreg]

Very inspiring to have such an accomplished producer openly admit they need to spend more time learning about a particular aspect of music production, in this case mixing and frequencies. I don’t feel as inadequate now haha! Thank you for the video!

[santiagoblanco]

She is amazing. I just knew her by name but her down to earth attitude and clarity made me watch the whole thing. Cheers!

[thechoiceisyaws]

She answered the question i had posted in the first 5 seconds, im so grateful!!

[Audiojunkk]

Steffi such a legend. Thank you for doing this q&a EB and Steff! Longtime Dolly supporter. Great label

[Sequenceserenade]

Hearing other producers talk about process is my higher education ! Thank you EB for all you make !

[A.V.O.O.V.A.]

So transparent and direct, really liked this interview

[pittan]

Thanks for this! Really great questions and its nice that you made a list of them so its possible to go back to them several times. Steffi is very knowledgeable, thanks Steffi!

[rhythmguild]

Steffi, awesome interview. I love hearing you discuss areas where you'd like to increase your knowledge and skill. It makes me feel less self-conscious about my own knowledge gaps, like everyone here is on a similar road. Very inspiring. Thank you.

[Jim_KYB]

Loved this, thanks for answering my Microwave question....I struggle with mine too but love the textures.

[kieronmccarthy]

How great is Steffi! She has some really interesting insights. Really enjoyed this.

[in_z]

Love Steffi's straight to the point articulate answers, but sure wish we could've seen more of her studio!

[tb]

Love this series, this may be my favorite one. I do wish that they'd break to some b-roll of the producer showing some of what they are talking about. I know it would take significantly longer but would also make it significantly better, IMO of course. Still one of the best channels on YT.

[AlexBallMusic]

26:57 - boom, there it is.

Fantastic interview - thanks for this!

[sudbenzer]

Thank you Steffi, thank you EB. You guys are nuts!

[triggerhappytube]

everything totally makes sense, thank you very much for sharing your knockledge Miss Steffi ;)

[TheAVsChannel]

Really liked the selection of guests for this series so far.