TALKING SHOP
ROOSEVELT
As Roosevelt, German producer Marius Lauber makes music that sits across the divide between funk, pop and classic house music, packed with danceable rhythms, hooky basslines and gorgeous synths. Last month he returned with new album Polydans, so we caught up with Marius to chat studios, mic techniques and more.
When did you start making music?
“I played in different bands in my teens and was often the one who produced our demos on GarageBand. I pretty quickly had to learn how to make a full band recording with just one mic. Around 10 years ago I started doing my own productions.”
Tell us about your studio/set-up
“I run my own studio called Tambourine Dreams in Cologne. It’s a very well equipped project studio with a lot of vintage synths, drums and guitars, and some outboard classics. It’s obviously mostly used by me, but I’m trying to bring in other artists I like as well.
“My concept was to have everything ready to record in a couple of seconds, so that when you feel inspired you don’t need to spend a lot of time wiring or miking up stuff.”
What DAW (or DAWs) do you use?
“Logic. Like I mentioned I used Garage Band as a teenager to record demos for the bands I was in, so Logic was the only way to go at some point.”
What one piece of gear in your studio could you not do without, and why?
“My Juno-60! It’s so essential for my sound and such a good all-rounder, that it’s probably on all of the tracks I’ve ever done.”
What was the latest addition to your studio collection?
“I picked up a DBX 165a compressor recently, as I saw a lot of videos of it used as a drum bus compressor and I loved the sound. I’ve used it on recording drums already, and it’s so awesome for adding distortion to your kick and snare, it makes a real drum kit sound like a hip-hop beat.”
What dream bit of gear would you love to have in you studio?
“I’ve always wanted an original Teletronix LA-2A, I worked on one in a bigger studio and everything you do on it seems to be in the sweet spot. Any signal you run through it sounds better afterwards, even if you just use it as a distortion unit and don’t actually reduce any gain.”
When approaching a new track or project, where do you start?
“That really depends on the idea, but it’s often based on a rhythm track. I’d record a drum beat and add a bassline on top. Drums and a bassline are often the fundament of a track for me, and I think you can hear that as the bass never plays just a functional role in my productions, it’s always adding a groove pattern.”
What are you currently working on?
“I just finished my third album, Polydans, out now, but I’m already working on new original tracks to come out this year. I’m also working on productions for other artists now. It’s great to get out of your own head for a while and focus on contributing to another artists vision.”