DAWless for techno production

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

I try to techno production around five or six month (all my time). I use DAW or use full DAWless setup (Digitakt, Octatrack, a4, DFAM Lyra8 and some more boxes) - i cant build hybrid workflow because have no enough hardware for commutate all my analog stuff into the DAW. And i use per track recording in DAW because multitrack of Elektron overbridge is kinda weird. And my techno still sounds like shit. So - i have a question for people on this forum - i know here is a great, creative and competent comuniti - is full DAWless techno production can do enough quality for release on serious techno label? If i get enough knowledge and experience. Or if i wanna do techno like pro - i must use DAW in my workflou
May be some examples of producers who use DAWless for techno production?

Sry for my horrible english

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#2

This made me LOL. I feel you man, I guess you can make “professional” level stuff without a DAW but you should probably learn how to mix and master in general if you want to do more with less.

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#3

Listen to some techno from the late 80s, early 90s and see how you feel about that. All DAWless. Perhaps used an Atari with Cubase for midi, but for the most part that was it. Pretty much all hardware otherwise.

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#4

Mixing is mutch easier in DAW, but - i cant focus on music and creative part. But Mixing in DAWless have a lot less posibilities - i fear i can spend a lot of time for deep dive DAWless and miss industry qualatie standarts. But - DAWless is like a common musical instrument - mutch “flow” feels. When I played the flute and felt something similar. So - DAW for me like video game - i totally lost focus

#5

Is that really what you want? Otherwise do more research on techno from other decades. You might like/prefer what you hear.

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#6

It’s a skill you will develop over a lifetime, 6 months is nothing really.
Be patient with yourself, and keep having an open mind to just enjoy the process of learning. Make sure that you are always listening to new music and analysing what your favourite artists/tracks are doing. Break everything down into parts and study how each is made to sound the way it does. Learn the rules and then break them.

Yes absolutely
Check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_1jFvxsAMs&t=272s&ab_channel=ThomannSynthesizers

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#7

You certainly dont need “modern standards” to get on a techno label, just learn how to Make the best sounding music you can with your equipment and find a label that releases similar music.

That said the majority of amateur musicians never get a “record deal” if such a thing even exists anymore. Embrace your shit sounding music, no one will ever like it as much as you do.

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#8

I really love Detroit techno! And Berlin stuff too. But - In modern forms of techno (like Hate podcasts and similiar) - probably Oscars Mulero label and some German, Holland and other EU tehcno Lables - how mutch part of DAWless production?

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#9

When you’re recording with hardware, mixing becomes much more of a “before and during” task, meaning that you get more used to mixing with your ears, rather than all the graphics inside your DAW. It takes time to develop the necessary skills, but it’s well worth it, as, even if you go back to using a DAW, you’ll find that you are much more efficient when it comes to the more mundane tasks like mixing and mastering.

Practice

Practice

Practice

Then send your tracks off to a professional to master them for you, because fuck mastering.

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#10

I prefer abstract, underground or hard genres of techno tbh. And totally don’t know what a sounds quality standards they have

#11

I agree - 6 month is nothing. Now i a lot depressed - i feel stuck in my progression. But i hope some of years practice will made result

#12

Absolutely agree! Thanks!

#13

I think the best advice I can give is to find a workflow that you enjoy and that results in tracks you like the sound of.

Then at least you’ll be enjoying yourself and your music, because once you go “pro”, chances are you’ll look back on these days and think about how lucky you were.

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#14

A good one for inspiration mainly. As you can see, less is always more when it comes to techno.

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#15

Surgeon is great producer i think! Classics. He really use that’s tiny setups for his releases or he use it for improvised techno?

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#16

I think he uses small setups for studio stuff too. But I’m no expert on him. Maybe someone else here knows more about his process?

#17

He does use a DAW for his releases, but fairly lightly. If I remember rightly in the Telekom Q&A he did a while ago, he tends to record his synths, pads etc as one sort of ambient track, then record the drums on a couple of tracks separately and then do a bit of editing/mixing before sending it off to be mastered.

Surgeon being surgeon, he’s probably changed his whole approach since then and is now recording kalimba solos to DAT.

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#18

Probably worth watching.

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#19

Adam Beyer uses Reason
Wehbba uses hardware and software
Several very talented techno producers on this forum have been know to use all hardware

Techno is techno. How it’s made doesn’t matter.

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#20
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