Two of my favorite bands both KMFDM and NIN have some good insight into music production, tools and synths:
Sascha K of KMFDM:
https://web.archive.org/web/20160421054905/http://www.kmfdm.net/gear/techtalk.htm
Trent Reznor of NIN
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Yeah thats cool. I would watch this guys videos, he has a bunch on production but its more rock oriented, still good info and knowledgeable. He’s done a bunch of stuff with Skinny Puppy, I think he was their mix engineer for a while.
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Yeah Ken knows how it’s done. His remix on the Skinny Puppy Dystemper remix album is incredible.
As far as NIN goes it’s always been about their process. They take normal things and bend them in such a way that it’s almost always interesting to hear what they’re doing. I saw them live in Toronto last week w/ Boyz Noiz and while it still had a lot of rock tropes the performance was great.
I’m less versed in KMFDM, they don’t really do it for me.
But in that vein I know Front 242 did a lot of experimentation simply because they were trying to figure out how their gear worked and had a lot of happy accidents along the way. The main chorus of Headhunter was a mistake they made with reverb that made a buzz noise, it worked so they used it. Marc Heal (Cubanate) was in their studio for a bit and has some stories he shares on FB once in a while about working with them.
It’s a small scene but the good acts are really creative.
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yeah KFMDM is an acquired taste like NIN on acid. Another EBM band I like is Front Line Assembly and then there is aggro industrial bands like Funker Voght and Wumpscut. I would love to pick their brains on how they achieve such massive distortion drums and hard hitting bass while keeping the mix balanced to let string and wood instruments in between. So far I can get this sound easiest on my Virus since Howard Scar and others made free soundpacks that I loaded on the Virus to get this. My new Erica Synths DB01 can also do this atmospheric bass industrial sound really well. Jomox is the opposite but perfect for house, trance and light techno.
Last I heard FLA were getting their stuff mixed on a large format console (SSL i think?). Doesn’t necessarily mean you need a big console, but anyone paying for one is also paying serious attention to the room acoustics.
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Cool thread. I’m going to see FLA and Nitzer Ebb in Chicago at the end of this month. FLA will be playing music from the Wax Trax era which is a double bonus.
A few years back I posted on gearspace asking if anyone had insight about how to make a Noise Unit (FLA side project) bass line and one of their studio engineers responded that it was made with a Microwave II and that he could even send the patch if I had a Microwave (which I don’t, although the VST looks cool).
Here’s the bass line in question. To this day I still feel like it’s one of the most futuristic sounds I’ve heard and have never been able to get close using various hardware and software (not the notes, the patch itself). Guess I need a Microwave. Starts around 1:17
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Phase fatale has an incredible workflow and great showcase for how he makes industrial style music
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Fixed this for you 
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Lemme guess, at the Metro? That’s about as Chicago a bill as you’re gonna get. It’s impossible to tell the tale of the “Industrial” scene without Wax Trax and Chicago.
I haven’t followed them for a century but Funker for a long time used the Quasimidi Raven as their main synthesizer. I believe the guy that produces their music had his own studio so their stuff always sounded incredibly produced. I don’t know much about Rudy from :W:'s setup though.
As long as we’re talking the subject Daniel Myer (Haujobb/Cleaner/Liebknecht) has had a prolific career too, great sound design.
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oh wow tons of bands used the Waldorf Microwave synths- I wonder if the Waldorf M would be the best modern day synth for this sort of thing? The Quantum costs way too much.
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would the smaller SSL mixer or AH Xone92 work instead?
Yup, Metro!
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Yeah, not sure if the Blofeld could handle it. The Microwave VST might get close though
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my Virus easily does the tones of his Machinedrum, Sherman Filter bank, and Waldorf Microwave and other stuff in his studio. So I think I am good! I can use one synth for drums, bass, synth leads and send output to mixer and Ableton! Makes life 100x easier. For live, I have my Erica synths, small modular, SP 404MK2, and Elektron boxes. No need to really buy anything else. I think will sell bunch of unused gear next year and try out a Buchla Music Easel and maybe the new Hexdrums and Perkons when released. Tasty Chips granular synth looks cool as well as 1010 Music Lemondrop.
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Yeah, I’ve owned 3 Viruses over the years and it’s definitely more than capable;)
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and I would love a desktop portable virus for live events the keyboard virus ti2 in my studio is too massive for travel. That or maybe 3rd wave, waldorf m, iridium.
after cracking open my new Erica Synths DB01 and LXR02, I am able to quickly make this style of music easy on my desk. These along with my Virus TI2, Oberheim and Syntrx II will get it done without spending $800 on the Sherman Filterbank that he uses in the video. I did enjoy his thought and recording process which was a fresh take on music production.
I’m tempted by the DB01 , already have the LXR02. But keep thinking it’s not worth it.
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the db01 is fabulous! I have the lxr02 and they complement each other very well. plus both are way easier to program and use than my virus and elektron gear. I made some banging stems this evening in a short time compared to programming my rytm and virus.
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really a bummer that Kemper has zero plans to recreate it. God tier synth even with the quirky issues. Sorta like the Jomox of synths.
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