Studio Essentials: Black Asteroid

New York talent Black Asteroid has acquired experience in music that most only aspire to, having previously been an engineer for the late Prince, he has also delivered official remixes for acts like Depeche Mode.

As a techno producer his releases include labels such as Andre Crom’s OFF Recordings, Dubfire’s SCI+TEC and Chris Liebing’s CLR, and he’s continuously touring as both a DJ and a live artist.

We welcome him to our Studio Essential series this month where we discover his go-to choices studio gear like monitors, synthesizers and plugins.

Make Noise DPO

I use the DPO in my DJ and live sets primarily. If i want to add an element of danger, unpredictability, I will jam with the DPO over a kick drum. It’s so raw and expressive, you rarely get the same sound out of it twice. I recently started recording it into Logic X when I’m working in the studio, and cutting up the audio to get a more mechanical sound. Probably my favorite modular on the market.

Logic Pro X

I have been using Logic for most of my career. While Ableton Live has some exciting features not found in Logic, I prefer Logic for the traditional timeline arrangement and layout. I try and limit my productions to eight tracks, I find the best songs are made with less tracks, each track playing an essential part of the song. The native plugins are already all you might need. In addition, I use Battery for classic 808/909 drum sounds.

ES-2 Synthesizer

Native to Logic Pro X, is my favourite synth, the ES-2. I spend hours designing sounds from scratch inside the ES-2. It has the capability to run wild like a modular. Most of my songs feature the ES-2 heavily, many people confusing the ES-2 sounds I make to analog synths. I spent the first part of career as a sound designer and engineer at Paisley Park Studios for Prince, so I never use preset sounds. I like to create original sounds whenever possible. The ES-2 is endless fun.

Fab Filter Pro Q

I was working in the studio with Chris Liebing, and he was using filters heavily in the arrangements. I was never a fan of filters before, preferring raw and dry hard hitting sounds. The Pro Q filter sounds so elegant and smooth, it adds a nice dynamic to my productions. Reminds me of the filters used on early Daft Punk records. I often use the filter instead of fade ins and fade outs on remixes and original productions.

Dynaudio LYD

I’ve been working with Dynaudio forever, but recently upgraded to their powered LYD line. the sound is so crisp and clean. The frequencies are very well defined. I am now hearing sounds in records I never heard before. I use the Dynaudio to write, sometimes mixing. also using the Ultrasone Pro-900 headphones for reference. Highly recommend Ultrasone as well for a clean sound and limiting ear fatigue.