Twitter Updates
Bio
Born in Frankfurt/Germany, Tobias early made his way into the world of composing music for media and is now working as a composer for films, video games and other media projects as well as an orchestrator and arranger. Read more
In my personal studio, I work on music in all genres for media productions, specialising on orchestral/electronic hybrid scores as well as concert works. Whenever possible, real instruments are used because the results are just stunning: A single live recorded instrument can inject life into a "canned production“. This tendency has led to a massive library of instruments adorning the shelves around the studio. Everything else comes from an ever-growing array of powerful Virtual Instruments, accessed over network on a custom-fitted template slave machine.
The studio is based around a Logic Pro rig on a Mac system with a PC slave for hosting Virtual Instruments. All music is composed, recorded and mixed in-house. For exchanging projects with mixing/mastering houses and for easy collaboration, I have a ProTools rig that allows me to work with the industry standard. Using Sibelius 6, I also engrave scores for recording by real musicians.
The studio is based around a Logic Pro rig on a Mac system with a PC slave for hosting Virtual Instruments. All music is composed, recorded and mixed in-house. For exchanging projects with mixing/mastering houses and for easy collaboration, I have a ProTools rig that allows me to work with the industry standard. Using Sibelius 6, I also engrave scores for recording by real musicians.
Naturally, Novatlan Sound offers every service imaginable, from composing, orchestrating and recording to mixing and mastering the final result and transferring it to you. For Production Music on a budget or tight deadline there is the Novatlan Sound Library, which includes tracks in various styles suitable for trailers, corporate video and many more projects.
Whatever your vision is, I certainly can make it become reality. Challenge me!
What I use
This list is an excerpt of what hard- and software is in use here. If you have any questions, ask via email!
This section shows you some of the technology I use. Click the tabs to jump from section to section. Some things are explained in greater detail when you click on them.
The Signal Flow section has some explanations about the technical setup for anyone interested.
Main DAW
Apple MacPro 2* Quad 2,8 Ghz, 18 GB RamAudio Interface: Focusrite Saffire Pro 24
Hard Disks: 150 GB Velociraptor 10.000 rpm; 3* 1 TB
NAS / Media Server
Acer easyStore H240, 16 Ghz, 2 GH RamAudio Interface: M2Tech Hiface (192khz)
Hard Disks: 8 TB RAID
Slave
Dell Studio XPS 8100 Quad i7 2.8 Ghz, 8 GB RamAudio Interface: M-Audio Audiophile Firewire
Hard Disks: 2* 1 TB
On The Road
Apple MacBook Pro 15' 2.4 Ghz, 16 GB RamDouble RAID for backups every hour. Projects HDD mirrored every day.
Notation Software
Sibelius 7Neuraton PhotoScore Professional 6
iPad Controller for Sibelius
Notion 3
Capella professional 5.3
Monitors and Headphones
Yamaha HS80MAKG K271
Input Devices
M-Audio Keystation 88esAkai EWI USB
Hardware Controllers
Euphonix MC ControlEvolution UC33E
Korg nanoKEY
Korg nanoPAD
Sampler
Native Instruments Kontakt 4Vienna Instruments Pro
Native Instruments Kore Player
Yellowtools Independence Pro 3 REVIEW
Orchestral Instruments
VSL Special Edition FullVSL Special Edition Plus
VSL Solo Strings I Full
Audiobro LA Scoring Strings
East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra Gold Play
East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra Silver
East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Choirs
Quantum Leap Gypsy
Quantum Leap Ra
Wavelore Clavichord
Tonehammer Requiem Light
Kirk Hunter Symphonic Orchestra Diamond
IK Multimedia Miroslav Philharmonik CE
OrchestralTools String Runs 2 REVIEW
OrchestralTools Symphonic Sphere
ProjectSAM Orchestral Brass Classic
ProjectSAM Symphobia 1 + 2 REVIEW
ProjectSAM Orchestral Essentials
Spitfire Albion
Cinesamples Cinebrass
Cinesamples Hollywoodwinds
Cinesamples CineHarp
BestService Extended Classical Choir
Rock, Pop & Contemporary
Quantum Leap Fab FourQuantum Leap Ministry of Rock
Sample Logic Fanfare
MusicLab RealLPC
Pettinhouse Acoustic Guitar
Wavelore Pedal Steel Guitar
Orange Tree Samples Strawberry Guitar
Orange Tree Samples Cherry Bass
Big Fish Modern Country
Virtual Instruments and other plugins
Spectrasonics OmnisphereSpectrasonics Bob Moog Tribute Library
AAS Lounge Lizard Session
AAS Ultra Analog VA-1
AAS String Studio VS-1
Key2Sound Nexsyn
IK-Multimedia SampleTank XT + lots of expansions
SONiVOX SoundStage
Drums & Percussion
Quantum Leap Stormdrum 2Cinesamples Deep Percussion Beds REVIEW
Cinesamples CineToms
Spectrasonics Omnisphere
Spectrasonics Stylus RMX
Spectrasonics BackBeat Xpander
Spectrasonics Retro Funk Xpander
Spectrasonics Liquid Grooves Xpander
Spectrasonics Burning Grooves Xpander
Spectrasonics Metamorphosis Xpander
Toontrack EZdrummer
Steven Slate Drums EX
Wavelore Xpan Drums
Other
Native Instruments Alicia's KeysNative Instruments Kontakt 2 Experience
Native Instruments Paranormal Spectrums
Tonehammer Old Granny Piano
Tonehammer Bizarre Sitar
Wavelore American Zither
Network
Vienna Ensemble Pro TUTORIALEffects
PSP NitroAntares Duo Evo
Keyboard Instruments
Technics sx-KN6000Ahlborn CL201
Vogel Upright Piano
String Instruments
The Loar LM-600 MandolinGheorge Ludovicz Violin
Fender Sonoran Acoustic Guitar
Hopf Concert Guitar
Other
Hohner Concerto II AccordionWind Instruments
A. Joseph Al Jo Tin Whistleseveral other Tin Whistles
Jupiter Tenor Saxophone
Percussion
Schlagwerk CP404 Cajontons of percussion instruments!
Funny Stuff
Casio VL-1
About half of the template runs in VE Pro on a Dell slave computer. All MIDI and audio data is transmitted via a single ethernet cable, so special hardware, no special software besides VE Pro. This system works really well and can only be recommended.
The Dell slave PC doubles as a Pro Tools M-Powered rig. For this it has an M-Audio interface connected, which transmits its output via SPDIF to the digital input of the Saffire Pro connected to the Mac Pro. This allows me to use my studio monitors for Pro Tools as well without having to deal with a complicated monitor controller.
For anyone interesting in building such a system for themselves, there’s a comprehensive tutorial on the blog.
Close
iZotope Ozone 4 is a powerful plugin for the final mastering of tracks. A plethora of presets for all kinds of genres help finding a rough setting, which then can be tweaked at infinitum.
For demo purposes the plugin is just great, because it allows an unparalled flexibility and allows me as a composer to deliver mockups that sound very much like the "real thing". The very final version of a track then gets the whole special care with lots of single plugins, but for the "quick master", Ozone is the way to go.
For demo purposes the plugin is just great, because it allows an unparalled flexibility and allows me as a composer to deliver mockups that sound very much like the "real thing". The very final version of a track then gets the whole special care with lots of single plugins, but for the "quick master", Ozone is the way to go.
Close
Harrison Mixbus is a special kind of DAW: Based on the popular Linux-DAW Ardour, it incorporates a proprietary mixing DSP from Harrison Consoles. It basically is a true analogue console, but as a software. I really like it, primarily for its great sound, which is very natural, warm and has that "analogue" feeling. The user interface is great, with big buttons like on a real console. Unfortunately, Mixbus does not support MIDI, so I only use it for mixing my stems, but compose in Logic.
Close
As a loyal follower of Sibelius, most of the other notation packages never managed to attract me. Notion 3 is different, though: The application itself is speedy and feels very solid, but of course has a fare more limited feature set than Sibelius. But its playback capabilities are stunning. The included library sounds terrific and it has support for a number of 3rd party libraries, including EWQLSO. I very often write in Sibelius and use Notion for playback via MusicXML. I am pretty sure that over time Notion will mature and become a great notation package.
Close
Sibelius for me is THE notation software. I simply love this application. It is easy to use, incredibly powerful and in my opinion has the nicest standard layout of all notation packages. Magnetic Layout, which came with version 6, is a huge timesaver and spares me many, many days of fixing layout issues. Another great thing about Sibelius is the customer support, which is absolutely great and worth the admission price alone. I have found "my" notation software!
Close
You play in keyboard parts with a keyboard. You play in guitar parts with a guitar. But somehow you usually don't play in string or wind parts with a corresponding input device. The EWI USB is one of those wind controllers, it's played basically like a saxophone or flute and makes inputting wind parts very realistic. The best thing is that you can adjust the velocity while playing a note, which is not possible on a keyboard. Because you have to breathe, phrasing gets much more realistic automatically.
Close
Some people seem to find pleasure in navigating the mouse over tiny buttons. A decent hardware controller speed things up and lets you work faster. There just is nothing like touching a real fader to draw automation. The MC Control has a huge touchscreen which can be programmed individually with keystrokes or even macros. But by far the best thing is the Jog Wheel. It makes such a difference! Integration in Logic is superb, probably the best DAW/Controller combination there is.
Close
Contrary to most people, I like to play in my drums with a standard keyboard, not with a pad controller. The pad controller mainly serves for two things: 1) Keyswitches and triggering scripts in Kontakt. 2) The X/Y pad, a touchpad-like area of the nanoPAD is just great for navigating the sound variations of the Kore Player! By setting the pad to the correct CCs, it is possible to seamlessly morph between the sound variations. The pad is also great for modulation and pitch bend with just one finger, while continuing to play on the keyboard.
Close
Native Instruments' Kontakt is probably the best-known and most widely used sampler on the market. Incredibly powerful, I mainly use it for playing back sample libraries, but its editing capabilities are huge. Since Kontakt 4.1, the software is 64bit, which is just huge in Logic! About 2/3 of my template runs on Kontakt 4 - it has become an indispensable part of my workflow. Of course the main thing speaking for it from a composers' perspective is the multitude of 3rd party libraries!
Close
The Hammond organ is a living legend. Unfortunately, few people have the luck (and/or the money) to call one their own. Years ago, Wersi built a drawbar expander, the OX7, which perfectly emulates the Hammond B3 as well as the H100 (my favourite). Currently this little gem is wired to my electronic church organ, where it serves for lots of nice sounds. The OX7 is pretty mighty, but strange enough never seemed such a big hit back then...
Close
The white cone of the HS80 effortlessly makes experienced engineers sweat profoundly - no wonder, because this appearance harks back to the legendary NS10M. But the white cone is where the similarities end. The HS80 is a powerful active studio monitor and (in my opinion) a great way to listen to your stuff. It is clear, very honest and brings out your tracks pretty well. As affordable studio monitors go, this definitively is worth a look. I wouldn't want to miss my HS80.