“Being a musician is sometimes more like being a top athlete”: Stimming on artists who only want to show off their skillsWhile Martin Stimming is constantly striving to innovate his organic sound, twisting natural field recordings with quirky, esoteric hardware, the German producer has spoken out against musicians who treat music like a competitive sport.
On the latest episode of MusicTech’s My Forever Studio, Stimming notes that his production work is always to aid the sound of a track – he doesn’t concern himself with ‘one-upping’ and proving himself to other musicians. “Being a musician is sometimes more like being a top athlete,” he reflects. “[For some artists] it’s not even about the music any more, to be honest.”

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As Stimming puts it, competitive musicians can often feel like “musician police” rather than supportive peers. These musicians tend to release music just to show off their skills, releasing pretentious cuts that “nobody wants to listen to” bar “the other 5,000 people on Earth that can also play very good and are astonished by how fast you can play.”
“They’re not really ‘enjoying’ [the music],” he explains. “They’re enjoying the ‘athletics’, but not the feelings, the emotions – which is the core of what music actually is.”

While Stimming notes that he was never professionally trained, instrumentally or in terms of production, he believes this has benefitted him. “I would say that’s a big win because I’m not in that trap of knowing too much,” he says. “I had a little bit of education, but luckily not too much that I kind of lost my inner child.”
This ‘inner child’ approach is evident in the producer’s dream Forever Studio set-up, too. The German famously controls his computer with a Wacom pen, something he explains feels “more natural”. The approach allows for a more child-like and free flowing creative process, like plotting his daydreams out on a “sheet of paper”.
Of course, it’s also easier on the wrist. “Those who work with the mouse for hours a day know how bad your wrist feels,” he frowns.
He also notes that pretentious artists tend to make a big fuss of their set-ups. For Stimming, things are more simple and low-key, letting the music speak for itself. “I need big speakers – the biggest speakers possible – but I like my screens small,” he says. “The screen and the visual shouldn’t be the main part of making music… we’re making music, not visuals!!”
“If it gets too complicated, too architectural… then it’s not music,” he emphasises.

His dream studio would also be isolated in a wooden cabin in the Alps – just like how he recorded 2016’s Alpe Lusia. Inside, he’d be working away on an Asus Republic of Gamers Flow Z13 laptop (“I would buy a Mac computer because it’s simply the better computer – it’s more efficient, it’s more clean – but the touchscreen pen is more compatible with PC.”)
When getting down to the nitty-gritty, Stimming explains how Merging Technologies’s HAPI as his audio interface of choice. He’s also keen to have Bricasti M7 reverb due to its “beautiful texture” that allows for “roominess” while still feeling “very natural and organic sounding”.
He also namedrops a few budget options – because, again, making good music doesn’t have to be inaccessible. He picks out Twisted Electronics’ MegaFM Synthesizer and Behringer’s semi-modular percussion synth, Edge. “The Edge is inspired by a Moog DFAM,” he explains. “Well, it’s not inspired, it’s [essentially] cloned. Yeah, it’s like brutally cold heartedly cloned…. And it’s only €200.”
Subscribe to My Forever Studio on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and check out all episodes so far via MusicTech.

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