FLORIAN MEINDL: CREATE, PRODUCE, REPEAT

His output is vast. Florian Meindl is a Berlin based producer, DJ, and sound designer. When he’s not busy collaborating and remixing huge artists like Hot Chip, he’s composing soundtracks and writing articles for production technology focused magazines such as FutureMusic.

You are seemingly VERY BUSY, you run a label called FLASH Recordings, you are a highly recognized producer, you frequently write about technology, and you created the Riemann Kollektion; sample libraries and expansion packs for Native Instruments. Is there anything you don’t do? How do you balance all these things in your life?

This is indeed a bit of a problem but somehow I manage to blend these things into each other –  it feels like I’m working for only one thing, my love for techno music and the technology behind it. My main focus is my DJ career because when I play my own tunes in front of thousands of people it feels like the best reward for all the hard work! Though, only being a DJ would probably not satisfy me for longer than 2 years, I need to produce my own music and know the latest production techniques and gear etc…

New Works

Florian Meindl – Florian Meindl – Call Me (FLASH 086)

Your openness towards technology is very apparent, in a recent facebook post you did an unofficial review of LANDR, highlighting its usefulness and stating that you were surprised it didn’t exist already. What sparked your interest in LANDR?

I was introduced to LANDR from a friend at Riverside Studios, Berlin where I have a room – rumors spread very fast there. ;-) After checking it out, I thought: “how did this not already exist!”. I tested it with a couple of tracks and most of the time it sounded really good, it helps if you have a balanced mix. At the moment I use LANDR to give me a hint of how a track could sound, kind of like another pair of monitors. I think there is a lot of room to develop it further though and I’m sure it will get better and better!

Seminal Listening

Florian Meindl – Sputnik (stil vor talent) 2005

Do you think it’s important for producers to embrace new technology? I’ve noticed producers and engineers can get stuck on old ideas of how to create and produce music, do you think this is helpful or harmful to the advancement of music?

I think a mixture is needed, my tactic is to have knowledge of the past: established production techniques etc. But, I’m also looking at new trends, picking out the most interesting things or just getting inspired – what I don’t like is following trends, for instance so called “Deep House” – when the Deep House hype came I focussed on more rough techno and underground sounds – later all this Soft Pop House was used for background music in Kinder Chocolate adverts and Germany’s next Topmodel… that’s good for making a lot of money in a short time but it’s not a long term quality strategy. Everybody should follow their passion as long as it doesn’t harm other people, in the end music is a question of taste, tastes are just very different.

In the post you showed a picture of a really beautiful studio, is that your mastering studio?

No, I just wanted to show a beautiful mastering studio pic in order to grab the attention of my fans because this way they’d instantly know what the post was about: mastering. This is my studio (Above) – I’m offering private mastering sessions for friends and partners under the name Riemann Mastering – maybe I will expand it to a larger company if I find some good mastering engineers in the future – LANDR is already a “fix” element of my mastering, as I said, to give me a hint how it will sound – then I compare it and perhaps make changes to my masters.

Posted by Rory Seydel: Musician at Noni Wo and Music Editor at LANDR

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Rory Seydel is a musician, writer and father who takes pleasure in touring the world and making records. Creative Director at LANDR.

@Rory Seydel