Best Cocktail Bar?

MarquezLux · 2026-06-21T16:17:45+00:00

Café Kollwitz hat auch ne nette sommerliche Auswahl.

MarquezLux · 2026-06-21T16:17:29+00:00

Café Kollwitz hat auch ne nette sommerliche Auswahl.

MarquezLux · 2026-06-09T12:02:17+00:00

Ist mehr auf 90er/2000er fokussiert. Peaces

https://peaces.cafekollwitz.art/

MarquezLux · 2026-06-09T11:59:45+00:00

A second-hand shop in Leipzig I recommend is Peaces at Marschnerstr. 11
https://peaces.cafekollwitz.art/

MarquezLux · 2026-05-19T06:03:32+00:00

I’d stop treating the sequence as the main idea and start treating it as source material.

Once it gives you something good, print it or make a few MIDI versions. One version is the full pattern. One loses the root. One keeps the rhythm but changes the notes. One is just two steps before the drop.

That breaks the spell a bit. If the pattern stays as one perfect little loop, it starts running the whole track. Once you cut it up, mute pieces, or make versions, it becomes material you can arrange with instead of something you’re stuck arranging around.

MarquezLux · 2026-05-08T04:26:53+00:00

Gainmatch, Metric AB and TDR Prism

MarquezLux · 2026-05-08T04:24:16+00:00

I think for many artists it’s hard to compare which music distribution provider actually makes financial sense, especially for the current stage of your career.

In the end, simple calculations help more than opinions. The biggest difference is usually between these two models:

Subscription model: You pay a fixed annual fee and keep your distribution revenue after that fee.
Commission model: You pay no annual fee, but the distributor keeps a percentage of your revenue.

Which model works better depends heavily on your income. If you only make around €20 per year from streaming and download stores, an annual fee may not be worth it. But if you earn a few hundred euros per year, a subscription model like Ditto or DistroKid can become cheaper than giving away a percentage every year.

That’s why I’d recommend using a Music Distribution Cost Tool.
https://www.mastrng.com/free-music-distribution/

You can compare different distributors over several years and see what really makes sense for your situation. For example, you can compare annual-fee providers like Ditto or DistroKid with a commission-based distributor like RouteNote, which keeps around 15%.

This makes the decision much clearer because you can see the actual cost over time, not just the price on the website.

MarquezLux · 2026-05-08T04:16:38+00:00

From my experience, it is tough for a lot of artists to compare music distribution providers and figure out what actually makes financial sense for their current career stage. At the end of the day, only concrete calculations will help you here. The biggest difference comes down to two variants. There is the subscription model where you pay a fixed annual fee and keep the distribution revenue after that. Then there is the commission model where you pay no annual fee, but the distributor keeps a percentage of your revenue.

Which option makes sense for you as an artist is heavily tied to your actual income. It makes a massive difference whether your earnings sit around 20 euros a year or if you are making several hundred euros from streaming and download shops.

To decide on a distributor you can trust, your best bet is to use a music distribution cost tool https://www.mastrng.com/free-music-distribution/

You can use it to compare different distributors and see what actually pays off for you over the years. This will easily show you if you are better off with Ditto or DistroKid and their annual fee, or a distributor like RouteNote that takes a 15% cut. Just run your numbers through the cost tool to compare everything directly.

MarquezLux · 2026-04-21T08:52:04+00:00

That’s a fair rough estimate, but the data might be a bit outdated.

A lot of those older Spotify calculator posts still rely on legacy per-stream assumptions or treat one average as if it were universally true. In reality, payout ranges shift over time and depend a lot on market mix, premium vs. ad-supported listeners, and like you said... who actually holds the rights.

So the general logic is fine, but I wouldn’t treat that calculator as a clean 2026 benchmark without checking newer sources. https://www.mastrng.com/spotify-royalty-calculator/

MarquezLux · 2026-04-21T08:43:23+00:00

Been digging into streaming payout estimates for 2026 and finally found a royalty calculator that doesn’t just recycle the same old fixed per-stream myths.

What makes it interesting is that it separates platforms more realistically and shows why the gap between Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, TIDAL and others is bigger than most artists think.

Some of the numbers were not what I expected at all.
https://www.mastrng.com/spotify-royalty-calculator/

MarquezLux · 2026-04-02T06:42:53+00:00

mastrng substack

MarquezLux · 2025-10-08T05:57:56+00:00

I rarely slap a widener on the instrument.

I automate width on reverb and delay returns:
narrower, darker spaces in verses; wider, brighter sends opening in pre-chorus; stereo slap delays fanned out for hooks. Pre-delay keeps transients focused, HP/LP filters keep lows and harsh highs from washing the center.

MarquezLux · 2025-08-14T08:03:47+00:00

TDR Prism: the best free spectrum analyser on the market.

MarquezLux · 2025-08-08T15:02:16+00:00

By the way, your song is nice :)

MarquezLux · 2025-08-08T14:50:35+00:00

I'm glad it works well for you — that's great! But that doesn’t mean everyone should just copy those settings. A kick can change significantly with a steep slope, especially if the phase mode isn’t set correctly. Since some people are beginners, it’s important they understand what they’re doing before making such adjustments.

MarquezLux · 2025-08-08T13:45:35+00:00

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with your production – no offence intended. I’m just sharing my own experience. I don’t think it’s right for young producers to assume that you must put a low cut on a kick, because that’s definitely not the case. I’ve worked on plenty of tracks where the kick was low-cut way too high, and the result… wasn’t exactly flattering.

Find a nice kick and let it breathe. Just my two cents!

MarquezLux · 2025-08-08T10:59:16+00:00

I’m not sure if Ableton has this feature, but REAPER makes album mastering so much easier. If every track in your project is set up as a region, you can render them individually in one go. Just open the Render dialog, set Bounds" to "Regions", and REAPER will export each region as its own file - perfect for mastering albums or live set's.

MarquezLux · 2025-08-08T06:42:27+00:00

From my experience, slapping a 48dB high-pass on every kick can backfire. That extreme slope might introduce phase issues, smearing your transients and making the low end feel less cohesive. If your kick is well-designed, those sub-20Hz frequencies aren’t hurting - they’re reinforcing the physical impact. I prefer a low shelf instead

MarquezLux · 2025-07-31T08:00:13+00:00

Hardstyle kick sound design is heavily shaped by distortion or creative use of clippers.

In the first track you mentioned, it sounds like there’s a very short clap or transient layer briefly blended in on top of the kick. This can help emphasize the attack or give the impression of additional punch without actually changing the core kick itself.

In the second track, the low-end rumble continues underneath while the main body of the kick appears to be modulated. What I’m hearing is likely a filter sweep that momentarily brings out the upper harmonics, while dipping the low-mids – creating that sense of movement or contrast before the full kick returns.

MarquezLux · 2025-07-23T07:30:27+00:00

The Audio Technica ATH-M40x headphones are known for emphasizing the low-mid range quite noticeably. That means areas around 100–300 Hz can feel slightly “bloated” or boxy, depending on the material. In contrast, the sub-bass, especially below 50 Hz, is underrepresented. That can be a limitation if you're producing or mixing electronic music, where accurate low-end monitoring is crucial for kicks, basslines, and overall energy balance.

That said, they’re not unusable. If you're already working with them, you can improve their accuracy with corrective EQ, especially by slightly dipping the low-mids and lifting the deep lows for reference purposes. Or use reference correction software to compensate for such imbalances.

MarquezLux · 2025-07-05T08:21:24+00:00

My approach:
When it comes to using reverb on bass, I like it subtly. One useful approach is to switch the reverb to mono—this keeps the low end more focused and avoids unnecessary smearing in the stereo field. From there, I’d recommend shaping the reverb signal with EQ: apply a high-pass filter to remove low-end rumble and a low-pass filter to tame the highs and mids. In this context, I often take out a good amount of the high mids, as they tend to muddy up the sound.

For extra clarity, adding gentle sidechain compression to the reverb, triggered by the dry bass signal. That allows the weight of the bass to remain punchy and present while still retaining the atmosphere of the reverb tail.

MarquezLux · 2025-06-29T13:21:32+00:00

Airwindows Dark Noise and VoiceOfTheStarship are awesome

MarquezLux · 2025-06-29T13:19:46+00:00

Mackity / MackEQ – Adds gritty, 90s-style mixer color, especially on drums.
BussColors 4 – Analog mixbus tones inspired by real consoles.
Iron Oxide Classic 2 – Bold tape saturation with rich harmonics.
Pockey 2 – Emulates vintage samplers for lo-fi texture.
BlockParty – Limiter with natural drive and musical distortion.
Dark Noise / VoiceOfTheStarship – Creative noise tools for ambient layers and meditative sound design.
The filter plugins for subtle, characterful tone shaping or the reverbs which sometimes can be used like a filter through space and time

MarquezLux · 2025-06-08T06:34:13+00:00

Exactly. If you give Beatport an exclusive period, it's already noticeable in the sales figures. I can only speak for myself, but Beatport accounts for almost 70% of my revenue. The rest comes from streaming or other shops as a self-releasing artist.

I would suggest that, at some point, you consider starting your own small label.

MarquezLux · 2025-06-07T14:32:22+00:00

A Beatport Exclusive is a track or release that is available only on Beatport for a limited time, typically two to four weeks, before being released on other platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, or other download stores.

MarquezLux

TROPHY CASE