Why Simple Life Studio?

Well, I´m Toby Schuetgens, born in the 80´s in germany. Currently I´m living the real country life with my wife on a tiny horse ranch.

Next to being a horseman I´ve always been a musician. I started to play guitar at the age of six at a classic music school at first. Later I played in a couple bands, took more lessons also on electric and acoustic guitar and fell in love with country music.

During the 90´s I also started to record my own music. In the beginning on an 8-track tape recorder but also on a DAW. During 2000 - 2020 I dedicated my life to the horses and the music took a backseat. I still played guitar and tried to record now and then, but it has not been my main driving force.

Until 2021, when I found out how easy it is nowadays to publish music on streaming platforms as an independent artist. From that day on I was on fire about the music again and I started to set up a new homestudio, recorded and published a lot of stuff and started a new education to become a professional audio engineer.

And here we are, I´m now sitting in my studio and looking forward to work with you on your music :-)

As even Lenny Kravitz once said: "Don´t be afraid to keep it simple!"

We life in a world where everything seems to be more appearances than reality. But this is not what I like to offer. That´s even not just me. I like it when things are true. And that´s also what I like to achieve with my sound. I believe in simplicity - I believe in what it is. I don´t impress with distraction from reality, I work out elements and emotions the way they are in a simple but effective way. It´s not my style to alienate sounds that far just to make them fit into what´s "modern" these days.

This is why my place is called "Simple Life Studio" - I´m living a simple country life and I´m not afraid to get my hands dirty out here and this kind of lifestyle reflects also in my work as a professional audio engineer.

My homestudio is a hybrid studio what means it combines the best elements of both worlds: analog and digital. A big part of my mixing and mastering is happening in the box but there is also some analog outboard gear for example to add flavor at some points and to get rid of the digital harshness.

The digital part makes a lot of things easier and cheaper. But sometimes it feels that there is something missing and that is where analog gear comes in to play. The analog gear makes a song feel more natural and organic sometimes.

These are the benefits of a hybrid studio where analog and digital gear comes together.

Absolutely yes. It's not necessarily about using tons of analog gear to achieve a high quality sound anymore. Many of world famous engineers, even grammy award winners, are mixing entirely in the box (on a computer) these days.

It's more about knowing how to properly use all the many possibilities we have now. When it comes to analog gear today it's more about adding tiny amounts of character every now and then and at the right places only when it fits properly.

Even though it's more about personal preferences, workflows and such when an engineer decides to mix in a box, on a huge analog console or in a hybrid studio what combines the best of both worlds.

In the end: you absolutely can expect high quality sounds.

That´s quite easy. You just reach out to me by the "inquiry" field above or you just shoot me a message either via WhatsApp or Social Media (all links are on this page). After that you´ll receive a link where you can upload your files with a short form to make sure all the needed information is attached. Once I got your files I´ll go through them and come back to you with the final mix or master.

When you are happy with the result you can go with it - if not, let me know what you would like to get changed until your happy with the final song.

As you might have noticed: I´m absolutely into country music and related genres like southern rock for example. I´m living this whole country life as long as I can think and of course it´s also about the music. Indeed I´m open for other genres too, but at my place it´s mainly about guitars, drums - organic instruments.

Because I´ve not that huge recording studio yet, I´m mainly focused on mixing and mastering songs either from independent artist who record on their own or even professional recorded tracks from other studios.

Find some references here (click here!)