Kling Klang Studio

Kling Klang (an onomatopœia; in English: ding dong) began as a studio in 1970; the band marked this as the real beginning of Kraftwerk.

[1] The studio began as an empty room in a workshop premises located in an industrial part of Düsseldorf.

[1] The building exterior was clad in yellow tiles with a large electric shuttered doorway leading to an enclosed courtyard.

[1] During the making of their third album, they purchased their first commercial synthesisers for the studio, the Minimoog and EMS Synthi AKS.

[5] Wolfgang Flür had joined the band at this time and was using a custom built electronic drum system.

[8] Hütter and Schneider had commissioned Matten & Wiechers, the Bonn based synthesizer studio, to design and build two "Synthanorma" (32-step music sequencers).

The Kling Klang 12k PA system was also designed to be portable and matched the grey colour of the equipment frames.

[1] In September 2007, the Neuss-Grevenbroicher Zeitung reported that Ralf Hütter had purchased property space in a proposed new commercial property development ("Mollsfeld") in Meerbusch-Osterath, about 10 kilometers west of Düsseldorf, with the intention of building a new sound studio and office there, so that Kraftwerk's recording, merchandise, and administration can be managed from a single location.

[10] The move to the new premises was completed in mid-2009 and, as well as sound recording, the new Kling Klang includes a rehearsal space for the preparation of concert performances.