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I officially entered the world of the recording industry in April 1993 when I had an interview with Massimo Gabutti at the Bliss Corporation headquarters in Turin. I brought with me a tape on which I had recorded some songs made with a PC, a Cubase sequencer and a Yamaha TX 16W sampler.

 

As a child, my brother and I always played with a Bontempi pianola. My parents gave us a piano that I started to get my hands on before I even took lessons. As far as I can remember, I have always had music in my life, but it was while watching the film "Mozart" at the cinema that I felt the need to compose music for people. With the 80s and the new sounds deriving from the use of samplers and sequencers, this need of mine began to turn into an obsession (musically talking!)

 

I first met Massimo in April 1993. For months in my empty wallet I had been carrying a calling card that the synthesizer sales clerk from the "Scavino" musical instrument shop gave me. At the time I was studying a Pharmacy degree course, and as soon as I passed the physiology exam, I decided to dial the phone number. I don't know if it was Massimo, Jeffrey Jey (Gianfranco Randone), Maurizio Lobina or Roberto Molinaro who answered the phone, but important events followed that phone call.

 

When I joined the group, I was teamed up with Maurizio Lobina in order to learn the studio's equipment, and in September 1993 I had already composed Let me Be. From that moment all Da Blitz's productions and various remixes and collaborations with other projects flourished in the wake of the group's success. An example is the Bliss Team project whose members were Jeffrey Jey and Roberto Molinaro - at the end of 1992 they had covered Patti Smith's People Have The Power, which was the only project published up to that point.

 

Take My Way and Stay With Me represent the magic momentum for me too. It was during the promotional tour in Spain and France that, for show reasons, we extended the performance with two songs composed quickly in the studio. One of these was Movin' On. The other Black As A Shadow was never released.

 

 

Definitely the promotional trips to France and Spain. I remember in Valencia that today mourns the dead of the flood, we were invited to participate in a big dance festival in front of 10,000 people. The television experiences in some cult programs of that period such as Non è la RAI and meeting people who certainly made me grow intellectually.

 

Studio work in the 90s required a good amount of time and patience to get the sounds and arrangements that you all know. We had few tools but many ideas and above all a Juno 106 and an Akai S 1000 in addition to the Atari 8. Work in the studio today has not changed, especially for those who, like me, occasionally feel the nostalgia of turning a potentiometer or raising a fader. Remaining in the virtual sphere, however, the music does not change. The ultimate goal is to find the right balance between sound experimentation and pop music.

 

The workstation was represented by the Logic-equipped Atari. Amidi pachbay on which Juno 106, Korg wavestation, Oberheim Matrix 1000, EMU procussion, yamaha tx81z converged and the Akai S1000 (of course). Personally, I enriched the equipment by purchasing a Prophet 5 in New York, then an Oberheim ob 8 and a small Korg MS10.

 

When my parents gave us the piano (1974/75), my brother and I started taking classical piano lessons, then solfeggio and practice. But it was in the 80s that I was attracted by those sounds that were so sharp and completely different from analogue sounds. So together with my brother Michelangelo we became passionate about that world of computers, synthesizers and samplers so as to be able to save up to buy the first sampler, a Yamaha TX16W connected to a PC equipped with Cubase. This was my first real setup which allowed me, in the room of my apartment in Turin, to prepare the tape to bring to the first meeting with Massimo Gabutti.

 

Thanks for the compliment. I believe that to be a good, successful producer, it's not just compositional skill or technique in using softwear or hardwear that counts. You need to have the humility to accept criticism from those you play your product to. Team work is fundamental. Let your colleagues listen to your music. Even the opinion of someone who never gets a hit is important!

 

I believe that the greatest accomplishment cannot be identified in individual achievement, since when working in a team, you can never say that the success of a song is only due to the singing, a particular sound or the final mixing. When I left Bliss Corporation this value was still intact. After the success of Eiffel 65 and the phenomenon Gabry Ponte, I can't say the same. The longevity of these two projects, which have become super popular all over the world, are intrinsically linked to the work that, in my small way, I have done at Bliss Corporation! Personally, however, I am still working to reach that goal that you kindly defined 'accomplishment.'

My presence in Turin, being Apulian from Taranto, was aimed at obtaining a degree in Pharmacy, and this course was interrupted when I landed at Bliss Corporation. In 2002 I graduated in Pharmacy and I am currently the manager of a large pharmacy in Taranto but I continue to produce music undaunted.

 

What I love as a composer and producer is studio work. It was when I worked in Turin and it still is today. I'm not attracted to the psychedelic flashes and lights of disco parties and large concert events. I leave that to the DJs. The work of the composer and sound programmer is completely different.

 

Until a few years ago it was important to have a basic piano training and listen a lot. But they tell me that today it's enough to have an Ableton Live and tons of ready-made arrangements to make a hit. I hardly believe it! However, I must say that in some musical fields it is not so important to know how to play a musical instrument or to know how to read the notes on a staff. In some cases it is enough to have ghost writers and some trendy equipment. A little investment in the productions created and as they say: "Les Jeux sont faits".

 

The advice I would like to give to those guys who want to try their hand at the world of record production is obviously to create a good work team. Passion first and foremost. Sharing ideas and surrounding yourself with friends you can trust. Possibly with a good record producer. This is what happened to me and what I feel like sharing with aspiring producers.

 

In this phase of my artistic life I am very attentive to what the recording world offers. I'm talking about the dance and electronic music area more generally. The sound quality of the products I listen to is remarkable. You have to adjust your standard to those levels. The collaboration with old friends like Max Aqualuce of DJs from Mars or with Maury Arena, one of the historic DJs of BlissCo encourages me to do more and better. After all, even one's mental schemes need to be modernized and what might have seemed current after a year is no longer so.

 

Generally when I work on a new track, I don't have the ambition to finish it. It all starts very naturally. I put my hands on the keyboard, try a few chords, experiment with some synths. I never start from the idea of having to compose something. I don't have a record producer nagging me about the new record release. Therefore the creative process is totally free from economic constraints. When the spark strikes and the muse knocks on the door, I am ready, armed with my studio and my passion.

 

I just mentioned the DJs from Mars, however I would like to create a new Eiffel 65 song or a collaboration with Gabry Ponte since the latter, above all, would have some debt to myself.

 

If I could go back I would tell my younger self to believe a little more in your abilities and not to take for granted that the good you do for others will one day be repaid.

 

The biggest lesson I've learned in my career as a musician is that success goes to your head and usually isolates you because you start to think that those who hang around you are only doing it for your fame and your money. Luckily this is an experience that I have never had, neither in terms of fame nor in terms of money, but I know someone who has had this fate. Jokes aside, from my life as a musician I have learned that composing music is independent of the economic and visibility benefits that can arise from making a hit. I personally compose for free.

 

I find there are a lot of interesting things in European dance music. Psy trance fascinates me but I don't dislike projects like Imagine Dragons, Purple Disco Machine, Ofenbach, Peggy Gou, Meduza and Empire of the Sun.

 

My goal for 2025 is to have a hit, which contradicts the answer I gave to the question above about valuable lessons!

 

   

 

 

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