Sound engineer

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My today's setup is built around a native Pro Tools 11 & 12 system, several analog gears (a vintage Studer 089 mixing console from the '60s, and a bunch of preamps, compressors, EQs, various processors and channel strips from Universal Audio, Avid/Digidesign, TL-Audio, SSL, ART, Line6, Tech21, Alesis, and custom-built equipments), and the Universal Audio UAD2 & Apollo hardware/software platform (12 cores total). I use a Solid State Logic ethernet-controlled superanalogue router, coupled with Apollo's and RME converters, to flexibly patch my hardware as physical front-end or insert for both recording/tracking and mixing. As an alternative to analogue tracking, I sometimes choose the UNISON technology from UA (Neve 1073 preamp especially). A good selection of microphones (Neumann, AKG, Oktava, Marshall Electronics, Shure) complete the recording chain. I'm used to build my sound starting from tracking, rather than recording "aseptical" as per today's trend; I love to record tracks with a very well defined timbrical character from the beginning, using colours from preamps and compressors. This requires professional skills, good outboards, and clear ideas. One workstation (Mac Pro) manages all analog routing via the SSL, and is equipped with Pro Tools 11 as well; a second one (rackmounted Xeon Win10) hosts the Pro Tools 12 native environment and the UAD2 DSPs. I'm used to digitally mix and sum ITB on Pro Tools, making quite large use of DSP-powered plugins, combined with analog outboards as physical inserts. About monitoring, I use RME DACs and a full-analog monitor controller to feed 3 copules of monitors (2.1 nearfield system made from Adam A7x + Adam Sub7 is the most used), in an acoustically treated and properly designed control room, plus AKG and KRK headphones.

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: I started to study music in 1976, I spent a lot of my youth listening all kind of music and playing, studying and eventually teaching modern guitar and improvisation. I entered for the first time in a professional recording studio in 1990 for a demo, and I immediately felt in love with this world, because it was a perfect synthesis of my two main passions (music and technology). I kept on frequenting studios and engineers for years, as a musician and beholder; in the mean time I graduated in engineering, and kept on playing, arranging, composing, in parallel with more technical activities (including science of materials, industrial processes, quality/environment/safety, acoustic, sound and vibration, forensic consulting). I started in the '90s to build my own home-studio, starting from a Fostex 4-tracks tape recorder with a mixer and some outboards, and step-by-step following the evolution of music production from analog to digital domain, up today.

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: I can offer different "levels" of service, starting from being a simple recording, mixing and/or mastering engineer for a couple of hours, up to a full artistic production. Besides to be an engineer I'm a musician, arranger and producer since several years, so one of my typical works (and the one I most love) is to offer a completely produced finished-work starting from a rough idea. Often clients come to me with some words and a bunch of chords, and go back home with a complete finished song, arranged, played by professional musicians, recorded, mixed and mastered.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both worlds have great features as well as weak points. My approach (that's quite common today), is to join analog and digital getting the best from each domain. Tracking, especially, is an activity where I can't live without analog gears building my sound.

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: Pop, rock, acoustic, jazz, folk