Dice Wikipedia che “Conegliano (Conejàn in Venetian, sometimes improperly referred to as Conegliano Veneto) is an Italian municipality of 34,416 inhabitants in the province of Treviso in Veneto. It is the most populous municipality in the province after the capital”. Then he talks in depth about its fantastic Prosecco, the widespread well-being in the area, and its Jewish community.
He doesn’t mention, but we’ll add that, the role that the Venetian city has played in some of the most important musical projects of recent years. A story in which, in addition to hard work, chance plays an important role: the one that led to the meeting of two people from Conegliano (Wikipedia always says, which adds that the patron saint is San Leonardo) on the other side of the ocean.
The first protagonist of this story is Maurizio “Irko” Seraa sound engineer who already owned a space in Treviso, who in 2006 flew to the United States, first to NY and then to Los Angeles, where he manages Beat3a very popular studio. Some names he’s worked with? Kanye West, Jay-Z, Andre 3000, The Weeknd, The Dilated Peoples, Mac Miller. And pretty much everyone else.
At one point, under the Californian sun, he meets a fellow citizen who has recently arrived in the city and takes him to work with him. His name is Stefano Moroand today he too is a name that counts and a lot in the American rap game, a very competitive championship where he has established himself thanks to his work on the mix and master of monumental albums. Like A wound e Vultures Vol. 1 at Kanye (which has a lot to do with Italy), just to mention an artist who is half man and half legend.
Stef, as everyone calls him, has got his hands on the music of many other big names, like Wiz Khalifa. And then there are the Italians. The very good Diss Gachawho told us about him here, and who also connected with Wiz himself in the last album. But also Vegas Jones, Tony Boy, Ele A and many others.
In the field of sound engineering, our country has absolute excellence. In the photo that opens the article, in addition to Moro, on the left, and Irko, in the middle, there is Riccardo Damian, with whom we had spoken here starting from “his Uptown Funk. We exchanged a few words with Stef Moro about his story, his role. And Conegliano, of course.
How is this story that you and your partner are from Conegliano but you met in LA?
Exactly! At 21 I went to Los Angeles without contacts or money, and not even good English, I knew I had a fellow villager who worked in New York with Jay-Z, Diddy and Kanye but I discovered on Facebook that he had recently moved to Los Angeles , so I wrote to him, and after meeting at a Chick Fil A in Hollywood way back in January 2014, IRKO and I immediately started collaborating and he gave me the great opportunity to be my mentor, which for a kid from Conegliano lost in Los Angeles with audio knowledge but no Professional Industry experience, it was clearly a miracle and I’m happy that this is now a 10 year collaboration.
What place is Conegliano?
Conegliano is a small town with 30,000 inhabitants that certainly doesn’t revolve around music, I still grew up with a company of underground musicians, producers and rappers and in those years they used to hold many events and it gave me the opportunity to gain experience with hundreds and hundreds of songs of different genres, to the point of specializing in what is currently my full time job.
How and where do you approach music?
Thanks to the fact that my father is a pianist/singer, I was introduced to music at a very young age, but my interest began after I was lent some CDs by a cousin after a trip to New York, they were classics between hip hop and rock, 8Mile DVD, Illmatic, Hybrid Theory, Chocolate Starfish, Antichrist Superstar and a Lenny Kravitz compilation. Given the crossover fashion of those times I hadn’t mentally separated the two genres, so I started playing the guitar!
How do you decide to become a sound engineer?
When I was little I didn’t have a good idea of what a Mix Engineer was, I was very passionate about sounds, the electric guitar allows you to experiment a lot with effects, later I started buying equipment to be able to record myself, then my band for rehearsals, then official recordings, then friends, only at a certain point at 19 years old I found myself faced with the choice of taking responsibility for a very large studio with 2 partners or continuing with my bands, I spent every day and night in that studio for more than two years before moving to America, even now after 10 years I don’t regret that choice
Where did you study?
Having left school at 15 to take on various musical jobs (the first was selling musical instruments in a shop in my city) I never had the time to undertake a long-term school, but I pushed myself to take all the courses possible, and in addition to the audio course of my music school at the time (MMI Institute) I followed almost all the Pro Tools certifications, Various Masterclasses, and individual lessons with some colleagues. If not the basics regarding audio, almost all my work experience both in recording and mixing however comes from the apprenticeship in Los Angeles.
What did you learn from working in the United States?
I’ll tell you point by point.
– To specialize.
In America there is much more of a team spirit even when making music, you almost always find yourself with new people and whatever a person calls their role, that remains, there is total respect for the parts, you almost never see a producer recording or mixing, or an engineer making beats, a manager talking about audio, etc.
– The shape.
It is very important, if your beat is beautiful but you send a link that expires after a week, you do not put the producer’s @ Instagram, key and bpm, you have much less chance of having a placement than a base that is qualitatively even worse but presented well, this obviously applies in every field.
– Relations.
The music industry is a network of people who work together to create and sell musical art, many times the difference between a kid in his bedroom making music and a famous artist is just Relationships
– Grateful and honest.
Although I also thought that this could be a huge industry, in fact it is not like that and be honest and grateful people.
Three advantages and three disadvantages of the American rap music market?
Advantages I would say are economies, internationality and history. Defects are difficult to say considering that Rap is African-American culture, however since the pandemic I would say longevity, monetization for non-mainstream artists, dangerousness in certain cases/situations.
Did you find it more difficult to work with Italian artists than with American ones?
I was only focused on the American market, not having any Italian clients or credits at the time, I took a break between 2015 and 2022, until Andry The Hitmaker and Vegas Jones came to visit me in Los Angeles and after my trip to Italy a year ago while I was recording Ye in Florence, I connected with many Italian artists and producers and now I’m working on several records of which I’m very proud.
How did you meet Kanye?
Irko threw me into the project again in 2021, at the beginning I had to go to Wyoming for the recordings but it didn’t go through, luckily IRKO mixed A wound and made me part of the project, then during the recordings of Vultures 1 together with Ye and Ty$, and since then we have been working, either with them or with the writers and producers of the team
What is it like working with him?
Working remotely with him is not too different from working with many mainstream artists, being in his hotel room for months recording is certainly very demanding, few hours of sleep, always ready for anything, many empty hours, and the best thing is knowing and working with all the different teams of creatives chosen by him. My main job is mixing and mastering songs and I don’t have much interest in following just one artist, however it is and has been one of the experiences that have grown me the most, also I saw TY$ work for the first time in my life, amazing how he can record himself and close a song every 15 minutes from scratch!
What have you learned professionally from Wiz Khalifa?
Don’t take the industry too seriously, Wiz is a person who has always brought his old friends with him rather than other celebrities, when he’s not working he prefers to spend his time in the studio or at home with friends, at the same time he always finds the opportunity to record at least 4/5 songs a day, and if he doesn’t have beats or ideas he simply asks in the room if anyone has something to listen to for him, that’s how the featuring with Diss Gacha started.
An Italian who rocks?
Tony Boy, Goat and that’s it. Geolier, only after working with him in Naples I understood how strong he is at rapping, nothing to envy to the top American players, beautiful person. Thasup, I find his 2 albums masterpieces, I’m curious about how his art will transform in the next 10 years, for me the Italian Kanye.
What do you want to do in the future?
My ultimate goal is to buy a home/studio in the Hollywood Hills and gradually work more and more as an executive producer and continue to work on music I like with artists I respect.
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The article The new capital of American rap is Conegliano Veneto by Dario Falcini appeared on Rockit.it on 2024-06-28 15:26:00
