"Enough to fuel the drive"

Hello Luca, thank you so much for the interview, we’ve been looking forward to this! While preparing, I couldn’t help but notice that your body of work is almost like a statement of sovereignty. Was I right?

After two albums as a solo artist, tired of having managers and record labels dictate my agenda, I decided to create a structure built by artists, for artists. Instead of knocking on doors, I built a door that others now come knocking on. I established an independent label and a recording studio designed to be completely self-sufficient. The studio acts primarily as a private facility for the label's output, though I do accept collaborations on select outside projects. I curate the entire production chain—from songwriting to recording, mixing, and mastering—right down to the manufacturing, which is exclusively on vinyl. So essentially, I am a recording engineer, mixer, and producer. And almost for the fun of it, I have amassed nearly 75 million streams and sold tens of thousands of records, while my music has found its way into TV series, films, video games, and commercials—all without ever selling out to a major label.

 

That is a really exciting credo! This ecosystem must’ve taken quite a while to build. What were the bumps in the road?

Bumps in the road? Endless. It has been an extremely long process spanning about a decade. From designing the studio to finding a reliable pressing plant, and then securing an extensive distribution network capable of getting the finished product into the very few 'right' stores that are still standing.

Somewhere along this supply chain, something always breaks. Especially in the beginning, you make wrong investments—from the gear chosen for the studio to the quantity of records pressed. The investment is never directly proportional to the expected return, at least not in the short term. In fact, accounts can be completely drained due to delayed payments or distributors collapsing overnight. Then, perhaps unexpectedly, a sync placement or a commissioned project comes along to provide the exact boost needed to get moving again.

Ultimately, just looking at the wall displaying all the records I’ve produced, or reading a comment from an enthusiastic fan, is enough to fuel the drive to keep pushing further.

 

 

That's a really inspiring attitude! Where is this all rooted? Tell us about your humble beginnings! 

Music has always been an integral part of my family life. Born in the late 70s, I grew up in an era where the hi-fi system was a standard household appliance, as common as a refrigerator or a television. Consequently, every home had a record collection, and my family's was certainly no different. My father was passionate about jazz, symphonic music, and classic 60s rock. Looking back a generation, my grandfathers performed in town bands—one on the flugelhorn, the other on the clarinet—so my brother and I naturally displayed an early inclination toward music. While I started by studying voice, I soon developed a fascination with the architecture of songs in general: the instrumentation, the arrangement, the sonic texture, and the recording itself.

 

Genre-wise, what is your main focus?

I am ranked among Italy’s leading collectors of rare grooves. I primarily listen to—and above all, research—soul music, soundtracks, psychedelic rock, jazz, and library music. This passion also led me to host various programs dedicated to music culture on the main national public radio station, a role I have held for the past 15 years. Consequently, I have always aimed to produce records that I would want to buy myself, drawing on historic recording and mixing techniques while striving to update them as much as possible.

 

You really are living and breathing music then! Do I see a pattern of attraction to retro musical styles?

I believe the attitude and mindset prevalent in studios before the advent of digital technology resulted in a body of work that was palpable, undeniably emotional, and remains unsurpassed to this day. Those records are snapshots of shared moments, of exchange; they carry a high emotional weight.

Too often today, records are merely collages of disparate moments, artificially stitched together to coexist digitally. It reminds me of the noise cancellation feature on smartphones, which prevents us from understanding where the person on the other end actually is. 'Where are you?' is the question we ask most frequently precisely because the surrounding environment has been stripped away. A record is exactly the same. I want to perceive a space. The absence of this three-dimensionality bores me.

 

I can imagine how well this translates to your work. What are your most cherished projects?

Highlights definitely include the restoration and transfer from the original master tapes of Piero Umiliani’s Today’s Sound and Piero Piccioni’s Camille 2000. Both were released as limited vinyl editions and sold out in a matter of hours.Turning to production and recording, I would mention Pete Molinari’s album Wondrous Afternoon and my own latest album, Black Waves, which features the legendary Funk Brother Dennis Coffey as a guest.

 

 

 

I’m genuinely so happy to hear more and more people carrying the torch again for vinyl. Tell us a little bit about the vinyl manufacturing side of your business!

Someone once said that for a work of art to stand the test of time, it must be physically produced in at least 500 copies. This is the minimum standard I adopt for every release: we start with a pressing run of 500 vinyl records.

Pressing vinyl is no simple task, especially when catering to an audiophile niche. Once the lacquer is cut—the last crucial step under my direct control before manufacturing—one must rely on the right pressing plant. The vinyl resurgence has attracted many impromptu entrepreneurs and brokers seeking profit at the expense of quality. However, I have established a relationship of deep trust with a European plant that guarantees me an excellent product and, crucially, a reasonable turnaround time.

Obviously, a rejected test pressing can extend the timeline, but generally, it takes about 4 to 5 weeks from shipping the lacquer to receiving the physical records. The final step is simply logistics: separating the stock to be shipped to the distributor from the copies kept at HQ for archival purposes and direct sales.

 

 

Your Buso desk is quite the special one!

I chose a bespoke setup designed to accommodate two Studer 961 consoles linked as master and slave, featuring ample rack space for my comprehensive patch bay and essential outboard gear. This arrangement has provided me with unprecedented flexibility, order, and a speed of execution that I didn't have before.

 

How did you get your hands on these consoles and what made you choose them?

The Studer 961/962 consoles were commissioned starting in the late 1980s by RAI (the Italian national broadcaster), cementing the commercial partnership between the two companies. Designed primarily for broadcast, they were extremely versatile and produced in a myriad of different configurations: versions with 4 masters, 2 masters, 3 masters, and either 2 or 4 buses—following a philosophy similar to what SSL was developing in the UK at the time.

Manufactured until the early 90s and adopted not only by RAI but also by broadcasters in South Korea and Canada, they were eventually decommissioned to make way for digital technology.

My mission was to find frames populated with full mono channel strips featuring both EQ and mic preamps. It was no easy task; it took years to assemble, particularly finding an "expansion" frame and the specific link card to connect it. That’s not to mention the complete refurbishment required, which involved replacing the infamous paper capacitors (RIFA)—components notorious for exploding and releasing a thick, noxious black smoke.

 

 

I think I speak for a lot of readers when I say it’d be great to try these beauties at least once! Who influenced your work from the musical perspective?

Talking about producers and composers: David Axelrod, Piero Piccioni. Talking about singers: Leon Thomas, Bill Withers, Jerry Butler, Curtis Mayfield.

 

What about from the audio perspective?

I have had the pleasure of collaborating with the Daptone Records crew, truly a model of independence and resilience built on the blueprint of historic American labels like Motown, Stax, and Fame. Gabe Roth, Thomas Brenneck, and Leon Michels were the first to prove that it is still possible today to make music with that spirit and in a completely organic way. I also look with great admiration at creatives such as Danger Mouse, Inflo, Tchad Blake, Jack Antonoff, and Ben Baptiste.

 

Besides the beautiful Studers, what other outboard gear do you use?

Okay, so for mixing, I rely on the two Studer 961 consoles in a master/slave configuration, providing a total of 32 channels converted by two 16-channel Lynx Aurora TB units. The patch bay allows me to integrate a curated selection of outboard gear, including two classic Pultec EQP-1A equalizers, a Klein & Hummel 100, Highland Dynamics compressors (BG1, BG2), API 1532 preamps, and a wide range of analog delays and reverbs.For the front-end, I use an additional Studer 961 on a rolling cart, connected to a third Lynx Aurora unit and a 16-track tape recorder running on either 1-inch or 2-inch tape, depending on the project.

 

 

Your workflow must be really smooth and thought-through with all this careful planning!

Buso Audio gives me instant access to the patch bay with everything at my fingertips, eliminating unnecessary clutter and distractions. This means staying sharp, especially during stressful moments—like when you have a group of musicians impatient to record or try out new solutions. An organized environment lets me solve problems in no time, allowing me to focus entirely on creativity.

 

I take, this means you often record groups as well? What are the challenges for you, when you have to record more than just one person?

I have a flexible space capable of accommodating even substantial ensembles, such as string octets or even a big band. When recording groups, only one thing truly matters: the monitoring provided to the musicians. The better they hear, the better they perform. After testing every system available, I commissioned a custom, extremely simple solution derived from the exceptional headphone output of the Aurora Lynx. Each musician receives a personal box with two knobs: one controls the stereo mix I send, and the other controls the volume of their own instrument.

Headphone selection is equally crucial. Not everyone is comfortable with fully closed-back headphones, so having a variety of types on hand is essential. Naturally, when recording ensembles of this size, you must be incredibly fast at troubleshooting—whether it's a bad cable, broken headphones, or a noisy mic. Without the organization my Buso Audio setup provides, handling this would be impossible.

 

 

Is your approach more analog, then? Or is there some space for digital solutions as well?

I take a hybrid approach. There is no denying the evolution of digital or the transparency of today’s converters; digital is a powerful creative tool. That said, I simply cannot picture myself mixing a record staring at a laptop screen. My approach is to record analog, then transfer to digital. This accelerates editing, allowing for restructuring and rewriting that would be impossible with razor blade and tape. Beyond that, gear is a statement of identity and cultural roots. A glance at a producer's rack reveals their 'sonic compass,' their attitude, and their influences. A commercial facility's equipment list is vastly different from the curated outboard of a creative producer."I believe the future will continue to track a parallel course between analog and digital. However, there will be increasingly less room for low-end consumer gear, which will be completely superseded by digital tools that are simply more cost-effective and offer higher performance. I foresee a scenario where mass industrial production fades, while true craftsmanship and 'boutique' products are rewarded.

 

 

AI is gaining more and more ground these days in the music industry. How do you see it affecting this segment?

AI is just another tool. Photography didn’t replace fine art, and AI won’t replace music production. It will undoubtedly save time, freeing up room for creativity by liberating us from the tedious tasks once reserved for assistants and tape ops. AI, viewed as an agent that 'acts on behalf of,' is an excellent asset for a recording studio and for creatives in general—provided we remember that without the right prompts, it goes nowhere. 

There is a world of difference between a prompt for SUNO written by a composer with a grasp of harmony and arrangement, and one written by the local butcher. Photography didn’t replace fine art, and AI won’t replace music production.

 

I love this approach! Thank you Luca again for sitting down with us, and now it is my honor to ask you for a song to our playlist!

I’ll pick “Daughters of the darkness” from my last album!