Exposed Vocals Interviews Ziu Dinu
My real name is Bernardino, Dino for friends, I was born 41 years ago in Cagliari, a nice city in Sardinia (Italy), a place with beaches, sun, sea, a beautiful place for holidays! And I still live here.I’m not a professional musician, my real profession is engineer and architect but I love to write and play music. Today is more simple to make music with pc, softwares and cheap hardwares and I think a lot of people can now express their creativity no matter what they are doing to live.My first contact with music (to play) was when I was 13, when my father bought me an electric guitar. For years I played with friends but not for an audience. I appreciate many musical generes, rock (in particular 70’s), metal, 80’s pop and electronic music.I really love music of artists like Jean Michel Jarre, Tomita, Wendy Carlos or like Giorgio Moroder, Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. Today I think that the electronic music panorama is very broad and it’s not simple to find a musician in particular but I really like composition of Hudson Mohawke, Girafage or Aphex Twin.Electronic is the music I try to write today. I’m not a “live-man”, I prefer to compose. The music I make is an electronic sound with space feelings, with particular rythmics and reverbe leads. I love synthesizers, analogic and digital but I play electric guitar and bass too.
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Ziu Dinu: My real name is Bernardino, Dino for friends, I was born 41 years ago in Cagliari, a nice city in Sardinia (Italy), a place with beaches, sun, sea, a beautiful place for holidays! And I still live here. I’m not a professional musician, my real profession is engineer and architect but I love to write and play music. Today is more simple to make music with pc, software and cheap hardware and I think a lot of people can now express their creativity no matter what they are doing to live. My first contact with music (to play) was when I was 13, when my father bought me an electric guitar. For years I played with friends but not for an audience. I appreciate many musical genres, rock (in particular 70’s), metal, 80’s pop and electronic music. I really love music of artists like Jean Michel Jarre, Tomita, Wendy Carlos or like Giorgio Moroder, Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. Today I think that the electronic music panorama is very broad and it’s not simple to find a musician in particular but I really like composition of Hudson Mohawke, Girafage or Aphex Twin. Electronic is the music I try to write today. I’m not a “live-man”, I prefer to compose. The music I make is an electronic sound with space feelings, with particular rhythmic and reverb leads. I love analog and digital synthesizers, but I play electric guitar and bass too.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Ziu Dinu: It’s a Sardinian slang. Many years ago a friend called me “Ziu Dinu” and I think that it’s nice as a nick name or as a brand. People are curious and ask me about it. In Italian is “Zio Dino” and in English sounds like “Uncle Dino”.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Ziu Dinu: It’s a double edged weapon. For me it is a great opportunity to publicize my works, for others is a way to saturate the market. If you take a look to soundcloud you can see how many people try to make music and it’s like an ocean. The money aspect is another problem. Me and many people like me have not the first objective to make money with music but professional musicians are not happy to offer their music for free.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Ziu Dinu: I’m a start-up too. I think people like me, who are trying to promote their music for the first time, have a big occasion today because it’s simpler than the past and if you are a good musician you can stand out in a crowd.
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Ziu Dinu: It’s fun! In my head a motif borns, then quickly I take all my instruments, my PC and becoming to write, write, erase, write, add notes, pause, bass, leads, rhythmic and… the result is another music not the one I was thinking of!!! But it’s nice too 😀
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Ziu Dinu: I have a domine but I do not have time to work on a valid site. I use soundcloud, twitter and a facebook page. I have a page on cdbaby if someone likes to buy my music. One day I’ll try to work on my site too.
My soundcloud tracks page is: https://soundcloud.com/
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Ziu Dinu: Half million dollars… A large part for my family and a little part to upgrade my music instruments, to make another half million. 🙂
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Ziu Dinu: I had a twitter account for a long time but I had never used, Now I have discovered that it is a powerful way to get known, then facebook, soundcloud and this interview sure.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Ziu Dinu: I’m working on two tracks, one of these since a month. When I complete them, I will publish my work on soundcloud and cdbaby.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Ziu Dinu: I’m an engineer, it’s my main occupation.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Ziu Dinu: I reserve a part of the day to the music, I spend the rest of the day working and staying with my family.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Ziu Dinu: Stay tuned, Ziu Dinu is coming with new songs!