Exposed Vocals Interviews CWS
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
CWS: Hi guys and nice to meet you, I’m Riccardo, an italian music producer.
I’m 23 years old and I live in a small town near Treviso and now I will tell you my story:
Since I was a child, I’ve grown in this town, Biancade, located in the countryside of Veneto, in the north of Italy.
Well, I started approaching the world of music at the age of 16 (too late?) thanks to a friend, who made me listen to many indie/electro artists (such as Digitalism, Daft Punk, Klaksons, Late of The Pier,…): a new world was opening in front of me, because before knowing him, my musical universe was ONLY focused on punk and rock songs, yeah!
About one year later, I came across Fl Studio, the very first program I used to create my music.
I think it is one of the best software to start with, if you are a beginner or not, because it provides all you need to create a track…And it was love at first sight: I realized that music production IS my way and after all these years I’m still sure about that.
Immediately, it was not so easy to find my kind of sound, a genre of music which I could feel mine.
After so much time passed on YouTube and SoundCloud, I started appreciating dubstep music and – in particular – melodic dubstep, this genre had finally all I was looking for.
In the last years, I also tried to attend a music school situated in a near city, I wanted to learn the theory of music (notes, chords, harmony,…), but it was not so easy to balance working time with the moments of study…So, after many months I had to quit. It was in the very next period that I realized how difficult it is to follow your own way in this country, unfortunately the way I choose (or did it choose me?) is not so easy, but I don’t give up.
So, nowadays I think that I’ve really found my aim in music, because it makes me feel happy and free and the passion I feel when I create a track is a feeling that I can’t feel in any other moment.
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Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
CWS: My name? It contains all I want to make people feel while listen to my tracks: a Chilled Wave Sound, easy!
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
CWS: Well, I think Internet is probably the best channel where an artist can promote himself, because it provides a very wide variety of websites to the users, in which they can post their works, and if we’re talking about YouTube, for example, we all know that every day, billions of people spend a part of their time in watching videos on it. There’s also the possibility of sharing your works in the Net, so you can get more visibility and, of course, sell them to get money!
First of all, I’ve always published my tracks to get viewers, feedbacks and comments. I also gave the opportunity to download for free some of them because I think that when you are a beginner, you need a bit of humility and focus yourself on the promotion of your music to as many people as possible rather than to sell it…Just think about it: who will spend 2/3 euros to buy a track made by an unknown artist? If one person starts making music only for money, it’s better that they stop immediately and go to sell tomatoes.
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?
CWS: Trust yourself, first.
Then find the time to improve your skills in every useful moment, when possible, and find a label which supports and promotes you, but especially TRY, TRY and TRY AGAIN!
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
CWS: First, I need calm and silence to create a track. I love going for a walk in a random landscape and take inspiration from all I can find there, I want to get in touch with nature and its sounds and bring them into the piano to represent that reality and make people feel the same!
There is a small town, Casier, not so far from my home where I am used to going to take inspiration, but I don’t want to say anything more just for now…
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
CWS: Of course I have it, you can find my tracks on SoundCloud here:
https://soundcloud.com/riccardo-dal-gobbo
It is the first website where I created an account for sharing my works,but I’ve opened a channel on YouTube too:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOab7pC1LH-qb7-5-JXo9ng
Here, in addition to my music, you can watch my video tutorials about the use of the software Fl Studio (I want to publish also ableton ones, when I’ll be more skilled with it) and many explanations regarding the creation of the sound by using a virtual synth (I’ve just published a few videos until now, but I want to create a real “virtual library” as soon as possible).
These ones are the main websites where I post my creations.
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
CWS: “OH MY GOD I’M RICH NOW!!”
Heh, well…if I had all this money I think that one part of it would be spent in hardware/software, sure, because you can make music using only a computer, yeah, but quality means results, and I always look for the best for my music.
Another big part of it would be given to charity, because I love make people feel better if possible and this is a way to make it.
But I also want to save a big part of it to TRAVEL THE WORLD, unfortunately I’ve always been here in Italy and I WANT to see other countries in addiction to mine….so, where’s that half a million dollars?
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
CWS: As I told previously, I think Internet is the best way to make promotion because, thanks to it, you can give people from all over the world the opportunity to listen to your last work while you’re simply sitting in your chair in that second.
But, ok, you can post your track on YouTube….and then? If you want people to know you, the best thing you can do is to find a label which could give your tracks the possibility to be heard in very different platforms/players/channels under its influences and so, extending your visibility. If you want to send a track to a label you must be sure that it sounds good and it is “clean” – imagine sending a bad-recorded song to an important promoting label, do you think it would be accepted?
I don’t think so.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
CWS: I’m working every day, new chills are coming, I promise! But I don’t really like to talk about my new tracks before publishing, that would ruin the surprise.
Don’t you think so?
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
CWS: This is a very good question!
Probably I would work as technical designer, but I wouldn’t be satisfied as I am now.
I can’t see myself without music in my life!
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
CWS: It’s not so easy to manage all the rest, sometimes during the day many activities take the time which would be dedicated to music production…I’m trying to spend my time in the best way to reduce these situations as minimum as possible.
But I’m young, I think I have more possibilities than older people who begin make music, and I am going to keep this constantly in my mind, especially when bad moments arrive.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
CWS: New ideas, new music (not necessary only chill), new influences, new unknown artists.
I think the world of commercial music is ruining and manipulating too much our perception of the sound, there are many and many musical worlds which we still don’t know (me neither!), but this is only my opinion.
Thanks to Exposed Vocals for the opportunity they gave me!