Alberto Rizzo Schettino Interview on Nagamag

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Nagamag:
What are the genres that describe better your music style?

Alberto Rizzo Schettino:
I write original music for film and video games. I play piano and keyboards and in the years I have gathered quite a collection of synthesizers, guitar amps and FX pedals. This definitely drives my music towards those instruments as I like to mix elements of electronic music (ambient, downtempo, glitch etc.) with more traditional orchestral instruments (strings, brass, percussion) and ethnic sounds from Africa and the Middle East. I try and mangle these original acoustic sounds from world music to be 'assimilated' by the machines, while still retaining their contrasting features. I try to maintain a delicate and constant fight between an industrial, cyberpunk and somehow dystopian sound palette and a more organic, classical setup with roaring strings and epic orchestral elements. I guess a lot of my work with techno artists and the club scene plays a role in what I imagine would be the sound of the streets and the underground in a distant future.

Nagamag:
Few words about your musical background and career?

Alberto Rizzo Schettino:
I've worked as a pianist/keyboardist for artists, bands and recording studios, mostly as a session musician. I've had my good share of live gigs in rock, acid jazz and fusion setups in which I would bring my keybards, guitar amps and guitar pedals and kinda force the stage to accept my sounds. I am not a fan of playing 'realistic instruments' live, and unfortunately you can achieve pretty good ones these days with keyboards.. but for me it's either acoustic piano, vintage keys or straight up synthesizers and mangled sounds. There's no in-between. In 2007 I opened my own recording studio, called 'Fuseroom' and I started producing records and keeping the facility open to music education programs. In the past years I went back to my role of composer and joined some game development companies (among which were some good friends of mine, from high school) to write original music for their video games. Getting back to writing music by myself was an adventure and somehow reconnected me with an artistic self that I had kept asleep for a while. It was a good time to get back at it and I was able to use this momentum to release a new solo record, called 'Future in the Past', highlighting some of the most iconic elements of my sound and songwriting, in the soundtrack genre.

Nagamag:
Do you remember your first connection of love to music that was the right impact to be a music artist now?

Alberto Rizzo Schettino:
As a kid I was lucky to have friends who one day told me on the phone: "We're making a band. What do you want to play?". It was that simple. We wanted to move from air guitars and air drums using broomsticks and empty soda bottles to playing for real. I looked around, I had a small digital keyboard I had been playing since I was in primary school and decided that I wanted to play piano and go to a real teacher. I started both classical and modern piano together and never stopped taking lessons from the day. At around 18 I felt like I had to choose and was captivated by modern music. I've played in pop/rock bands, jazz ensembles, small freestyle and acid jazz bands etc. especially when I moved my beautiful (but small) town of Firenze (Italy) to continue studying in Los Angeles. I cannot remember how many people I've played with and whose projects I joined. From there on I kept on studying, moving cities, attending to more music academies in the US and in Europe. If there was one constant that never left me is that I do not partake in projects that I do not like. I just cannot do it. I've studied to be a professional musician and I am happy to provide others with my expertise but I have to hear some kind of pulse in the project. Exposure, fame, money, you name it.. they just do not cut it in the end as I cannot go to sleep and look at myself in the mirror if I am doing something I do not genuinely and directly enjoy. I guess that spontaneous phone call from my friends when we were kids really left a mark.

Nagamag:
Is there a cliché or recurring pattern in the way you come up with a new piece of music?

Alberto Rizzo Schettino:
With the passing of time (and things become more recurring or fixed, with deadlines, revisions, team discussion, production supervisors and so on) I noticed that I start working on a song only after I can hear it in my head 'enough', over the course of a couple days. It is kinda funny to say that but once I receive the initial brief for a new music project and the team or production sends me guidelines for the vibe they are looking for, I do not sit at the instrument and try to put down ideas. I just let things breathe for a couple days and I start thinking about a tune. It might happen at the worst time or before falling asleep. If the idea is good, in a couple days I can always recall the main theme and at least the B-section that answers it. That is usually the right time for me to sit down, turn my computer on and start writing music.

Nagamag:
If you only had to keep one musical instrument, what would it be?

Alberto Rizzo Schettino:
This would be very challenging. I certainly consider the acoustic piano as my foundation but I have so many instruments that I like for their specific sound palette, some of which have almost healing properties when played, in my opinion. I would have a very hard time parting from my Voyager, Polysix, Juno-6 and Hammond, as well. Please do not make choose! ;)

Nagamag:
Most artists have a favorite song from a different music genre than the one they are producing music for... Which is yours?

Alberto Rizzo Schettino:
Andy Summers Mysterious Barricades

Nagamag:
Of Course Nagamag would love to listen also which track from a similar artist you admire?

Alberto Rizzo Schettino:
Ola Strandh Tom Clancy's The Division (Original Soundtrack)