nico

Interview

About Nicolás Sol Daglio aka nico

Hey I'm nico! I just turned 21 last month and I'm currently in a dual enrollment program studying philosophy at Tufts and jazz composition at the New England Conservatory. I'm originally from Berkeley, CA, but I've lived in the Boston area for the past 14 years. I'm Uruguayan and Jewish, and understanding my confusing cultural identity/heritage is an open question as I begin to explore adulthood. I've been on Audiotool since 2012; I remember in 5th grade when all my friends would play Minecraft, I would go on Audiotool and make music. Nowadays I spend most of my time involved with music; either listening to music, thinking about music, making music, playing music with friends, seeing shows, performing, etc.

Describe the style of music you produce

I make a lot of different music that serves a lot of different purposes. I make music that experiments with method and form in order to discover new sounds and techniques. I make utilitarian music, ie music that serves a purpose, like ambient music to sleep to or generative soundscapes for meditation. I also play drums and synthesizer in several acoustic and electroacoustic groups.

What is your musical background and when did you start making music?

I'm really grateful to have such an artistic and supportive family. Both my parents work in the arts, so I grew up around diverse artists and creatives. I took piano lessons when I was fairly young, but never really connected with my teachers. That only lasted a few years, after which I was mostly self-taught, and soon thereafter I discovered Garageband and Audiotool and began to use those as my creative outlet. In high school I fell in love with drums and composition and became heavily involved in my school's jazz program.

What is your favorite Audiotool device and why?

Because of Audiotool's modular nature it's often less about which effects are being used and more of how they're being used. So in that regard I think the merger, splitter, and panorama are indispensable utility tools for making wacked out processing chains. But to give a more typical answer, the audiotool flanger has a sound that is difficult to fully capture in any other DAWs. When used in small amounts it adds a subtle width and movement to sounds, and when pushed to extremes it can do all sorts of crazy sounds.

What is your favourite trick in AT/What technique do you always use?

There's a trick I discovered for making really controllable sidechain compression/ducking that I use on pretty much every track. From one of the aux sends on the centroid, use a splitter to split the send into two signals. On the first, put a panorama and turn the "factor" to -1 on both the left and the right. On the second, put a compressor with the sidechain from your trigger signal. Merge these two signals with a merger and return it to the aux return. Essentially this takes the delta signal from the compressor and sends it back into the mixer with an inverse phase.

Have you ever had a writer's block? If so, how did you deal with it and what do you recommend to your colleagues?

Take a break — things take time. When music-making gets too emotionally charged it can get in the way of using the music to process those emotions. Sometimes taking time away from music will help to work through those things. I also do "oblique challenges" with my good friend sim. This involves picking an oblique strategy (a set of esoteric cards by Brian Eno) and using it as a prompt for a piece of music that we have to start and finish within an hour. This always gets the creative juices flowing! If you make creation a habit, it's possible to avoid blocks in the first place.

What has helped you the most on Audiotool to improve and widen your musical horizon?

Seeing the work that other artists are doing right here on Audiotool has opened my mind to sounds, approaches, and techniques that I never would have imagined. Asking people what inspires them and what they're listening to always connects me with new music and inspiration. Live collaboration is another special opportunity to learn from others.

What do you like most about Audiotool? Is there anything you would like to suggest?

Audiotool is doing important work towards lowering the practical barriers of creation. Since anybody with an internet connection can have access to the same tools as a professional producer, the magic of raw sonic discovery is no longer exclusive to those who can afford it. My only real suggestion is that I wish feedback loops rendered properly.

Your message to the community:

Try not to feel tied down by your past and your past work. In every moment we have the opportunity to transcend ourselves and be wholly genuine to the current moment.

“Seeing the work that other artists are doing right here on Audiotool has opened my mind to sounds, approaches, and techniques that I never would have imagined. ”

— nico