nico's musical background is fully apparent. There isn't a single track where you don't feel someone that breathes music is at work. But it's not only on Audiotool that nico is active: the first single by him and his Jazz band, in which he plays the drums, celebrates its world premiere today in preparation for the album that will soon follow. We are glad that we've been able to contribute to the musical development of this talent over the last ten years and hope that he will remain with us for a long time.

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 (where are my latino Audiotoolers at??) 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. But I also enjoy reading (favorite authors atm are Ursula Le Guin, Murakami, and Toni Morrison), cooking, skating, and socializing. Everything in my life is connected to art and music in some way and I strive to live as honestly as I can.

Describe the style of music you produce

It’s hard to pin myself down to one style. 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, some that focus on notated and improvised music (especially in the idiom of Black American Music) and others that play more rock- or pop-centric music.

A lot of the "personal" music I make for myself, however, is a way for me to process and express my emotions and lived experiences. These songs tend to exist somewhere in the experimental-indie-pop sphere and combine many of the approaches that I’ve accumulated from all the music I make. I have an album of this personal music coming out on august 11! https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/nicodaglio/a-picture-without-a-frame

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 highschool I fell in love with drums and composition and became heavily involved in my school’s jazz program. I nearly forgot about electronic music until I started studying music at conservatory. But returning to Audiotool after having so much time away from electronic music gave me a chance to synthesize everything I’ve learned (pun intended) from my continuous study of acoustic music into my approach to electronic music, and vice versa. I’m lucky to have found a community of amazing friends and mentors who are interested in creative interdisciplinary and multimedia art and push me to find new and exciting modes of expression.

What is your favorite Audiotool device and why?

Audiotool has lots of amazing devices! 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 that artists like sila and rain have explored to great depths.

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 (ie a bass drum). Merge these two signals with a merger and return it to the aux return.

You can turn up the aux send amount on each track to control how much each individual sound is being sidechained by the trigger signal.

Essentially this takes the delta signal (the signal of difference) from the compressor and sends it back into the mixer with an inverse phase. So when the mixer combines the inverse delta signal with the dry signal, it cancels out and you’re left with only the compressed signal.

here’s a demo/explanation if you’re interested - EasiER Side-Chain Compression (demo)

taking this kind of logic to the extreme by putting effects after or before the merger lets you control processing chains using an audio control signal. so crazy and fun

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

Yeah it sucks. I find that if I’m having trouble making music it usually means there’s something in my life that’s preventing me from fully processing my feelings. Besides dealing with that, here are a couple approaches that have worked for me, but none consistently:

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. Sometimes it doesn’t. I think it’s most important to be gentle with yourself when it comes to making art.

Approach it differently! When I’m stuck I’ll often do an “oblique challenge” with my good friend sim. This involves picking an oblique strategy (a set of esoteric cards by Brian Eno - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies) 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 and usually turns out some really cool music! Here's a playlist (oblique challenges) of all the stuff we've done; pls let us know if you want to join!!

Finally, if you make creation a habit, it’s possible to avoid blocks in the first place. This is possible by creating a space for yourself that’s free from judgement, where you can try new things without feeling like you have to make something “good”. And note that this is true for personal issues too; journaling, therapy, and mediation all allow you to exist without judgement from yourself and others. Those can help you get over creative blocks too.'

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. So many artists here are so gosh darn nice and love to help the community as a whole grow and learn! Live collaboration is another special opportunity to learn from others. also, it’s always an amazing feeling to open remix on a track I love and have a moment of “ohhhhh.. so THAT’S how they did it!!”

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

Audiotool is doing important work towards lowering the practical boundaries of creation. There’s something beautifully raw about the unfiltered artistic creation of a young kid, experimenting with a new medium and creating their own techniques with no preconceptions. And since—thanks to Audiotool—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. I think that’s beautiful!

My only real suggestion is that I wish feedback loops rendered properly. There are some amazing generative processes and processing chains that don’t work properly in the app because of rendering glitches and poor handling of feedback. If this could be properly managed it’d bring out a whole new world of experimentation.

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. With this, we can be grateful for what has brought us to where we are now, but without being overly attached to them.

Social/Musical Links:

FIRST SINGLE FROM UPCOMING ALBUM DROPS TODAY!!

PRESAVE THE 2ND ONE : https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/nicodaglio/tightrope

PRESAVE THE WHOLE ALBUM : https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/nicodaglio/a-picture-without-a-frame

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ndaglio/

Linktree: linktr.ee/ndag

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nsdf

Soundcloud Band: https://soundcloud.com/fakeart-quintet (my quintet, fakeart!)

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4h6M55eRGH1N2S9nmAGxLe?si=ZW4w0mEERBau_WJBjEfdHw (spotify for songs and personal stuff)

Spotify 2.0: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4DLJnvUfrkHxz3ETvDO5co?si=y1Hi4Fw2TYSqtBZ7ph4xnQ (cloudroom - spotify for experimental and utilitarian music)

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa6ELTLwsrIJZfnjQjgZ82g

Edition Audiotool

Track #1:

idle idle by aeiter

ethan! what can I say.. this song has gotten me through so much. I keep it downloaded on my phone and listen to it whenever I need it. transcendent

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/dn9nfwmlikx/]]

Track #2:

settle our differences by sky bound zoo

sbz/tophat has been a constant source of inspiration. his music is so buoyant and life-affirming and exudes love in every way. I met up with him a few times before he moved away to hang and make music and he’s just as amazing of a person as is his music!

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/k0o3h9ndi1vz/]]

Track #3:

a Reflection Of Life by solar plexus

man.. I’ve never heard someone as versatile yet distinctive as heissen. he fuses together so many different approaches in such an effortlessly fluid manner that it’s sometimes scary. love you man, hope to work on something again.

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/5j1xi09x4//]]

Track #4:

moth by looks

I remember hearing this song when it came out and being completely blown away. I learned so much from opening it up and poking around.

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/moth-8plsjd8/]]

Track #5:

lonely by ‏‏‎hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

there's an energy in this song, and in a lot of ‏‏‎hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh's tracks, that is so completely ethereal while being grounded in the most strangely familiar of sounds. these songs invite me to reconsider my everyday sonic environment as stepping stones into another world.

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/5dnntt0mwwi/]]

Track #6:

would have been by nico

This song is gonna be track 9 on my upcoming album coming out this summer. I’ve been somewhat obsessed with the saccharine fluid pop sound from PC music and contemporaries, and this was an attempt to capture some of that energy. I’ve been thinking more about my voice and different ways of using it. I sang this song live with my band a few times, more to come soon! stream it here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/nicodaglio/would-have-been

[[EMBED:https://www.audiotool.com/track/v05ywfu6e/]]

Full Album

Edition Audiotool: nico

• a-records

30

about 1 year ago

1		idle idle aeiter	aeiter	495
2		settle our differences sky bound zoo	sky bound zoo	396
3		a Reflection Of Life solar plexus	solar plexus	322
4		moth looks	looks	16294
5		lonely ‏‏‎hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh	‏‏‎hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh	106
6		would have been nico	nico	4502