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Saturday, February 21, 2015

Interview: Giuseppe Orlando, of OuterSound Studios





Giuseppe Orlando is a famous producer which has his studio (the OuterSound Studios) located in Rome.
The guy has played with many projects, from Novembre to Rosae Crucis to The Foreshadowing, and is considered to be an institution about rock and metal production.
Here's our interview:


GuitarNerdingBlog: Hello Giuseppe and welcome to Guitar Nerding Blog! Introduce yourself to our readers, tell us your story!

GiuseppeOrlando: Hi and thanks for the interview. I'm Giuseppe Orlando, producer at The Outersound studios and drummer of Novembre, The Foreshadowing and Airlines Of Terror. I started to play drums at 11 playing metal and studying all styles. I also played in several different projects like Abstracta , Ghouls , Rosae Crucis, Valkiria and others. I've always been an open minded guy so I tried to play the most kind of music in my life. The studio experience started in 96 in another studio called Random music house and after two years I've moved to Outersound.

GNB: Tell us about your career. We know you've been playing in many projects during the last few years, and the most important one is obviously Novembre, which according to the Wikipedia page are currently on hold, and The Foreshadowing.
Which are your career highlights? Which are the artists that influenced you the most? Is it there still some collaboration that you wish you would do?

GO: I have played with many bands and I did lots of concerts in every kind of club, but of course the highlights are the tours and the festivals. As Novembre we toured europe with band like Opeth, Katatonia, Moonspell and Kreator and played in several european important festivals like Summer breeze and Wave gothic Threffen. With The Foreshadowing instead, we recently toured USA and Canada with Marduk, Moonspell, Inquisition and Deathwolf and Europe with Swallow the Sun and Antimatter. With Airlines Of Terror we shared the stage with Decapitated, Rotten Sound and Dark Tranquillity.

All great experiences!! I've been influenced by many different kinds of artists, from 80's Pop/Dark music to Terrorizer, Yes, Slayer, King Crimson, Paradise Lost, Voivod, Dream Theatre and many others but as a drummer I would say Sean Reinert not only for technique but also for his "fusion" (not the musical genre) state of mind. His work on Human by Death was absolutely innovative. I don't have a real wish of collaboration with other bands except for Slayer Ahahaha.

GNB: What do you think about the actual music business? What are your thoughts about underground and mainstream music scene nowadays?

GO: The music business nowadays is in a deep crisis. Everything is online and the only bands that are continuing to sell are the bigger ones, even if much less than before. You can see it in the festivals, headliners are always the same. The scene does not grow in terms of "Making money", and many labels ask you money to "cooproduce" your albums because they don't want to risk too much. Of course there are exceptions but the way is much harder than 20 years ago. Underground scene is cool, there are lots of good bands and maybe this is the category that benefit the most from the digital world. It's the new tape trading and you can spread your music all over the world. The problem is Inflation and the falling demand due to internet.

GNB:  What do you think about the digital music distribution? What about the file sharing? How do you think the music business will evolve in the future?

GO: Digital distribution is a thing that brings few money only to few people and file sharing is already dead because of the streaming. I think streaming is the present and the future by now, I just hope that someone will find the way to bring the music sellable again because this is the point. New computers doesn't have cd players, so why should I buy cds? Everything is in the mobile right now, so what should I buy?

GNB: Tell us some funny story: which one has been your best/funniest experience as a musician? And your worst one?

GO: There are lot of funny moments in the life of a band but maybe the funniest are in the backstage with other bands. I remember an italian small tour with Labyrinth, Domine, Centurion and White skull where we passed 2 hours telling jokes, I was dying with laughter!!! Or in Amsterdam where we were smoking a not lightened cigaret but soaked with popper. All our faces were red and we couldn't watch to each other faces ahahaha. Worst moments have to be forgotten!!


GNB: Since many readers of our blog are mainly interested in the technical side of the guitar world, can you tell us something about your studio and live equipment? Can you tell us something about the last recordings you've done?

GO: In the studio I usually use my Premier Signa, I lover her!!! It's very versatile!! Live set up depends…. Ufip Cymbals for both studio and live. Sm 57, Audix i5, Akg D112 , Akg 414. Neumann U87. Pre Api 512c. Inward connection and Tla. Last recording are on the way. The new Airlines Of Terror is done and the new The Foreshadowing is in work in progress. Very different styles, for Airlines I used a piccolo snare and the goal was to have a fast attack drums. Even Cymbals mikes were closer than usual and the bass drum was triggered. Different from the new Foreshadowing where I used bigger sizes for toms, real bassdrum and a deep snare.

GNB: Tell us something about you recording studio (Outer Sound Studios): which Daw do you use? What are your favourite vst plugins? Do you use hardware outboards or you prefer to mix in the box?

GO: I use Protools Hd 2 in a MacPro but I also have a Protools Hd3 in a Powermac G5. I mainly use Waves but I also like Fabfilter and the ChannelStrip from Metric Halo, also Pt plugs are very good. It also depends on what you have to do. Sometimes you put your "everwinning" plug on a track and it doesn't work. I prefer to mix in the box because is total recall. Even if I use outboards I would record the processed signal in the box. I recently used a couple of Distressor for the Airlines mix.

GNB: Let's talk about guitar tone: what is your favourite way to get a good guitar tone? Do you use vst amp simulators or you prefer to mic a cabinet? Have you got any tip to share?

GO: I like to use amps but the guitar player have to be good first. Also the guitar as to be good! I remember when I did Mare Nostrum from Stormlord, the guy had 6 guitars but only one was very defined on top to do the thrashy parts. For that session we used a Mesa Dual Rectifier with a double stack. 2 sm 57 in one cab , different cones, and a third 57 in the second cab. I mainly use sm57 on guitars and I've tried many settings in my life. I'm recently using one 57 straight to the cone and one off axis in the same cone. i5 from Audix is also cool but all depends. I also did good guitars with one 57. Of course I use simulators, O really like some of them for some specific stuff. I still use Line6 Ampfarm sometimes to give more definition. Unfortunately they lack of dynamic sometimes.

GNB: Do you have any advice for the guys that wish to open a recording studio on their own, or to become mixing or mastering engineers?

GO: Use your ears but keep in mind that there are some technical rules to respect.

Try not to use drums libraries only!

Mike your drums, put new drum heads and beware the phase problems. then you can mix the real layer with the fake one to bring more power.

Lead the band to play well because cohesion is half of the job to have a powerful record.

GNB: The interview is over! Tell us about your latest works, projects and tours! Thank you very much and we hope to see you soon live!

GO: Yes, as I was saying before the new Airlines Of Terror is done and I hope that it will be out in spring. You can hear the song UFO=TESLA in the Brutal Beatings Compilation by Sickdrummer at
http://www.sickdrummermagazine.com/index.php/features/brutal-beatings-e-comp/brutal-beatings-xvi. The new The Foreshadowing is being recording and I think it will be out in late spring, but I'm not sure. There are some tour arrangements and festivals in sight but anything is confirmed yet. Thanx for the interview!!!!


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