Audeze talks to engineer and producer Ricky "LoZio" Carioti

Audeze talks to engineer and producer Ricky "LoZio" Carioti

"I bought the LCD-X and after a couple of tests I realized that I had arrived at what I had longed for: accuracy, precision, comfort, and the fact that my mix translated beautifully on all types of speakers. Bingo!" - Ricky "LoZio" Carioti

Here's our chat with Ricky:

Can you pick out any highlights from your work that you're particularly proud of?

I am particularly proud to have been able to work with very important artists, including Elisa, who in addition to being a singer with an incredible voice is also a multi-instrumentalist, author and composer of wonderful songs. I have the honor and the good fortune to participate in the making of her albums and to act as a sound engineer on stage for her tours.

How would you define your main role on most of the projects you work on these days?

My role with Elisa in the recording studio is the tracking and all the rough mixes and pre-mixes. For the tour work I do the stage mix.
Regarding the work I do in my personal studio, I deal with mixing, mastering and music production together with a team of producers.

How did you get started in music? What kind of music did you listen to while growing up and how has that progressed?

I started making music at 12, starting to strum the classical guitar, then slowly I approached the electric guitar. My mum always listened to music when she took me to school and I started listening to rock (Queen, Guns N 'Roses) and then started to range into other genres. Then over the years I can say that I listen to a bit of everything, I take inspiration and learn from all kinds of music, I think there is something beautiful and unique in whatever you listen to, whether you like it or not.

Can you name any factors that influenced the course of your musical life? Heroes, role models, moments, interactions, etc?

I was lucky enough to meet great masters on my path, what impressed me the most was the guitarist and producer Andrea Rigonat, who made me understand how much you have to work hard to get good results, how much you have to pursue your dreams, that we must never rest but look higher and higher. I love to get involved continuously and I am never satisfied. I love to experiment and give my best in everything I do, I think this is the real secret to a fulfilled life.

Can you briefly describe a moment of frustration from your past work, and what you may have done to overcome the obstacles? Would you approach it differently now?

The difficult moments were certainly there, if I think back to those moments today I still feel the tension of those days. In practice, sometimes we find ourselves having to face something that at that moment is greater than our possibilities... a couple of times in the past I found myself having to manage important jobs and I was worried because I didn't feel that mastery that makes you feel comfortable, and in that case I think that the right choice is to be honest, speak to your boss saying the way things are without fear of making a bad impression. Honesty always pays off, in fact I have always adopted this choice and things have always gone well.

Is there any gear you find yourself turning to most when working on a project? What are some of your favorite tools/instruments recently?

Over time I have learned to choose my "weapons." Basically I prefer setups that guarantee me flexibility and quality. Precisely for this reason I am a user of Audeze headphones, since I first tried them I immediately understood that they make a difference. Having monitors of the highest quality in any place I am is an incredible thing...

Do you have any words of wisdom for people who might aspire toward a similar path for their own careers?

I believe that the most important thing is to commit fully without any reservations, to be ready to make sacrifices in order to learn and experience. It is a very difficult path because it takes time in this work to develop certain skills, you must never be satisfied. Even today when I close a mix or master and my client writes to me that they are delighted with the result, a second later I start thinking how I could have done better... you never stop learning and improving!

How long have you been working with headphones, and how do you typically use them in your workflow? How have your Audeze headphones affected your work?

Actually I only started working with headphones a lot since I tried the Audeze. Before I had tried several times but I was never satisfied with how the mix translated on the speakers, so I had lost interest in the use of the headphones. Then some time ago I had the need to mix many songs between two studios with completely different ratings so I decided to try again... I tried many headphones and headphone amplifiers until a friend of mine told me about Audeze, so I bought the LCD-X and after a couple of tests I realized that I had arrived at what I had longed for: accuracy, precision, comfort, and the fact that my mix translated beautifully on all types of speakers. Bingo!

Can you tell us what you've been working on with them recently?

As I said before I have worked on many pre-mixes, mixes and masters in various studios with the LCD-X. I always carry them with me wherever I go.

I also decided to use the LCD-XC, which as you well know is the closed version of the LCD-X, in the tours I work on. Mixing the stage sound with those is really fantastic, I can sculpt the sounds in a surgical way, finding every annoying resonance!