Cider, ethnic instruments and gummy bears. We take a look round Jacky 0’s Milan studio.
My Studio – Jacky 0
Two years ago, when I was twenty-one, I spent all of my savings to build this studio in my apartment in Milan. This is where I spend most of my days and nights: I work, relax and often sleep in it. Towards the end of 2012, around the time I was working on the four tracks of the Red Thrill EP and writing the five stories of the Red Thrill ebook I remember spending several days locked in my studio without breaks. I only went out to buy food and drinks.
DYNAUDIO BM6As
At first I was hesitant about purchasing monitors. After trying many with my friend, techno producer Enrico Sangiuliano, we were left with three options: Adam A7X, Genelec 8040 and Dynaudio BM6A MKII. Genelec seemed too strange to me – they emitted weird and very strange sounds that confused me – and Adam didn’t really convince me as they were too dry. I ended up choosing the Dynaudio, because they have a perfect balance between high and low frequencies, and my tracks sounded beautiful in them! Enrico chose the Genelec.
IBANEZ ARTSTAR
This guitar was my father’s. It was his favourite and he has been playing it for many years. I’ve been used to the sound of that guitar ever since I was a child: it makes me feel at home. My father lent it to me so that I could record all the guitars in my first album, Psiconautica Vol. 1 (‘Psilo’, ‘Zero Degrees’, ‘Sun Is Late’, ‘Hat and Dogs’, ‘Everything Breaks Too Easily’, ‘Rusty Gear’). My father saw me so happy and excited to play it he decided to give it to me as a gift.
GIBSON THUNDERBIRD
This is the first musical instrument that I bought with my own money. I was sixteen and I was playing electric bass in a rock band. The sound is wonderful, it really is full and rich. I used it with a pick in the final part of ‘Sun Is Late’. The track sounded too digital – I wanted to give it more of an acoustic, rock flavour. I also played it in ‘Everything Breaks Too Easily’, this time using my fingers to give it a softer sound.
Ethnic Instruments
These are just some of the musical instruments I bought during trips with my family, or that have been sent to me from different parts of the world. I have a great passion for ethnic musical instruments. Music is a fundamental aspect of most cultures, and discovering how people from all over the world have decided to express their devotion towards music fascinates me, and is one of my main interests.
RØDE NTG3
About a year ago, my former sound design professor offered me a job: to be a live sound engineer during the filming of a documentary about the KGB in Lithuania. The professor lent me his equipment: a Rode NTG3 and a Zoom H4. I was shocked by the accuracy of the Rode! It could record sounds with impressive closeness, and its feeling was incredible. After my job was over I decided to buy one for myself, and I use it to record high quality sounds from ethnic and acoustic musical instruments, toys, tools, human speech, environments, practically everything!
CIDER AND GUMDROPS
When I’m working in my studio I only have two, very important needs: to drink cider and to eat candy.
I could drink gallons of cider and eat hundreds of candy: my favourites are the heart-shaped ones and gummy bears. I have numerous drawers in my studio that I use to organise microphones and hard-drives, and I have one for candy as well! The label on it says ”adaptors, gummy bears and headphones”.
Jacky 0’s Psiconautica Vol.1 is out now on Apparel Music.