When I was a kid, in my house there was always music. Records, cassettes, the radio… There was a piano, which my mother played beautifully for our delight. We visited my grandmother, who also played the piano wonderfully. All I wanted in those visits was to listen to her play, or to toy with the piano myself.
As a lot of kids, I used to assemble drums in my room. Not with pots or pans, because those metallic sounds never appealed to me, but with shoe boxes, pieces of wood and any other sound I found attractive.
But the first instrument I ever wanted in my life was a synthesizer.
I bought music magazines, and the only instrument I craved was the Yamaha DX-7 (a synthesizer), that some music shop publicized in the back cover.
I remember being pretty “insistent” with my folks to buy it for me. I was around 11 years old. Among other tactics, in an almost “guerilla” fashion, I remember posting signs on their bathroom mirror, with pictures of the DX-7 and legends such as “Pablo’s Rights Now” (it was the days of the Amnesty International Tour, back in 1988).
And my first instrument was a synthesizer. I didn’t “get” the DX-7, but the Yamaha DX-27, it’s “little brother”.
That first night, I slept hugging the DX-27. And I still keep it.
Time passed, I played in several bands, and then I started making music with electronic elements, and also to gain interest in other instruments. First was the bass guitar. Then guitar, vocals…
And other synthesizers appeared in my life as well. First, it was the Oberheim Matrix 6r. Then came the Nord Lead 2x. And various others, some I kept and some I didn’t.
After handling the Yamaha DX-27 and the Oberheim Matrix, two synthesizers that are complex to program and, especially, very non user friendly, the Nord Lead 2x was like a supernova. Unlike those two, in the Nord Lead all parameters are at hand, each with a dedicated button or knob. There’s no fiddling with menus or sub-menus. The building of sound is straightforward, not a number that one has to abstractly deduct how it affects the sound you are making. This allows for a faster and more accessible creation of a given sound.
And this allowed me the possibility of improvising soundscapes, ambiances, creating sounds as need required, on the fly and in real time for every note or arrangement.
Thus was born “Al Sol”, from an improvisation recorded in a single take.
And thus I began composing different works, generally starting from improvisations, with the meticulous design of sounds as part of the arrangements (with the Nord Lead as well as with other synthesizers).
The works I managed to conclude, those that were not left behind unfinished, had something in common: they were ambient pieces. A beat-less ambient, with a strong presence of melodies. Something like an “ambient-pop”.
Upon listening to them, it seemed to me this was a “versatile” ambient, in that it could function as background music, accompanying a moment of reading, working or conversation. And at the same time, that rewarded my attention without being distracting. Music that had attractive melodies that invited me to keep listening. That allowed me to get carried away by it.
After some years of creating different works, and finding this guiding line, this arc, I decided it was time to show them.
Thus the idea to release a record was born.
There was much hesitation, especially related to releasing a record at this point in time, when CD’s are increasingly less ubiquitous, when the “object” has an increasingly less relevance.
However, all the hard work and all the love that went into making these tracks needs, in my particular way of thinking, an object, a tangible thing to reflect it.
Of all those pieces I was creating, I chose the ones I thought best represented the music I wanted to express.
At that moment, I felt I had done my best with those works, I had taken them as far as I could in sonic terms, but I had not made them shine as much as I knew they could.
I then contacted one of the persons that most influenced me in being a musician, Diego Vainer. A Master in many aspects and levels, that not only taught me at the time to play instruments or produce music, but also to Listen. For me, Diego is the “Total Musician”.
And it was a huge honor that he accepted to do the mastering of my record. The work he did was beautiful. He perfectly and immediately understood what the tracks needed, and made them shine in a way I could have never done.
The artwork was made by Alejandro Crudele, with whom I had already worked with in my band Ansiosa, with the great Mariano Keselman. Alejandro is a wonderful artist. And the result was beautiful.
I am very happy to release this record, where I took all the liberties I could have imagined. Where I can recognize myself in every sound and every silence.
This is the most personal record I could have released. More mine.
This is my “Ambiente”*
*(in Spanish, “Ambiente” means Environment, and also Background).
Go to tracks:
1. Tubular
2. Über Ganz
3. Un Camino
4. Al Sol
5. Atlántico
Go to tracks:
1. Tubular
2. Über Ganz
3. Un Camino
4. Al Sol
5. Atlántico