Hammarica.com Daily DJ Interview: Giuseppe Ottaviani

10 years ago Beats and Music no Responses

[wp_ad_camp_2]

Personifying trance music’s energy in both approach and output, Italy’s Giuseppe Ottaviani has long been recognized as one of the genre’s most respected and prolific merchants. From his earliest studio work (as the engine behind famed group NU NRG), through to his latter-day releases under his own name, he has established himself as a benchmark for eminent trance. Over the last 6 years his boundary-breaking in-concert experience Giuseppe Ottaviani Live! has put hundreds of thousands of hands in the air and feet on the floor at the world’s best-known EDM festivals.

[wp_ad_camp_1]

Even as NU NRG you always played live and after so many years you’re still doing it. What’s the difference between live act and Djing for you? Have you ever thought to start playing as a DJ ?

The point behind this is that I’m not really a DJ at all, even if I’m recognized as a DJ. I’m a musician more than anything else, I like to create music and I like to play it live at my shows using keyboards, laptops and lots of stuff that allow me to interact with the crowd a lot more than just playing CDs. The main difference between a live act and a DJ set is that I only play my own music, I mean productions and remixes that come from my studio and the most important part is that I can improvise, I can eventually change the melody of a song and play something else, I can make a long break down playing the piano and having people singing the song…and so on. It’s definitely more like a concert than a Dj set, and even if it’s an hard job, this is the way I like it 

You are a trance producer from Italy. What would be the biggest trance events that have been organized in Italy. How would you describe the trance scene there?

Unfortunately there isn’t a big trance scene at all in Italy, I barely play here once at year and even if things, slowly but constantly keep growing up we are far away from any big festival or event that you can find all over the world.

If you look at your list of productions you have done so far. Which of those stands out the most to you and why?

Mainly I have two productions that mean a lot to me. The first one with NU NRG called Dreamland which actually signed my starting point as a professional musician in 2001. The second one is called Linking People and represents the starting point as a solo artist back in 2006 when I broken up with NU NRG. Two great memories, two amazingly real “moments of life”, musically speaking.

What can we expect from your second artist album?

I have many great collaborations with both, singers and producers and I’d like to give you the names but I do it officially at the moment as we are still working of the final deals and I’m finalizing few on the tracks from it. It will sound different from my first album of course as music is continuously evolving but I tried to keep my identity alive so when people will listen a track from the album they can always say, yes this is Giuseppe. I tried to deal with the nowadays sound which is quite different from what’s my background but I took few elements from it and brought them into my signature sound in order to deliver something even fresher that can easily stand out from the standards. Well that’s my thought but let’s see what people will have to say once it’s out.

Tell us one thing about Paul Van Dyk that he doesn’t really want us to know.

Do you really want me to get in troubles? 🙂

Which style of EDM would you wish for to have a comeback?

Well guys I’m from classical music so as long as the melody will keep holding the main part of an EDM track I’ll be fine with it. There’s not a comeback to any style of music, you can’t stop the natural evolution, but I would definitely bring some elements from the past and blend it together with the new music to create what people call Trance 2.0

It can’t never be the same as before but if we “handle it with care” it could be even better than before even thanks to the technology available these days.

Is solid PR an important asset for DJs to have?

It’s very important to let people know what’s going on with a certain artist. Today the network is full of everything and you can easily get lost around the web-mess so I believe that investing in a proper PR will, at least, let people know about your products. Then it’s a people choice to like or dislike your products of course.

How long does it take you to finish a production on average?

It depends on many factors like, studio time, touring, getting the right inspiration, getting the vocals from singers in a certain range of time…and so on. I can easily make a full song in a couple of day and finalize it the day after if I get the right idea and everything go smooth with my studio equipment, or maybe it can take over a month in the case I start a new idea on my laptop while I’m flying to Australia for example and the sending the idea to a singer, waiting the vocals to be back and finalize the song in studio….so really, I can’t give a proper answer but for sure instrumental tracks are much faster than vocal tracks, for obvious reasons.

Do you make music with the intention to make it a popular record, or do you make music solely to satisfy yourself and is the success a nice side effect?

The point is hat making music just to satisfy myself really doesn’t make any sense since I get my satisfaction from people satisfaction, but still I only do music that I like, just luckily I have many fans enjoying my music.

How would you define success as a DJ? Is it a Beatport top 10 hit? A sold out tour? What are your thoughts on this?

Beatport is mainly for Djs but my goal is people, so a sold out tour or club is definitely the answer for me. And again, the most important thing for me is seeing people’s smiling face when I play, that’s my real goal.

Describe a real-life situation that inspired you?

Everything can be an inspiration but for me traveling is the most important thing. Seeing new countries, new cultures, meeting new people always inspires me a lot and most of my tracks were born on a plane on the way back home.

Is fashion important to you?

Absolutely no. I know it could sound strange to hear it from an Italian guy but I really have nothing to do with fashion as well as I’m not a football fan….which is even more weird for an Italian.

Is there a final thing you would like to say to our readers?

Thanks guys for reading this and if you whish to get more information please visit www.giuseppeottaviani.com or www.facebook.com/giuseppeottaviani where you’ll find also a brand new track for free download to thank you for liking my page 100.000 times !