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At this year’s ADE, we had the pleasure to be joined by DJ extraordinaire Alex Nocera and Sergio Mauri in the BPM Popup studio Amsterdam to talk about the process of collaborative creativity in the modern music industry.
Building a career as an artist doesn’t happen overnight. Instead, it takes years of training and hard work, finding and cultivating an audience, making the music you’re inspired to make, and hoping it will resonate with your fans. In short, it’s a journey, and if you’re looking for two artists who’ve made that journey well, look no further than Italian DJ dream team Alex Nocera and Sergio Mauri.
For Alex, the journey began when he was fifteen, and he first started making electronic music. Little did he know that by the late ‘90s, he’d be hitting the charts and that two decades later, he’d have an audience numbering the tens of thousands.
It’s a similar story for Sergio Mauri. Born in 1982, Mauri spent years developing his sound and taking inspiration from Italy’s glorious DJ culture until his craft was at a level to rival his contemporaries. Now he is one of the stars of Italy’s modern music scene, and his audience is growing.
Looking at these two incredible artists, the first question that springs to mind is just how they manage to combine their skills.
“Basically, we start with an idea. Then, we call each other to put in some lyrics, some pads, some baselines, and some groves. Then we can send [them to] each other, by email or Skype… There’s no typical path to follow to create a track.”
Of course, it’s worth saying that both of these artists are as many performers as they are producers – arguably more so. And naturally, right here in the middle of the Amsterdam Dance Event, we felt it was the perfect time to find out how the pair put together a set.
“So, I imagine my DJ set from the middle of the night… from two o’clock till three. We [play] some strong songs, the most energetic tracks, mashups, and, you know, songs that make people dance… We like to play melodic music.”
And speaking of melodic music, we couldn’t help but ask about the pair’s latest project, the outstanding new single “Magic Box.”
Released on Smile Records, “Magic Box” combines the unique styles of both artists to create something melodic with touches of ‘90s nostalgia while still feeling very modern.
To learn more about these two incredible artists and their latest projects, then go ahead and listen to the full ADE interview below
