Shiver me timbres
Bruno Carlo Oggioni (AKA Dr. Shiver) was born and raised in Milan. He began his career playing piano and keyboards, but shifted his focus from blues and classical when he became a dance music producer and songwriter in 1999.
It was in 2002 that he set up Art&Music Recording, an independent dance music label and recording facility. He’s worked with everyone from Pharrell Williams to BB King and, in 2015, released the first official and authorised remix of You Got The Love, featuring the 1986 vocal by Candi Staton.
We asked Bruno to photograph and talk us through his studio setup, and it turns out that it’s one to leave you drooling
Solid State Logic 48-channel Duality console
“The best weapon we have here at the Art&Music Studios: if you really want to have some crazy analogue warmness in your recording sessions and in your mixes, the Duality is probably the best versatile mixer you can ever have. It has the historical SSL 9000 K analogue circuits with a super easy and fast digital recall system.”
Hammond B3 with Leslie 122 and Leslie 147
“This instrument - built in California in 1969 - is like a baby to me. I use it for several purposes: creating some chord progressions, making some fat basslines and adding some crazy tension. I try to use it as much as possible in all of my productions - it has unique sounds that are not imitable by any synthesizer.”
Avalon 737 vacuum tube preamp
“An amazing valvular channel strip which, thanks to its fantastic pre, EQ and compressor, will make your voices/instruments sound fat and round. I mainly use it to record vocals and basses.”
Manley Massive Passive stereo tube EQ
“Probably the best valvular master EQ you can ever have. It gives an analogue warm touch to your masters/mixes and, if you want, it can also bring some super cool analogue harmonic saturation.”
Maselec MLA-2 stereo compressor
“A great mastering compressor that will make your tracks fat and loud and will still preserve all the dynamics.”
Thermionic Culture The Phoenix mastering plus stereo compressor
“Another crazy mastering compressor - so flexible that it can also be used to compress voices, instruments and drums.”
TC Electronic Remote System 6000 MKII
“A complete solution for your reverb/delays and digital mid-side mastering. With its four engines you can have four different effects/compressors working simultaneously on 10 different channels.”
Neve 1073 mic preamp/EQ
“An excellent and warm alternative to the SSL, the Avalon and API Pres. It has a warm and extremely recognisable sound. I still remember when we used it together with a Neumann U 87 to record Pharrell Williams’ vocals: everybody was extremely pleased and excited at the outstanding result.”
Retro Instruments 176 limiting amplifier
“If you want to add a real vintage touch to your tracks (vocals, keyboards or drums, for instance) this valvular compressor is definitely what you need!”
