Today we are presenting you a producer with an insane amount of experience, talent and success. Bruno Carlo Oggioni, from Milan, stage name “Dr. Shiver“.
Some of you may know him from the delicious “Something” on Nicky Romero’s label, but there is way more stuff to know about this Italian artist with a unique versatility and passion. Tomorrowland performer, Eurovision contester, performed with artists like Pharrell Williams, Shapov and B. B. King, supported by stars like Martin Garrix, Guetta and W&W… Dr. Shiver is the example of a polyvalent artist: a producer that focuses on various genres and various worlds, without losing his charm and class. His complete bio can be read here.
We had the chance to speak with him about his label Art & Music, his career, and his future project, and we found this experience really interesting and useful! We hope it will be the same for you!
Could you walk us through the years 2002-2009 between when you came up with the idea of Art & Music to when you started taking action to make those ideas into reality?
It was an incredible adventure. In 2002, I was just dreaming about Art & Music Recording which at the time I called it Art & Music Productions. Back then, I was just working in the living room of my little villa on Lake Maggiore with a couple of keyboards, my computer, and a couple of monitors. I had been producing and playing piano for a few years when I started to realize that there was a huge gap in this industry: there weren’t any companies offering 360-degree services for the music business. I started to think about a company that could have a record label, recording studio, video production studio, management company, graphic design studio, and social media consultants all under one roof.
Year by year I worked very hard to bring this idea to life. I saw how difficult it is for an artist to find a company that is fully able to support him or her. In 20015, I opened my first studio in my garage which I worked on for five full months to make sure it was up to my standards. When it was all finished, I put all of my resources into working and managing that studio. Finally, in 2009, I opened up the record label and publishing company. It was also time to expand the studio so I began looking around for a building to build the new facilities. After several months of research, I finally found the right place in 2010. With an expert sound designer, we started to build the new and improved studio. On October 12th, 2012, we opened the Art & Music Recording Studios that was the fully realized concept that I had in 2002.
The Art&Music Studio has had some very high-profile clients over the years. What are your personal interactions with the artists like Pharrell Williams who come into your studio to record?
It’s always electrifying to work and share the studio with such legends. You have a real chance to learn something unique, something that nobody will ever be able to explain to you. When Alex (Shapov) came in, we had a really great time and become really good friends! Last year he stayed at the studio for three entire months! I went to his house for dinner where his super nice girlfriend, Nastia, cooked an amazing meal. Then later they both came to my villa on the lake to do a few grill parties. We have worked on so many projects that I have lost count. I still remember that he started “The Last Dancer” in our studio which was his collaboration with Armin van Buuren which was initially conceived as an intro for his set at Tomorrowland!
Polina is another artist who became a really good friend of mine. Last time she came to Italy, we went to Portofino after she and I recorded a new track together.
Pharrell was great just in the way he talks and acts; he’s just a super humble guy which is something I really respect. For instance, at the end of his first day with us, I found him cleaning the studio. I asked him, “Mate, what are you doing??” He replied in the sweetest and most chill way possible, “I’m just cleaning all the mess left by my team. I cannot return the studio like this to you.” I immediately stopped him and told him that we were going to have somebody taking care of that but his gesture showed me how humble and great of a person he is. The night after, we were in the garden and he was explaining to all of us a lot of interesting things about the stars in the sky.
Louie Vega was also incredible. At the end of his recording session, he invited the whole team in and we had a huge jam session! I am honestly very blessed to have the chance to work, play, jam, cooperate, and produce with tons of huge and talented artists like BB King, Claudio Cecchetto, Lucio Dalla, Frank Ocean, and Fatman Scoop just to name a few.
What challenges have you faced growing your free music label, Art & Music Recording?
Every day is a challenge! Managing this company with all of its services, employees, and cooperators is no easy task. Dealing with managers, artists, record labels, and event organizers every day is a huge undertaking a hard mission that comes with loads of problems to solve. To give you an example, just the other day I had a big issue with the organizer of Holi Dance Festival that ended up forcing me to cancel my gig with David Allen which will obviously have consequences. What I’ve learned is that you must make people respect you and your work. This is not an easy world, in fact, it’s worse than a jungle. Once you understand this, you just have to find a strategy to survive.
Another huge challenge was with Serebro’s track, “Mama Lover”. I found that track in 2011 and licensed it to EGO music thanks to a pre-existing general deal. The track went triple platinum, but something went wrong and EGO music straight bypassed me and took the track. We took them to court and at the end of five years of legal fighting, we won the lawsuit!
There are tons of other challenges like licensing track to other record labels, bringing your artists on the market with your name. All of these things are not easy and require a lot of investments and energy. In the end, working hard and trusting what you are doing will always pay off!
For the future, I want to go for something even bigger. I want Art & Music to become one of the most important labels in the world and expand our genres of music. We’ve started to diversify our lineup which is the first step so stay tuned to our social accounts to see everything we’ve got coming up!
Tell us more about Art & Music Night Live events.
It was the beginning of March of this year when we were going to be in Miami for the Miami Music Week as usual. We were looking for an original way to present our new music to the world with sort of a feel of exclusivity as well. We thought, “We have one of the biggest studios in Europe, why don’t we use it as a club for a very special event?” We transformed our live room into a club by adding some special lights, an extreme PA, a few tables with lots of bottles, a couple of sofas and chairs and of course, the DJ console. After that, we set up a live streaming event on my FB page, added my Hammond B3 organ to the console, and invited a bunch of friends. It was a smashing success so we decided that starting September, we would host this type of event every two months with different guests. Our upcoming guests include Michael Feiner, Maximals, and David Allen!
You made your debut at Tomorrowland back in 2017. How did you prepare? What was it like to be on such a massive, international stage?
Back in 2015, I met a great guy by the name of Jeroen Franssens. He contacted me because he loved my official remix of “You Got the Love” and he asked me for legal permission to use it in the official Tomorroworld Aftermovie. Year by year, Jeroen and I started to collaborate more closely and became good friends. He is really a great professional as well as a great person. At the beginning of 2017, Jeroen called me and said, “Bro, I played some of your stuff to the team and they liked your music. What do you think about playing on one of our stages this year?”. I felt like the happiest guy on earth and I immediately accepted it. From that moment on I focused a lot on that DJ set by creating a lot of exclusive material. If you go on SoundCloud and listen to it, you’ll see that everything in the set were exclusive mashups and edits that were entirely produced in our studios. Only one song in the set was unchanged.
Once the selection for the set was prepared, we left the studio and jumped on the plane. When we arrived the feeling was that we were in wonderland. The organization was second to none with nothing left to chance. A driver arrived behind the hotel precisely on the agreed time. He drove us to the Artist Village where we met my dear friend Michel Feiner and quickly ran into Carl Cox and Martin Solveig as well. After a quick bite, a private van took us directly behind the stage. The emotion and the adrenaline was next level. Once on stage, I just felt pure happiness and satisfaction watching the reaction of the crowd minute by minute. It’s impossible to describe the feelings that rushed through my head that day. After the show, we went back to the Artist Village again to say hello to Ax & Seb and Prydz. Truth be told, it seemed like that was the quickest day of my life.
I remember thinking to myself, “Did that just happen, or was it all a dream?”
What does your daily schedule look like with all of the responsibilities that you have? What do you do in your free time?
It’s a mess. Too many things to do with not enough time to do them. Usually I am in the office all morning and half of the afternoon coordinating and supervising the team which includes our promo manager, social media manager, my executive personal assistant, accountant and a few interns. There’s also the studio team with my studio assistant, engineers, video maker and graphic/visual designer. When I am there, I also listen to new demos for the record label, deal with the legal work, and plan out the release calendar. Around mid-afternoon, I go to the studio and stay there until 10PM. However, if there’s an upcoming deadline or urgent project, I’ll stay later even until five in the morning. Last week, David Allen and I stayed in the studio working until 8 in the morning! Sometimes we have sessions of 26 hours non-stop with artists like Frank Ocean! Most of the time I’m just working on my own tracks and supervising the team and the visiting artists. I’ll work on the mixing and mastering since that’s my responsibility and promise to all of our artists. It’s a lot of stuff to handle by my mother always told me “You wanted the bicycle. Now you have to ride it.”
I don’t have a lot of free time as you can imagine but I try to stay as healthy as possible. Three times a week, I go running. Back in my youth, I was known to smoke a few joints but I stay away from drugs these days. I used to smoke cigarettes but I quit about a month ago. I’m not big on drinking but I love to have a good glass of wine while eating during the weekends. If I am not playing somewhere or in the studio, you could probably find me my boat fishing or out with my friends doing grill parties.
Thanks to Dr. Shiver and his team for this interview!
Thanks to The QR Network for the help with this article
You can follow him and his label on their socials:
Facebook
Soundcloud
Instagram
Twitter
Website
Art & Music Records
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