Cefe Flynn Mastering

Interview with

TOZ Antonio Piretti

Artist Name: TOZ Antonio Piretti
Nationality: Italian – Canadian
Release title: Dammi Una maNo
Release Genre: Pop – Acoustic – Adult Contemporary

If you enjoyed these thoughts by Antonio and would like to find out more about their work, visit their official channels below.

I feel that music has strong power. It touches your heart and soul and goes right inside. I believe songs should also help people to live a better life and send out positive examples for a better world. I try to write songs with meanings and I hope they can be of help to other people as many songs were helping me or are part of my life.

TOZ Antonio Piretti - DAMMI UNA MANO - Artwork Cover

Listen

TOZ music on Spotify. Enjoy while reading the interview.

About the Artist

When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

I started this crazy “music project” in 2004 with my first singing lessons. Then From 2005 the guitar lessons… From that moment I never stopped writing and composing songs. 

I think, in my case, it was a need to express myself in a different way compared to a business career. 

My life was too “dry”, just working and I found in music a way to accept a part of me that I never knew about before. 

I was listening to and loving somehow all kinds of music. When I was a child my parents were used to listening to Elvis Presley, Tina Turner, and gospel songs… Then I love the 80s / 90s with U2, George Micheal, Bon Jovi.. etc… A big impact had also the Italian singer Lucio Battisti, one of a kind.

What would you say are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

I feel that music has strong power. It touches your heart and soul and goes right inside. 

I believe songs should also help people to live a better life and send out positive examples for a better world. 

I try to write songs with meanings and I hope they can be of help to other people as many songs were helping me or are part of my life.

Could you describe what part of the creative process is particularly dear to you?

The best moment is when you are playing with your guitar and some nice melodies are coming up… then you try to improve them or to remember or to adjust them, this is always a sweet moment. 

Or some lyrics are just passing through your mind and you have to write them down, to not forget them, but you have to be fast.

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Do you have a preference?

In my case basically, I’ve always done everything by myself. I have composed the song: voice and guitar or voice and piano. Then when we are recording, it can be that you create melodies of other instruments for the arrangement of the song.. and there is the moment when you work with other musicians.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way has music – either your own or that of others – contributed to your understanding of these questions?

A lot…In the beginning, I remember the lyrics of U2 or the gospel songs and many others.

I really believe that music is to share emotions, and songs are messages to communicate experiences & beliefs.

About the Single

Tell us about your new single Dammi Una maNo. Is there a story behind it? What were the influences or inspirations to write it?

After 2 and a half years of pandemic drama and hysteria, I felt I had to write something about that time and I wrote that song. I think it is nice that half is in Italian and half in English.

Could you describe your creative process behind the album? Where did the ideas come from, how were they transformed in your mind, what did you start with and how do you refine these beginnings into a finished song?

In this case, everything started with the piano… a nice piano intro, then the lyrics were coming too… I was writing both in Italian and English. And I wrote much more than what is there now, I cut a lot. But I’m satisfied with it, I composed and recorded all the instruments and the voice track by myself. I mixed them and I made the first master that was improved after by Cefe 😉 

I like the song because I believe in the lyrics.

What’s your view of lyrics with “messages”? Is there a main message you want to be delivered within Dammi Una maNo?

They can’t play with your life and we can’t pay with our lives. Way too many things went wrong during those two and a half dark years… I felt we were losing our lives, and somehow it really happened, unfortunately.

Releasing music is such a mammoth effort. What are the biggest challenges? What things did you learn in the process?

Nowadays you have to pay attention to the budget that you have, and usually, this is quite small or zero. So in the last 3 years, I started to record, mix, and master everything by myself… for 2 reasons: first to be able to control what is happening and second because it is better to learn how to fish instead of looking for a fish every day. But of course, I have to improve and thanks to Cefe some mistakes during the mastering process were covered.. 😉

How did you go about choosing your recording/mixing/mastering engineer? Any advice for anyone else currently going through the process?

It just happened that Cefe contacted me after listening to the song on Bandcamp and I thought that was the right sign to start to collaborate with mastering professional engineering. 

I felt good with him. He is a very nice guy and he presented himself in a super polite way with an affordable budget and most importantly highly professional, so he just came in, he was the right person at the right time.

What's next?

What’s next for you?

I’m going back to Canada from Nov 1st. After a long time cause of the pandemic problems. 

In general, I’ll try to dedicate more effort trying to make the next step with my music project. 

I have to increase my fan base and become stronger. As of now, I’m playing a lot, but it is impossible to think to play always so often. I feel I should play less and dedicate more time to writing new songs, to organize fewer but bigger concerts. I’d like to record better videos and live performances videos too. Somehow I have to reach the next step.

Where can we check for upcoming gigs? Links?

The best way is to check on my website, here is the direct link to the tour page: https://www.antoniopirettitoz.com/tours
Take time to take a closer look at my website and you’ll discover not only music but lots of exciting stories and adventures. I feel it will be worth it.. 😉

Anything else you would like to say/add?

Everything that you do… you learn. It is important to learn from the experience to create a better future. always forward, never give up.