Get To Know… is a brief MixLuv Q&A session with an artist. This feature is a way to highlight our members beyond their bio with the hope of helping paint a more detailed profile of who they are both personally and musically.
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Featured Artist: Michael Zolfo
(Sept ’15)
q: Tell us a bit about yourself – where you are from, where you live now, what do you do for a living, etc.?
a: Urbana, Illinois, AKA the silicon prairie, also home to inventor of Netscape, and the first experimental sound lab. Currently in NYC, co-founded this site, and work for the world’s finest arts and auction company in product development.
What is your favorite instrument to play & how many years have you been playing it?
a: Drums are my favorite, but never have really been professionally sound at them 🙂 Electric bass is primary, classically trained on the cello, then upright bass, I have over 30 years experience playing some sort of an instrument. Admittedly, could be playing more these days. Hence why I started this site!!
q: Favorite: Artist/Record/Song?
a: Tough one – maybe Led Zeppelin? Led Zeppelin I, II or IV are all incredibly impressive. Last.fm tells me that I like Spiritualized the most, that could be. Can’t narrow down to favorite song. What does that even mean, favorite?
q: Who is your biggest musical influence & why?
a: Dorothy Martirano, Kristen Johns, and Dr. James Calhoun. (and my parents) These folks were the foundation and bedrock to my classical training and rock and roll influence.
q: If you could collaborate with any current musician who would it be and why?
a: Nicolas Godin, Jean Benoit Dunkel or J. Spaceman. Clearly, these folks are amazing, and have mastered their craft.
q: Who are you proud to have you collaborated with in the past?
a: My old band mates, they are very special people. Tristan Wraight, Erin Fein, Seth Fein, and Adam Fein.
q: What is your favorite track that you’ve recorded?
a: “She Saves” https://theresilients.wordpress.com/media/ Very epic rock song, I’d place it in my all time top 100 rock songs ever. Recorded this with Keith Cleversley wildly talented mix engineer and amazing studio http://playgroundstudio.com/
q: What was the first song you learned how to play?
a: “Hot Cross Buns”?
q: Summarize your songwriting and recording process, including which gear (instruments and DAW) you use.
a: It’s always been very collaborative in nature. Doesn’t really much matter about the tools, those will always be evolving, but the source of the creative content, ie the carbon units aka – humans.
q: What is your greatest non-musical talent?
a: People seem to look up to me as a leader and advisor for a multitude of things, I suppose that’s gotta be listed as a talent?
