Hey Lisa! Congrats on the new record. Tell us a bit about yourself!
Thanks so much! My name is Lisa Chiodo, I’m a born and raised Aussie artist. Vocalist, trumpet player, producer and audio/mix engineer currently based in New York City! I’ve spent the last few years studying, creating music and performing with some incredible artists such as Usher, Lalah Hathaway, Chuck Rainey, Snarky Puppy and Ledisi to name a few.
When did you make the jump from Australia to NYC?
After growing up in Australia and graduating high school at the end of 2018, I traveled to Boston MA to audition for Berklee College of Music. I received a place at the College on scholarship for a Fall 2019 start, moving to the United States to further my education and gain new experiences.
After graduating from Berklee I moved to New York City, continuing to follow my dreams of becoming a successful musician and music industry professional.
Give us some info on your musical background, music projects, education, etc.
I started singing very young and picked up the trumpet when I was ten years old. I began my vocal journey in choirs and musicals growing up and had my first professional touring gig when I was fourteen.
I toured through Europe for five weeks in a rock opera of Macbeth as one of the three witches. We performed multiple shows, sometimes twice a day, several days a week totaling over 20 shows over the span of the tour. This experience was life changing for me, it gave me a taste of something I had never tasted before and I couldn’t get enough. I knew I wanted to be a professional in the music industry and touring was just the beginning.
I have been writing and recording music since before highschool and performing said music in bars, restaurants and clubs in Australia until I moved to the States. I started at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA in 2019 where I recently graduated with a double major in Music Business/ Management and Professional Performance, a minor in Recording and Production, and a focus program at Harvard Law School for Entertainment Law. It was at Berklee that I started writing the music that you will hear in my upcoming debut album, Slightly Sour.
Tell us a little about the musical influences that were a factor in Slightly Sour; favorite artists, producers, etc.
My main influences for Slightly Sour pull from experiences rather than other artists and producers. I predominantly use lyrics to inspire melodies, sometimes the other way around but definitely not as often.
There are, however, certain artists that you may hear the essence of throughout the album. Artists like Human Bloom which have given me some further insight into melodic contour, especially their record Capillary. I loved the way it allowed me to think in a different way to create just by listening and harmonizing with it in my own time. The Chet Baker Sings album also put some things into perspective for me. Being a vocalist and a trumpet player hasn’t always been an easy combination of instruments to work with, but Chet’s album was particularly encouraging for me as both a trumpet player and vocalist, and growing in general as a musician and artist.
As a producer and audio/mix engineer, I was heavily influenced by my educators. One of my mentors, Latin Grammy Award winner Enrique Gonzalez taught me most of what I know. His experience as a decorated producer and audio/mix engineer, as well as his willingness to share with me his ability to produce beyond the classroom holds such an important role in my creative process. He had planted seeds of understanding, skill and confidence in my mind which turned out to be pivotal in creating this album.
What are some of the recurring themes of Slightly Sour?
Slightly Sour consists of six tracks, all of which stem from personal experiences, thoughts, desires and gestures given and received. All are recurring themes throughout the album. It is filled with layered vocal harmonies, sweet and savory horn lines and of course storytelling, much of which were imperative to my growth not only as an artist, but as a woman and a person.
Did you produce the entirety of Slightly Sour yourself or was it a collaboration?
As well as creating the music and lyrics to each track, I recorded, produced and mixed the entirety of Slightly Sour. There were several different stages of each track as I started writing them throughout college. It wasn’t until I moved to New York where I sat down and decided to rework, re-record, reproduce and re-mix each song and put them together in an album, Slightly Sour.
There are several incredibly talented musicians that contributed to the album that have taken it to the next level. Paul ‘Papa Bear’ Johnson played bass on tracks one through four, and Ciara Moser on bass for track five. Track two features Alon Schwartz on keys and Francis P on drums and track 6 features Matilde Heckler on violin (mixed in with some of my own midi strings). The entire album was mastered by Sebastian Olaya and I couldn’t be happier with how they all represented themselves through their abilities and shared them with me for this project.
Any fun production tricks from the production of the record that you’d like to share?
Each track has some fun little easter eggs if you will. Elements and aspects of every song that aren’t always so obvious, but definitely worth looking for. I very much enjoyed playing around with different production techniques throughout this album, being patient and kind to myself, allowing me to be as creative as I could be, not just with the songwriting portion of the project, but the production of it as well. Playing around with my BLA Revolution 2×2 unit gave me some cool sounds that you’ll hear in the project and can honestly say I am keen to use and continue to explore for the next one.
How did you come to discover Black Lion Audio?
I was visiting home (Australia) between semesters and was browsing the Audio Chocolate website for interfaces in my budget. The Black Lion Audio Revolution 2×2 aligned with my needs and I haven’t found a need to switch to anything else. It’s a beautiful looking and sounding unit and again, I have had no desire to replace it with a different interface.
What did you record through your Revolution 2×2? Just vocals, or was there more?
Throughout the six tracks, I recorded lead and background vocals, sound effects (which you’ll hear specifically in track 5, Clementine, trumpet and didgeridoo through the Revolution 2×2 interface. All of which are sonically vastly different from each other, however incredibly consistent sounding through the unit without too much messing around.
What are some tips you can offer for musicians/producers who are working on a solo record? A lot of solo artists struggle with motivation and/or discipline.
The biggest hurdle for me was finding enough confidence to do it myself. Before sitting down and seriously deciding to work on this project solo, I was desperately looking for someone else to help me get it to where I wanted it to be. I was using absence as an excuse as to why the album wasn’t progressing in the way I wanted it to.
It was only after dealing with producers and engineers that proved to be inconsistent, and lacked a basic level of passion for my project that I decided I was the perfect fit for my sonic debut. I knew exactly what I wanted, and I knew exactly how I wanted the album to make me, and others feel. Something which can be incredibly difficult. Not only to explain to someone else linguistically, but also incredibly difficult to find somebody that cares enough about the project. Someone who will stick with it, until you hear what it is you/I imagined to hear.
It was only then, once I had committed to myself and my project, that people started to believe in it as much as I did. I had musicians, audio/ mix and mastering engineers asking to be part of the project based on live performances of the music, and produced snippets of such at which point I was confident in my own abilities to pick and choose who and what I wanted to be part of the album.
Once I decided that I could do it, there was no going back to thinking I couldn’t.
What are some of your strategies for getting out of a creative rut/writer’s block?
All of my writing has been inspired by real life experiences, whether they be my own experience, a friend’s experience or that of a strangers. I try to be observant of what’s around me in my everyday life, rather than locking myself in a space and forcing myself to think of something. The latter is an unnatural and painful way to be creative, as it often comes with guilt and self punishment if you’re unable to create something that you like or feel is ‘good enough’.
My go to strategy for getting out of a creative rut or writer’s block is experiencing something different or new. Maybe something the same, but in a completely different way.
Writing because I love to write and tell stories. Writing because I love to create, and writing because I am turning something from being non-existent, to something that not only exists, but hopefully makes people feel something.
Where can we learn more about you and Slightly Sour? Give us some links!
You can find the pre save link for as well as merch, upcoming projects, performances and collaborations on my Instagram @lisavchiodo.
Thank you so much Black Lion Audio, I’m looking forward to using my Revolution 2×2 for my next project!
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