We recently connected with Stefano Bonzi and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Stefano, thanks for joining us today. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

Yes, absolutely. The recording industry does face significant challenges when it comes to profitability. One of the biggest hurdles is the changing landscape of music consumption and distribution, primarily due to digital technology and the internet. Some key factors that contribute to the profitability challenges in the recording industry are:

1. Digital piracy: The ease of unauthorized downloading and sharing of music has led to significant revenue loss for artists, record labels, and other industry stakeholders. Piracy undermines the traditional sales model and reduces the potential for revenue generation.

2. Streaming royalties: While music streaming services have gained popularity, the revenue generated through streaming is often inadequate for many artists, especially those with smaller fan bases. The per-stream royalty rates are relatively low, and artists often need an enormous number of streams to earn a significant income.

3. Competition and market saturation: The music industry is highly competitive, with a large number of artists vying for listeners’ attention. This saturation makes it difficult for artists to stand out and generate substantial profits. It also leads to increased marketing and promotion costs.

4. Shift in revenue streams: Historically, artists and labels relied heavily on album sales for revenue. However, the rise of streaming has shifted the focus towards streaming royalties, live performances, merchandise, and other avenues. Adapting to these new revenue streams can be challenging for artists and record labels.

5. Industry contracts and agreements: The complex nature of recording contracts and royalty agreements can create challenges for artists to receive their fair share of earnings. Some contracts may heavily favor the record labels, leaving artists with limited control and financial benefits.

To illustrate these challenges, consider the case of independent artists who rely on their music to make a living. Despite creating quality content, building a dedicated fan base, and investing in their careers, they often struggle to achieve profitability. The combination of low streaming royalties, difficulties in securing live performance opportunities, and the need for significant marketing resources can make it challenging for them to break even, let alone turn a profit.

Overall, the recording industry’s profitability challenges stem from the evolving nature of music consumption, fierce competition, revenue distribution models, and the need for artists to adapt to new income streams while navigating complex contractual agreements.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Stefano Bonzi is a talented freelance engineer who has made a remarkable journey in the world of music and audio engineering. Born in Milan, Italy, Stefano initially pursued a career as a musician, immersing himself in the vibrant underground music scene of Milan. Seeking to enhance his skills and knowledge, he ventured to the United States, where he enrolled at the prestigious Hartt School of Music to study sound recording.

During his time at Hartt, Stefano honed his technical expertise in audio engineering while expanding his musical horizons. He delved into music theory, participated in ensembles, and even pursued voice performance, studying under esteemed teachers such as Dave Kyle, who has worked with renowned artists like Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, Liza Minnelli, and Geoff Tate of Queensryche, as well as Silvia Magnani from Milan.

Stefano’s professional journey in the studio world commenced at Futura Productions, an advanced recording facility in Boston. As an assistant engineer, he had the opportunity to work on diverse projects, ranging from recording members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra to scoring music for video games. Eager to expand his expertise, he then joined Tapeworks Recording Studios, a distinguished establishment in Connecticut. There, as a staff engineer, he specialized in recording and mixing exceptional a cappella groups from the area.

Eventually, Stefano’s ambitions led him to Los Angeles, where he realized his dream of establishing BonziRecording. Located in the heart of West LA, BonziRecording has become a hidden gem in the industry. The studio offers a quiet and cozy environment, allowing talented individuals to track their vocals and acoustic instruments. Beyond that, BonziRecording has gained recognition for its exceptional quality voice-over services, catering to applications such as virtual reality, gaming, and radio advertisements. The studio prides itself on delivering punchy, vibrant music mixes that come alive and immerse the listeners. In the realm of voice-over, BonziRecording sets the bar high, consistently producing professional results that are second to none in the industry.

Stefano understands that standing out in the competitive Los Angeles scene requires a combination of raw talent and access to the right tools. He believes that mastering both aspects is the key to unlocking life-changing opportunities. While talent alone is abundant in the city, Stefano’s commitment to providing professional mixing and mastering services at BonziRecording sets him apart. Collaborating with Stefano and his team guarantees a finished product that exceeds expectations, elevating artists’ talents to new heights.

In summary, Stefano Bonzi is an accomplished engineer who has built a successful career by blending his passion for music, technical expertise, and dedication to delivering outstanding audio productions. His studio, BonziRecording, stands as a testament to his commitment to excellence and his belief in the transformative power of talent combined with professional recording and production.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

My journey started in the mid-90s when a couple of friends from school (Collegio Rosmini in Stresa, Italy) asked me to join their band as the lead vocalist for the end-of-the-year rock concert. The show went particularly well, and that started our journey into the music scene in the north of Italy. The grunge scene in Seattle was ramping up at the time, and we became one of the most influential cover bands in the Milan area, presenting legendary bands like Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden to a crowd of teenagers who had no exposure to that genre before. The band was convincing enough to gather a small group of followers who often ended up buying the CDs of the bands we were covering.

During that time, I began taking vocal lessons from good coaches, and in the summer of 1996, I took a one-month trip to Seattle, WA, to live and breathe the same air our rockstars breathed. The first thing I did when I got to Seattle was to purchase an acoustic guitar at Emerald City Guitars, and that’s where I asked (in very elementary English) where I could take voice lessons. Jay, the owner, went straight to the phone book and wrote down the number for David Kyle. He said to me, ‘If he’s still alive, this is the man to call.’ I picked up the phone, dialed the number, and a deep voice of an old man answered the call. He asked me, ‘Who do you want to sing like?’ I answered, ‘Layne Staley would be my answer, but I’m sure you have no idea who I’m talking about.’ His answer made me very curious. ‘Layne Staley was my student.’ I could not believe that. We set up our first meeting a couple of days later, and the first thing I noticed once I got to his house was the walls covered in pictures of famous people with their signatures and dedications, ‘To my maestro, love…’ and one of them had Layne wearing a huge ‘glam rock hair’ from his days prior to Alice In Chains (or right at the beginning of their career).

The years went by, and our band grew in popularity and style, but when we finally decided to create our own music, something broke. We came to the realization that Italy was not the right place to be an alternative musician. The music scene that had been leading the Western world for centuries came to a halt. Italy has not commercially produced any innovations in music after the World Wars, Italian labels don’t bet on young artists with a style that hasn’t been proven successful in other countries (besides the Italian ballads, which are more part of the folk culture than the pop culture). So, if musicians are not ‘copying’ from other international artists with millions of fans, they basically get ignored.

It was time for a change. I needed to get back to the States to understand where my life was heading. At the time, I was a university student studying ‘public relations’ at a good university in Milan, but my vocation was music, and I could not let it go that easily. I took a five-month trip to San Francisco, following another band’s location on the map, Mr. Bungle. I was basically hoping to be able to see any of the members playing live in little clubs, knowing they had many other projects. Ironically, that summer, Mr. Bungle came to perform a free live show in Milan, which I missed. I spent those five months getting to know American culture and met a lot of inspiring people and musicians who convinced me that the US would be a much better place to pursue my musical passion. At that point I negotiated with my family a deal that if I could graduate with good results from a university that would teach me something I loved I would have get the funds to pursue my dream. I researched any schools that offered a music engineering program and the final decision was to leave my country and go to study for 4 years at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, CT.
The school taught me all the ins and outs of music production making me fall in love with all the aspects of audio recording with the privilege of being able to make mistakes that wouldn’t hurt the musicians since everyone was there to learn, from music production to performance and everything in between. The school was also recognized enough to grant me access to the best studios on the East Coast and Futura Productions in Boston was the next step after a successful graduation.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

After some time working at Futura Productions with John, the owner, and recording incredibly talented classical musicians from the Boston Symphony Orchestra and composers who scored for movies and video games, my wife and I decided to take a trip to Los Angeles. My best friend and lab partner from Hartt had moved there a couple of years prior, and we wanted to visit and understand if it would be the right move for my engineering career.

I had a memory of Los Angeles from a trip I took with my family in the very early 90s—a chaotic and dirty place, not in line with my lifestyle. The six days we spent hosted by Gary DeLeone (now a sound effects re-recording engineer for Netflix’s best show, Bridgerton, at Westwind post-production studios) gave us the impression that the still chaotic city of Los Angeles had turned into a very livable area in the past 30 years. It had a clean and green West side, beautiful parks, hikes, and bike paths that could entertain us during our weekends and allow us to enjoy some nature in our time off. Los Angeles turned out to be a challenging place, but the perfect place to nurture our passions and careers. We found an apartment on the West side and started working hard on expanding our businesses (my wife is a successful owner of a physical therapy practice in Koreatown).

After a couple of years working out of the second bedroom of our two-bedroom apartment in Ladera Heights as my mixing/recording room, we felt ready to move towards purchasing our own house. The search was long and tedious. We expanded it to the Valley, East LA, the north, and the south. The new home needed to be not only the perfect size for the two of us (and hopefully a kid or two), but it also needed to feature a garage or a guest house large enough to build a recording studio. Finally, the offers presented us with the right place—a sturdy-built large garage that didn’t require too much structural work to be converted into a mid-sized mixing facility with the option to track a band live. That was finally the place we could call home. Ironically, it turned out to be just a few blocks from the apartment we lived in, in the same Ladera Heights neighborhood we came to love for its central position and quietness on the West side.

After working hard with an acoustician and architects, we converted the garage into the current studio. About eight months later, I had the perfect place acoustically treated, insulated, and ready for playing music loud and clear without bothering my neighbors at late hours.

A few months into my new workplace, I was contacted by STRIVR, a new company that provides VR training courses. They asked, ‘Can you record dialogue at your facility?’ My answer was, ‘Of course I can. My large vocal booth is not only suitable for music, but it can also be the best room to record any kind of dialogue. There’s a screen that I can control from my desk that provides video feedback for ADR and everything in between.’ That started a very successful partnership with this Company, opening up many more options for my career. Now, I was not only providing the best acoustics for mixing music, but also following the new trends of podcasting and recording audiobooks. This was a pivotal change in my life—a realization that audio is not only about music, but it extends to many other services that utilize audio to provide entertainment in various forms and shapes. I’m in the city of movies, so ADR is a natural byproduct of audio recording. But podcasts and audiobooks are a new phenomenon that has been developing exponentially in recent years. Everyone wants to be part of it and have their voices heard from as many people as possible. Quality is quintessential, so, choosing the right place, with the right acoustics and microphone selection is key to get your message out to the masses.

I was recently recording an audiobook with a lady that had a bit of a nasal quality in her voice. After a few paragraphs I decided to stop the recording and go back into the booth to take the whole microphone set up apart and change everything including the mic stand because I was picking up too much of that nasal noise which would have been a superfluous distraction for the listener (and a lot of post production work on my end). My experience of years of recording vocals for music paid off in this situation because I knew exactly where to put the microphone to avoid annoyances that would have been painful to deal with for the final product.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.BonziRecording.com
• Instagram: @bonzirecordingstudios
• Facebook: BonziRecording
• Linkedin: Stefano Bonzi
• Yelp: BonziRecording