Describing an artist such as Dr. Shiver in only a few words would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible. With dozens of tracks, collabs with some of the best vocalists and years of experience in the music industry, his career is much more than what we could summarize in a few phrases. That is why, in this interview, we asked the artist to describe himself and talk about his achievements. But since we had this opportunity, we also took the chance to ask about his newest track “Brave Love” ft. Jmi Sisoko which amassed over 700,000 streams in one week. And if you’re sharing his love for producing, check out Dr. Shiver’s Wavo remix competition here – amazing prizes are in store, plus the chance to have your remix released on the artist’s label, Art&Music Recording!
RR: Who is Dr. Shiver? Can you describe yourself in a few words?
Dr. Shiver: Probably too many things in just one person: I’m a musician, a producer, a DJ, a sound engineer, a musical director and the C.E.O of my own imprint, Art&Music Recording. Sometimes I feel like I would need a clone to handle everything I am doing at the moment…But, on the other hand, we only live once, so I am happy and satisfied with what I am doing.
RR: You’ve been in the music industry for a long time. What is the most important lesson all these years have taught you?
Dr. Shiver: Always be humble is the first basic rule. Being humble also makes you understand another fundamental aspect: you can’t ask yourself to do all the work on your own. If you want to have a concrete chance you must learn how to work in a team. You must also learn to listen to everyone else’ advice, even advice coming from people who are less skilled or talented than you, because sometimes even a basic and small idea can make your productions better.
RR: Your newest single “Brave Love” has had over 700,000 SoundCloud streams in only one week. That’s amazing, congratulations! How does it feel when you produce something so well received by the public?
Dr. Shiver: It’s always a huge emotion: plays, comments, likes and all these things are a concrete barometer to understand if a track is well received by your audience or not. So when you see that you are receiving so much love you should just think “ok, I’m on the right path, let’s keep on working in this direction”.
RR: Take us “behind the scenes”! How was “Brave Love” created? What was the concept behind the track?
Dr. Shiver: Actually I was in the studio with a dear songwriter friend, Dre Meltz. I played him a chord progression with a melody draft. He immediately loved it so we started co-writing the track. He developed some, in my opinion, outstanding lyrics and together we wrote the melody of the top line of the vocal. Once the whole song was written we recorded a piano and voice only demo (the version that at the end inspired me to do an unplugged version of this track of piano and voice only, that has just been released as a giveaway free download for my fans a few days ago on Art&Music Recording). At that point I did the arrangement and sound design of the track. I called my friend Luke Morse to play a few guitar lines here at our studios and, boom, the track was done. So I looked around to find the right vocalist until Solberjum introduced me to Jmi Sissoko. Once I heard his voice, I immediately felt he was the right singer for the track. He came from Paris and in one day we recorded the final vocal. After a bit of extra sound design, mixing and mastering the track was done.
RR: What is, in your opinion, the “spark” that makes this song unique?
Dr. Shiver: I believe that the vocal is the first important thing. It is nice, warm, full of emotions and the hook is memorable. Regarding the sound design I will say that the mixture of deep, tropical house sounds along with a real and live played guitar is very fresh. There is also another aspect which is important: the guitar is never repeating. The first verse is drastically different from the second one and the same goes for the bridges. The guitar lines are connected to each other but at the same time, they give you the feeling that there is an evolution within this track.
RR: How did you and Jmi Sissoko end up working together on this track? I have to say, his voice just adds that little bit of magic that makes this song so exhilarating!
Dr. Shiver: As mentioned, I met him thanks to my dear friend Solberjum. They are both from Paris and I had been looking for the right vocalist for a few months. When Solberjum finally introduced me to Jmi and he recorded from his studio a draft demo, I thought “God, finally I found him”. Recording with Jmi was a pleasure. I’ve worked with hundreds of different vocalists in my career and I can immediately see if somebody has talent or not. Jmi is not only super talented, but also extremely professional. What impressed me the most was that, in this track, he used less than half of his vocal extension.
RR: Art&Music Recording has had support and a massive success since the beginning. Now that this year is approaching its end, what do you have in store for next year when it comes to the record label?
Dr. Shiver: I am actually really pleased about this 2017. 2018 will be even better: we have already 12 tracks planned to be released. The first release for the new year will be an atomic house remix of Brave Love made by Solberjum himself. It is so fresh that I actually almost prefer it to the original! We are also running a Wavo remix competition for Brave Love and we will release the 3 winning remixes within the end of February. There is also a new entry in our family: Black Code, a very talented guy from Rome who has signed a couple of tracks with Revealed just now and who gave us a few dope club bangers to release. We are also planning to do some new Art&Music Recording Nights since this format was an incredible success last year. Moreover, we have a live streaming from our studios planned with some huge artists but can not share much more at the moment so you better keep an eye on Art&Music Recording socials.
RR: What about personal plans? Any resolutions for 2018?
Dr. Shiver: I have a feeling that this year will be unique for me. I have 6 new tracks to be released, a nice collab with my brother John Christian, other releases on Protocol Recordings, a number of live events already confirmed and… In March I’ll be in Miami so stay tuned to see what will happen there.
RR: Last but not least, if you were to look back, what is the achievement that made you the proudest?
Dr. Shiver: There are so many to be honest. I am generally super satisfied about myself artistically-wise. Being able to open Art&Music Recording Studios which today is the biggest recording studio all over Italy when I was just 28 years old was a huge emotion. Working with names such as Pharrell Williams, Nicky Romero, Louie Vega, B. B. King and Mike Larsson (just to name a few) was incredible. Having my debut at Tomorrowland Belgium this year was a blessing. Doing the first official remix (after the historical one made by the legend Frankie Knucles) of You Got The Love with the original 1986 Candi Staton’s vocal was a great emotion. Being supported on each of my releases by huge names such as David Guetta, Avicii, Martin Garrix, Tiesto, Steve Aoki and so on is making me very proud. Last but not least, working every day in the music business in 360 degrees (from arrangement to sound design, from mix to master, from song writing to top lining, from pop music to EDM and so on) makes me very satisfied and proud.
Connect with Dr. Shiver:
https://www.facebook.com/drshiver
https://twitter.com/drshiver
https://soundcloud.com/drshiver
http://www.drshiver.com
Share On
