Today we are headed to the beautiful country of Italy, Bologna to be exact, to introduce you to Chiara Barbolini, a vinyl cutting engineer working out of her family business doing cutterhead repairs and high quality audio transfers. Shortly after graduating with a degree in foreign language the vinyl field called her name. Due to her passion for music, editing, and the infamous quarantine restrictions we went through a few years back, she gave into that calling. Outside of cutting your favorite artists records, or repairing cutterheads, Chiara is a website and social media copy editor, occasionally dabbling in music press releases, constantly keeping herself busy.

When not cutting or editing, Chiara is enjoying her city of Bologna, her 'creative playground' an open-minded place full of sports, culture, arts and of course music. She also says, "As a proud Gemini, I'm always on the move outside of work, whether it's Crossfit, rollerskating, dog-sitting, or organizing events like roller-dancing jams, I need to keep busy."

How did you get into your industry / What motivated you?

Growing up Gen-Z, at the tender age of seven I found myself delving into the world of Adobe Premiere, already crafting semi professional videos. Even then, I started to be really captivated by the creative interplay of music and tapes, a fascination that continued till our current "Reels Era". It was during this time that I discovered my passion for editing, which was and remains a way of showcasing my perspective to the world, employing my unique array of filters. This passion endures, as I continue to amalgamate audio tracks, vinyl records, music, video — or even seemingly random photographs — into cohesive new narratives, like crafting tangible canvases of memories.

Time passed, and at the beginning of 2021 I started to give more support to my family’s vinyl company through basic help. Over time, I became increasingly involved and interested in the vinyl and analog field, so much that I transformed this support into my full time profession. I even took sound engineering courses and found opportunities for hands-on experiences, one of which was at a cool underground Berlin-vibes club here in Bologna. I am very grateful for the opportunity to study and practice with a marvelous group of sound engineers, we continue to share information about the audio world and have fun in general. I think that's the real magic of music, which should always create connections, whether referring to great microphones or just fantastic people.

What is a day in the life like?

The best part of my work-life is that it's often very flexible, which means that I can decide whether to start cutting very early, then take care of the administrative and accounting tasks, and then the communicative and social aspects. The downside consists of the fact that you have to be very responsible since you are your own boss, so it’s all up to you.

Also, you need to schedule breaks for yourself to not only give your brain a rest, but also to give your ears a break. In order to work continuously for several hours without damaging your hearing or allowing it to become accustomed to prolonged frequencies or high volumes, that is very important.

In your opinion what has been your favorite / the coolest thing you've worked on?

Being a vinyl and music buff makes it tough to pick projects. Every artist I work with feels like a discovery. Maybe one of the more exciting things has been taking part of a 90’s Pop Queen LP remaking (sorry, because of copyright reasons I prefer not to name it directly, but real fans like me maybe will understand). The fact is that during THAT cutting process there was a voice inside of me saying; “wow, the past 7 years you used to listen to this artist in your headphones, over and over again, pretending to be like her, lip-syncing her music videos, and now you’re taking part of a brand new LP-release!"

What has been / is the most difficult part of your job?

First, I think that one of the most difficult parts consists in the logistical process, rather than in the audio ones. Master lacquers are very delicate, fragile and suffer from altering temperatures; so most of the time, the most stressful thing of the vinyl cutting process is about hoping that the vinyl will be carefully processed to guarantee high quality results. In the vinyl industry the whole chain is responsible to making the best quality results happen, starting from the quality of the material itself, to the previous mixing and mastering, till cutting and the galvanics. I can summarize that in this industry, teamwork makes the dream work!

Secondly, the other most difficult part concerns the purely analog machine systems being from the 70s, and some of them even earlier. They’re highly sensitive to slight climate changes, as well as several steps of technical maintenance. For all of these reasons, in the middle of cutting, everything might just stop suddenly without warning, and you have to find a quick solution, otherwise, you can’t continue. It is all very delicate and highly sensitive. When you finally find the right balance, be sure to feel the power of these “old but gold” ladies (I mean the VMS 70). That is also the compromise of the artisanal method, in which beauty, especially in this digital and extremely fast era, I firmly believe in.

What advice do you have for someone wanting to get into pursuing what you’re doing?

...most of all, be sure to be surrounded by good-vibes people, they will always be the key!

First of all I can suggest that there are a lot of courses and books about the audio-engineering. I personally started during the covid era by studying a basic but complete manual for beginners, watching videos, but most of all trying to understand what "sound" physically is.

Then, I highly recommend to start creating your own network, which might be following inspiring people on social media or just rediscovering your favorite venues in your city with your new audio-knowledge. But most of all, be sure to be surrounded by good-vibes people, they will always be the key!

Are you a vinyl collector yourself? What drew you to it?

Yep, I try to be thrifty, but when especially my favorite female artists drop new LPs, resistance is futile. Just talking about the American ones such as Madonna, Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, The Pretty Reckless, Lana Del Rey – well, their music and vibe always reel me in.

But to be honest, as a personal collector, I don't have too many records, since I prefer to give to each I buy value and importance. Each record represents a past or present stage of my life, or a mood that I'm feeling in that precise moment, or that I want to feel right away. I have some evocative, hypnotic and cinematic records for when I'm feeling a bit "blue" or just visionary about something, like "Ultraviolence" of Lana del Rey, the Arctic Monkey's "AM" or "Bioy" of Beatrice Antolini. Therefore, my sunny Sunday mornings might start with the joy of Frank Sinatra or the harmonious melodies of Alan Parsons, till ending with some Pink Floyd or Lucio Battisti's dreamy collections.

What types of things are happening in your industry / with vinyl that you’re excited or worried about? i.e. innovation, or trends you’re seeing.

As a nature lover and vegetarian, the Bio-vinyl trend, which seeks to address these concerns by utilizing alternative materials and production methods that are more environmentally friendly. I really like this concept and I am really looking forward to delving into this process more.

Who has been influential to you and your growth as a professional in this industry? 

To be honest, I remain extremely thankful to my other Italian colleague, a woman cutting engineer, who is currently working in Milan. We met when she was already working in the field and she really inspired me. She was very practical, I was pretty theoretical and methodical. In fact, until that moment I really didn’t considered taking part of the family company, since I had just graduated with a degree in foreign languages. All I was thinking about was a language career, but then I began looking for the possibility of a work-balance where I could live the best of both worlds.

Anything else you’d like to add; if not tell us what you're listening to: 

On one hand, I am a fan of retro vibes, influenced by the 70s and 80s, as I grew up listening to my dad play his records during his DJ career, and my mum who would often play CDs of her teenage idols. On the other hand, I always remain very curious about new genres and releases, especially due to my work, which have led me to discover a lot of underground artists.

Last but not least the African, dreamy beats of the emergent Italian band Savana Funk remain among my favorites. I was also the vinyl engineer for one of their projects, for these reasons, I think I am one of their biggest “groupies”.