Irko

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IRKO
Photo of Irko Sera.jpg
Background information
Birth nameMaurizio Sera
Born (1981-09-30) September 30, 1981 (age 43)
Conegliano, Treviso, Italy
Genres Hip hop
Occupation(s) Mix Engineer, Engineer
Years active2000–present
Website irko.it

Maurizio Sera (born September 30, 1981), [1] [2] [3] known professionally as Irko (stylized in all caps) is an Italian audio engineer currently based in Los Angeles, California. [1]

Career

Irko was born and raised in Conegliano, getting his start in music producing beats and working as a DJ. [1] He gravitated towards hip hop because of the "heavy hitting" boom bap drums and bass. [4] [5] Irko enrolled in computer science in Venice, which he described as "the most boring thing I could imagine". [2] He started studying audio engineering after finding himself "explaining to the actual engineer how to do his job" [1] and coming across a poster asking "Do you want to learn how to work in a recording studio?" [2] He opened his first studio in his dad's garage, having people stationed in a nearby American Air-Force base join recording sessions. [1] [6]

In the early 2000s, Irko was getting recognition and building connections on MySpace. [7] In 2006, Irko was invited to New York by Tokyo-based producer B-Money, whom he had met on MySpace. Despite not having much money, he convinced himself to travel so that he could learn how a bigger recording studio works. When arriving there, Irko was invited to work on Jay-Z's Kingdom Come album with B-Money, which led to him landing a recording credit for the song "The Prelude". [2] [5] [8] He later moved to Los Angeles, where he has been living and working for 10 years.

Irko has since worked with artists such as 88-Keys and Kanye West, mixing the song "Stay Up! (Viagra)", and later mixing Kanye West's album Donda in 2021. [9] [10] In 2024, he mixed West and Ty Dolla Sign's collaborative album Vultures 2 .

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Blackbook (June 25, 2009). "Industry Insiders: Maurizio "Irko" Sera at the Mixing Board". Blackbook Magazine. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Verni, Francesco (October 9, 2021). "Irko: "Io, Kanye West e i misteri di Donda"" [Irko: Me, Kanye West and the mysteries of Donda]. Corriere Del Veneto (in Italian). Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  3. ↑ "Irko on Instagram". Instagram . September 30, 2020. Archived from the original on 2021-12-26. Retrieved 18 December 2021. Happy birthday to me! Woop! [self-published]
  4. ↑ Archie, Ayana (25 October 2017). "Audio engineer IRKO talks about making it in music at MilkBoy ArtHouse". DBK News. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  5. 1 2 Boroni, Michele (September 10, 2021). "Irko M Sera e i segreti del mix nell'hip-hop e di "Donda"" [Irko M Sera, and the secrets of the mix in hip-hop and "Donda".]. Rockol (in Italian). Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  6. ↑ Produce Like A Pro (May 30, 2017). "Mixing HipHop & R&B with Mixing Engineer Irko - Warren Huart: Produce Like A Pro". YouTube. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  7. ↑ Tion, Marta (September 3, 2021). "Da Conegliano a Los Angeles: IRKO l'ingegnere del suono dei big" [From Conegliano to Los Angeles: IRKO the sound engineer of big names]. Oggi Treviso (in Italian). Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  8. ↑ "Credits / Kingdom Come / Jay-Z". Tidal. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  9. ↑ "Mixing Hiphop & R&B with Irko". Produce Like a Pro. May 29, 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  10. ↑ Witaszczyk, Adrian Lucas. "IRKO Interview: "There is no failures, there is chances to learn!"". Studio Know Mag. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
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