Simone
Coen
I was born in July of 1972 from a family of mathematicians and teachers. I was lucky enough to gain access to my first computer at the age of 10 (a Sinclair ZX Spectrum followed shortly after by a IBM PC XT).
A couple of years later I was struck by music and I started playing guitar.
Today, these two passions still make up for the biggest part of my world.
In the last twenty years I played, produced, recorded, mixed, taught, trained, written articles, produced sample libraries and had the honor of having clients such as Apple, AVID/Digidesign, Gibson, Overloud, Native Instruments, Steinberg, Ableton, Cakewalk, Scarbee, Arobas and many others.
Everything pertaining to software and hardware, be it audio or general purpose, is my piece of cake.
I must admit I have a thing for everything Apple.
This blog aims at being a source of inspiration and knowledge for anyone who loves music and its technologies.
Recording
Since I started playing music, I have always been enamored with studio-life, the craft and art of recording seemed like the most obvious to grasp first. A late analog user, I quickly switched to digital and cut my teeth with most of the emerging products from the 90s. I love recording.
Mixing
If recording was the first love of my production life, mixing is the keeper. To me, mixing can be related to painting, design, music conducting and cuisine: I enjoy the action of mixing as much as people appreciating the results of it.
Production
It’s always tricky to define the act of producing. In my experience there are as many production styles as producers in the world.
Training and Teaching
Since 2009 I am a contract professor in Audio Restoration at the Università Statale di Milano. I am an Apple Certified Trainer (ACT) in Logic and I have more than 20 years of experience in teaching and training in music, technology and even sales (!!!).
Lectures and Seminars
I have been leading seminars and workshops since 1999. I have been an ADP (Apple Distinguished Professional) for as long as the program has been alive. I managed to meet many thousand people in hundreds of events. I just love doing this. Stuff I feel comfortable talking about: music business, Apple in general and related to music and musicians, music technology, audio technology, recording, mixing and producing music, audio and music for non-experts, productivity and workflow.
Tech Support and Consulting
Since 1997 I have been installing, configuring and troubleshooting in studios, from fully commercial, to post-production suites and project/personal studios. I’ve been specializing exclusively in Apple-based setups since 2006 and I can give my advice for the whole studio setup. From time to time I also consult for other businesses. I specialize in software issues and am able to support both locally and remotely (depending of the issues).
Forensics and Audio Restoration
I have a deep knowledge of the tools required for Forensic work and Audio Restoration of ancient and/or degraded recordings.
Custom and Commercial Sample Libraries Production
I have been running ChocolateAudio since 2002. We work on commercial products, third party production and licensing and custom libraries for special projects.