Intro
White Villa Entertainment is where 22 year-old producer Nicky Romero crafts his speaker spanking music.
The facility is a beautiful space over three floors, which Nicky shares with Dutch pop producer John Dirne, with its own swimming pool, guest house and even a fully-stocked bar, which doubles as a mix check environment. Downstairs, spread across three rooms, there's a vocal room and Nicky's own studio, efficiently kitted out to make the most of his mix space.
At just 22 years of age, Nicky joins a collective of young producers making a huge impact in clubs and charts around the world. Avicii, Afrojack, Skrillex, Porter Robinson and Max Vangeli, to name a few, all check in at under 25 and are playing some of the world's most-famous superclubs and collaborating with some of the biggest names in dance music. Romero is no exception having had his tracks played by Fedde Le Grand, Tiësto and David Guetta all before he'd even secured management. Speaking of Guetta, he recently submitted a remix for the Pop superstar that the label loved so much, it's now set up to be an original collaboration.
Having started out in his bedroom only four years ago, Nicky's story is one that's becoming more and more familiar and with his newest track Toulouse sitting comfortably in the Beatport Top Ten and MTV having named him an 'EDM rookie to watch', 2012 looks like Romero's year.
The studio
“Before I moved in to this studio I was literally just using Fruity Loops and some speakers that weren’t even monitors, just multimedia speakers. I was reading magazines like Future Music and I was hearing about equipment that I could never afford so I went to Music Store in Amsterdam and asked for advice on what I needed and I got an [M-Audio] Mbox.
“Before that I was connecting my speakers to the mini jack on my computer [laughs]. I bought my first KRK set around then too, the RP6s. Still though, I didn’t know anything, I never had any formal training. I just asked questions, all the time – about everything.”
NI's Maschine
“Always nice to jam around with samples, and see if they work together… that’s basically what I do on Maschine!”
KRK VXT8
“I use the VXT8 cause I’m so used to KRK, and the VXT8 does the job for me. They’ve got nice pressure in the low end and clear high frequencies.”
Access Virus B
“I’d like to use the Virus B more for basses, synth FX and some vocoding like I did on my new track Generation303!”
Access Virus C
“I don’t use the C any more, but I do use the Virus TI. I love to make big room sounds and synths using it – parts of Camorra came out of that one!”
Roland JP-8000
“This is mainly being used just for inspiration and for some occasional vintage sounds.”
Live room
"For vocal recordings i use the Avalon VT-737sp. It's a great-sounding compressor and a really warm pre amp."
Lexicon 224XL
"This white remote control is for the good old Lexicon. To be honest I use a software version now because so many of the tracks i do have time pressure, but it's a great reverb."
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“Michael Stipe said it was his favourite dance album – he used to put it on and then write his lyrics for REM to it”: Rave icons Utah Saints on their legacy, sampling Kate Bush, and the challenges of making their debut album
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