Emiliano Melis is an experimental music designer based in New York City. His works are a mix of melody, tape loops, and improvised electronic sounds - a fusion of classic analog synthesizers and contemporary digital instruments. Over the years he has collaborated with many musicians as a remixer and producer, and with international artists as a composer for for videos and sound installations. He has also composer music for short films and TV shows featured on MTV, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV. He was the musical brains behind Sonixinema's new sample library, World Of Tape, which features a collection of over 100 contemporary tape loops and textures. 

Give us a brief history of Emiliano Melis - Where did you grow up and what music inspired you at a young age?

EM: I was born in Turin, Italy. I studied piano and guitar but I’ve always been interested in modulating and creating unique sounds through effects and machines, and that curiosity became soon a real love for synthesizers and pedal effects. I grew up listening to different kind of music. My background is various and it ranges from rock to electronic, ambient and experimental. Artists like David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails. Brian Eno and IAMX inspired me and influenced me as musicians and composer.

How did your passion for Tape start?

EM: It started when I was a kid, at the end of the 80’. I remember how exciting was playing and overdubbing music layers using a basic keyboard and two analog cassette recorders. I was very intrigued by that lo-fi tape sound and that creative process was the unaware beginning of my sound experimentation. 

You've grown a large fanbase around the work that you put out on Instagram. What is it that you think people connect to when they hear your music?

EM: Instagram gives me the opportunity to combine my music with my passion for photography, details and aesthetic. I really enjoy creating and sharing videos representing short sound installations. It was unexpected to see many people joining me and following my sonic adventures on Instagram, I feel so grateful and I hope to keep entertaining and inspiring them with my compositions. 

How did you translate your sound and musical identity into a sample library?

EM: After many years working as a composer and musicians is very important and essential to keep my music identity in everything I do. The process behind composing a song or creating samples for a library is basically the same for me. I always try to turn feelings and ideas into sounds, melodies and beats. I really like doing sound libraries because it's exciting to think that my sounds and samples can inspire and being used by someone else in their own compositions.

What was the last piece of music that you heard that you think everyone reading this should hear?

EM: Talking about scoring and composers I truly suggest to listen to Hildur Guonadottir, I really like her sound, and of course Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. 

For more information about Emiliano, visit www.emilianomelis.com