Ferlazzo started playing piano at age six and continued with classical training up until entering Berklee College of Music in 1986 on scholarship. His first synth was an ARP Axxe bought from a high school friend. “Damned if it didn’t take me two weeks to get that thing to make a sound,” he says. “I came close to returning it and asking for my money back.” With the help of his father, he acquired a book on synthesis. “That’s where I got my first education on building sounds from the ground up,” he says. “I continued to study classical theory and harmony, but there was something about crafting new sounds that I found stimulating.” Ferlazzo’s early classical influences gave way to progressive rock such as ELP, Yes, and Genesis. “I especially had an affinity for [Genesis founding member and keyboardist] Tony Banks,” he says. “His sense of melody and chordal development really struck a note with me.”
Ferlazzo’s love of prog rock soon evolved into a taste for funk. “Bernie Worrell ended up being one of my biggest influences for his creativity, sense of improvisation, and experimentation with the Moog,” he says. Ferlazzo also caught one of Nine Inch Nails’ earliest shows in Boston and was blown away. “When Trent hit the stage and I heard that aggression and power, I realized that the driving force was not guitar, but synthesizers and, for the time, some amazing programming,” he continues. “I was instantly hooked.”
Preparation
Ferlazzo won his seat in Lavigne’s band by audition and worked hard to prep for the gigs that would follow. “I spent a day importing YouTube videos into Ableton Live and using the Utility plug-in to do some phase cancellation for part separation,” he says. “I knew that I was going to use Live as the centerpiece of the rig, so I set up all my patches, clicks, and loops in Ableton.” As Ferlazzo started getting sounds together, he began planning his rig. “The Moog Voyager actually gets a lot of work on the gig,” he says, “whether for sub-bass sound on ‘Complicated’ or the filter sweep bass of ‘Losing Grip.’ During songs with more lead guitarish lines, I used the Moog to enhance and layer those lines with some custom lead sounds.
“The workstation of choice for me is the Yamaha Motif XS. I consider it to be a great live board, certainly a standard on a big tour,” he continues. Aside from the Motif and Moog, Ferlazzo relies heavily on the Novation ReMote SL (his “ace in the hole”) for both audio and visual elements of the show. “The integration with Ableton Live and programmable controls onboard are the main reasons I use it,” he says. “The Novation essentially allows me the freedom to not have to touch my Mac keyboard or mouse and just concentrate on performing, which was so important to me, especially since I was essentially going to be playing keyboards, singing every song, running tracks and click, and controlling preprogrammed video content for the show.”
For software, Ferlazzo is a huge fan of Live. “I can’t say enough about this crucial piece of software!” he exclaims. “I remember first getting acquainted with it as a lite version bundled with the Digi 002, and instantly saw its potential. I had version 3 early on when the software was still primarily a DJ’s delight, and a hyped-up version of Sony Acid Pro. At the time, I was doing loop-based music with Tribe of Judah. Ableton Live was a huge part of that process. Fast-forward to Live 5 and 6 where, in my opinion, Live started to become a force to be reckoned with. I’ve always loved Session View, and that’s where I do all my work. It was the ideal way to set up the live show for Avril. I would set up each song as a ‘scene’ in Live and each track on that scene would control either an external synth, a software synth, one-shot samples, loop tracks, a click track, a verbal count-off track, or a reference track to the original.” Aside from Live, Ferlazzo got into Apple Logic 8. “In previous versions, I found it too involved,” he says. “Now that I’m much more comfortable with it, I actually prefer it over Pro Tools.” He also has an affinity for Propellerhead Reason 4, which he incorporates into Live and Logic 8.
Beyond the Music
When giving advice to younger players, Ferlazzo says, “The first thing do to is develop and master your craft. I spent plenty of my youthful years practicing, learning, and reading manuals religiously. But that’s only the first step. Also work on your social and networking skills. There are tons of great players out there that nobody knows of. Make it a point to go out to clubs and meet people. Develop relationships with musicians that you respect and always look for opportunities.” He also emphasizes the importance of finding a niche. “A lot of bigger artists are inclined to use tracks and video, and having knowledge in these areas has really helped me to get gigs,” he continues. “I made sure that my playing and vocal abilities were strong, and my computer skills were strong to the point where I could accommodate any artists’ requests in a live situation. I worked hard to avoid being slave to the computer — instead, making it work for me as another instrument, being able to control it on the fly, and being able to make realtime changes during a live show that don’t interrupt the flow.”
That flow exists both on and off stage, and having the right personality traits can be key to surviving a tour. “When you tour with someone for a while, you have to be compatible,” he says. “Figure out who they are and how to adapt to their situation. They are not going to adapt to yours.” Ferlazzo also mentions patience and persistence, as success doesn’t happen overnight. “You can’t move out to Los Angeles and expect to be a rock star in six months,” he says. “It’s just not realistic. It’s just like starting a business, most of which don’t even make a profit for the first three years. Consider yourself the commodity. You have to invest in yourself, plan properly, have some sort of game plan, and not give up if you don’t land the dream gig in three months. You have to focus on long-term goals!”
Ferlazzo Facts
Webpage: www.steveferlazzo.com
Selected influential albums: Yes, Fragile. Genesis, Selling England by the Pound. Journey, Escape. Prince, Purple Rain. Glen Gould, Bach: The Well- Tempered Clavier. Favorite albums of 2008: Radiohead, In Rainbows. Muse, H.A.A.R.P. Extreme, Saudades de Rock. Most underrated keyboard-flavored records: DramaGods, Love. Nine Inch Nails, Ghosts I-IV. Favorite rock record with keyboards: Genesis, A Trick of the Tail.