Self-taught multi-instrumentalist, engineer and producer Bonzie (A.K.A. Chicago native Nina Ferraro) discovered her love of music in elementary school. While the other kids romped at recess, she stayed inside and taught herself to shred on the six-string. She was only 15 in 2010 when she dropped The Promise, her first EP, and has since helmed a handful of other releases. Much of the past 12 months have been spent at EastWest Studios working on her upcoming and currently untitled record. She also engineers for other artists and assists them with backing vocals and the vocal design of songs.
For musicians who learn to engineer outside of a formal training program, direct experience is nearly always their teacher. “I’d see things done and realize that’s how you mic a guitar or a vocal or how you set up tracks,” Bonzie recalls. “That was school, pretty much. There was also non-stop Googling and a lot of calling engineer friends. With Pro Tools, things can get complicated, such as working off of the click. But there are a lot of YouTubers who explain things clearly. I’ve been saved by them many times.
“I like how Pro Tools gives you so much control,” she continues. “Everything’s transparent; there’s not much that’s hidden. I use it more as a tool for capturing something. I don’t compose in it. Production for me is capturing and executing ideas that I already have.”
It’s not uncommon for an artist to be tempted to make changes to an initial idea merely because change is an option. But Bonzie finds that her first instinct is usually the best choice. “I don’t like to edit too much,” she explains. “The first thinking is me expressing [an idea] naturally and unfiltered. That second wave of editing is not good. I try to keep [a song] pure. There’s a nature to it that makes it work out; that balances everything—the structure, the lyricism or the story—and you hit the point where everything feels good.”
Not surprisingly, a significant struggle that Bonzie faced was making Rift into The Secret Of Things, her first full-length record, when she was only seventeen. “I did a bunch of tracking for it,” she recollects, “but I knew that a lot of them weren’t right so I redid several. That was a challenge because I was panicked. You can always override your gut feeling but I didn’t want to if I didn’t have to. That was a big learning experience.”
Bonzie’s single “Spiritual Violence” dropped in December while “Citrus,” her latest artfully-drawn anthem, followed on January 24. Her latest album—her fourth project and the first that she’s engineered and produced entirely on her own—is targeted for a fall release. She has a number of L.A. shows planned and aims to tour, perhaps in the spring or summer. Like many engineers, she's a fan of Neumann mics. “Especially vintage ones," she says, "or even a new U 87. Whenever I listen to my voice through them, it sounds like me. Through others it doesn’t sound as familiar."
Contact bonzie.net, Instagram @bonzie.
The Three Most Important...
. . . lessons she’s learned as an artist, producer and engineer are:
• Follow your heart and your instincts.
• Say what you think, unfiltered. You have to communicate when you work. Music has nothing to do with ego and I welcome criticism. Often something that you think sounds brutal probably doesn’t.
• Relaxing is important. To be as creative as possible I have to be comfortable. Being precious about things can hold you down and make [the music] suffer.
