CLUSTER

Cluster explores the new senses that cluster around musical currents of the past and present, their aesthetics and practices. Like the dissonant chord from which it takes its name, Cluster will highlight contrasts and chords in the relationship between sound and the communities built around it.

Theres no denying it: we are living in the era of podcasts. Listener numbers are growing year by year, contributing to an industry that creates many jobs. Indagini by Stefano Nazzi of Il Post is one of the most listened-to podcasts in Italy, and its popularity is down to a number of factors. Among these is the soundtrack composed by Stefano Tumiati.

A sound engineer and designer, Tumiati is one of those who, in recent years, has specialised in the podcasting sector, working regularly with Il Post and Factanza Media. For the past year, the tracks from the soundtrack have been available on all platforms, collected in the album Crimini.

Regarding the creation of the tracks, Tumiati explains: For Crimini, I started with the set of sounds we were already using in Indagini. I tried not to stray too far from that sonic palette: piano, mysterious, electronic. In this work, the support of Davide Pantaleo was very valuablehe helped me with the mixing and the selection of sounds.

The tracks, with evocative titles such as Il Fatto, DNA, and La Svolta, seem directly connected to the narrative of the episodes. Tumiati confirms: There are some tracks that recur in specific narrative situations. This isnt always the caseit depends on the text and the reading mood. The titles reference elements of Indagini and paragraphs from the episodes.

The success of the soundtrack also lies in its ability to blend thriller atmospheres with contemporary sound design. It was Tumiati who initially set the tone, choosing the theme tune and the first sound package, which was still somewhat raw and too tied to traditional TV crime sounds. Then, through teamwork at Il Post with Francesco Costa and Yiming Zhou, we refined it, aiming to differentiate ourselves. The mood became more nostalgic and intimate in some parts, while electronic and rhythmic in others. We stripped back the sounds, keeping only the essential, avoiding overly melancholic music.

The success of podcasts is far from guaranteed, in a world that often considers audiovisual media dominant and relegates audio-only formats to a secondary role. Yet, just over a hundred years since the first radio broadcast in Italy, a profession that inherits the legacy of the radiodrama composer is experiencing a revival.

Today, everything is different, from music to information. Nazzi, too, narrates famous true crime cases, but with a new approachone that avoids sensationalism. And for these new styles of storytelling, the right soundtrack is essential.

The cover of the podcast Indagini by Stefano Nazzi

Pierluigi Fantozzi

Pierluigi Fantozzi, 1995, is a musician. He graduated from the National Academy of Jazz in Siena and obtained his master’s degree at the Conservatory of Bologna. A clarinet player, he has played in jazz ensembles, but has cultivated an interest in electronic music, also collaborating with Tempo Reale. Since 2023, he has been part of the Controradio team, for which he has conducted interviews with important figures on the international music scene. As a radio speaker, he leads his own programme Passabanda.