ALEX DONOFRIO: STARS KIND OF ALIGNED

Alex Donofrio, is an American music producer from New Jersey. Since 2020, Alex has been shaping a sound that sits between the club and the beach, mixing house rhythms with Balearic melodies. But Alex’s roots aren’t in the booth—they’re on the stage. Starting his career as a singer and guitarist, he brings a songwriter’s ear to his every electronic production.

In this Artist Spotlight for M-Sol Records, Alex discusses his journey from frontman to producer. He opens up about his love for Balearic chillout, and why the right melody is the key to connecting with listeners.

Do you remember the exact moment (or person) that made you think: “I want to produce my own music”. What was it?

When I was younger, I played in a few different bands in which I sang, screamed a lot, and sometimes I played guitar, but mostly singing. And I noticed that I was doing a lot of the songwriting as well and arranging and producing the music. So I guess that’s when I realized that I like producing and directing.

Who or what shaped your sound in the beginning and what influences you now that might surprise people?

As a realy young child, having record players in the house my dad actually had a pretty nice collection of records my brother started playing the drums and little by little we got more into rock n roll music, progressive rock In my later teenage years, I discovered electronic music through trance artists like Paul Van Dyk and Armin Van Buuren. and chillout and baleric sounds so i really got into The Cafe Del Mar compilations and I fell in love with electronic music probably from age 16, 17.

What’s one mistake you made while producing or mixing that taught you the biggest lesson?

I remember early on as a producer, I wasn’t really in, I wasn’t, I didn’t really know about sidechain compression. So if you want to get that pumping sound and duck the different frequencies and get that pumping bass, if you’re producing electronic music, like I like, then you definitely want to use sidechain compression.

Be honest, how do you personally know when a track is finished? And how many exports usually come before that moment?

I try not to cut too many mixes now. Sometimes I’ll end up with four or five mixes of the same song, which could be cool because then you can have, I like, I kind of like the style back in the day when somebody would release a single and there would be a radio mix, a piano mix, an ambient mix, a chill out mix, a club mix. I thought that format was pretty cool.

In your opinion, what separates a good song from a forgettable one?

For me, I’m a melody guy, so the melody is what sticks with me. A melody that evokes some kind of emotion, usually like a melancholic emotion, an uplifting emotion, whatever it is. But for me, it’s the melody. I just think in melodies.

What makes a DJ set truly great for you, track selection, flow, crowd connection, or something else?

This sounds pretty cliche, but I would say it’s the whole experience. It’s everything. It’s the trip. It’s the set. It’s the setting. It’s the people who are with you. Are people having fun? Are they dancing? Are you having fun? Are you dancing? Because that’s what it’s all about at the end of the day.

Was there a specific night, event, or person that pushed you to step behind the decks and start DJing seriously?

When I started traveling to Latin America specifically I realized that people like the music that I’m playing. And that was a big confidence booster, and it was almost… It’s very validating where, you know, people aren’t coming up to the decks and asking, requesting for you to play pop songs and things like that.

What’s one unexpected or unforgettable moment you’ve had while playing live?

There was this one night in Colombia in Medellín where the stars kind of aligned. Now it was this small little rooftop lounge bar, maybe there was 50 people there. I remembered I played maybe for four hours to the point where there was another dude, my friend, who was, he was supposed to play after me, and he was like, yo, bro, he’s just like, just keep going. And I kept going, and I just went on this journey with the people that were there, and it was just an amazing experience. I don’t know how to describe it, but the stars kind of just aligned, and it felt really good, and the people, I just, We were together in this thing for a long time.

Happy to be working again with M-Sol Records. They are a genuine label and group of people passionate about the music.