Rome-born, Berlin based artist Ancut (aka Marco Pellegrino) has built a career that balances two worlds. One inside the DJ booth and the other in the mastering studio. He is as recognised for delivering the dance as he is for running Analogcut Mastering, his vinyl cutting and sound engineering hub which he manages alongside his own label Discarded Gems.
His first real connection to electronic music began way before, with childhood afternoons spent taking inspiration from the soundwaves of the radio and influences from family passions towards music. “My older sister used to record some cassettes and she often played two songs that really caught my attention: Daft Punk – ‘One More Time’ and Gigi D’Agostino – ‘L’Amour Toujours’. I then decided to buy the CDs that included them, and spent many afternoons listening to them. At the age of 13, I bought my first vinyl record, The Liptrick – The Lip Trick E.P. (which I still keep in my bag as a good luck charm). My father is a record collector too, so I had early access to his turntable and hi-fi system.”
It wasn’t long before this affection for the music grew into something bigger, thanks to early access to the dancefloors of his home city. “In Rome, where I grew up, teenagers could attend afternoon parties featuring the same resident DJs who played at night – kind of an ‘intro’ to clubbing – and that’s where my passion and career as a clubber and DJ began.” These daytime gatherings provided a formative bridge between youth and the club scene, paving the way to Ancut’s own residencies around the city before he had even turned 20. Alongside DJing, he was soon also drawn to production. “That came a bit later at the age of 18, mostly out of curiosity, as I wanted to try creating sounds I couldn’t find on the records I had.”
As his exposure to different genres continued, he began to realise which sounds were really ticking the box. “As a teenager, I was influenced by the Electro House scene, which was very big in Italy between 2003 and 2006. Later, I started attending parties at Brancaleone in Rome, where one of the resident DJs was Donato Dozzy. There, I had the chance to listen to some of the greatest techno legends and this dramatically changed my vision of music, drawing me more towards its darker and deeper side.”
Ancut made a move to Berlin in 2013. With no established network in the German capital, this meant starting from scratch again, but he quickly set to work on finding an entry for himself. “After a few years of hard work, I got my first gig at Globus / Tresor in 2017 and from then on, I feel my confidence in my abilities has grown. I also started the party series Superluminal with my friend Matthias, which allowed me to express myself freely, develop my own sound, and connect with many great artists.”
With his DJ career already starting to take off, the real turning point came thanks to his efforts in the studio. Experimenting with his own sound led him to make tracks that would soon be picked up by other labels, with a standout moment being his Cycle EP, released on Kyiv based label Wicked Bass. “It resonated quite well within the scene and brought me gigs in new clubs and countries.”
His career path however wasn’t always so obvious. “As a DJ, you have to keep working hard your whole life and be prepared for ups and downs, since a lot can happen around you and you always need to stay focused on your work. I believe it’s very important to value the successes you achieve, since it’s very challenging to get the opportunity to travel and perform as a DJ. Many find it frustrating because they expect more, but keeping a positive mindset and appreciating every small success is the key to keeping it going.”
Despite that, Ancut is happy where he is today in terms of his artistic journey. Clarity can take time but it’s that positive approach that has brought him to where he is now. “I feel positive about my DJ career. I am generally satisfied with it and I feel I know exactly where I want to be and what I want to express – something that, over the years, hasn’t always been so clear. Change is continuous; every year feels different and as life evolves, so do our tastes and our mission.”
If the booth remains central to his career, it’s in the studio where Ancut has carved a second identity. His mastering and vinyl-cutting studio, Analogcut Mastering, is both a professional space and a passion project rooted in the family influence. “As I mentioned, my father is a record collector, so my interest and love for this format started very early in my life. I studied sound design in Rome and when I moved to Berlin, it was clear to me that vinyl production should become a part of my life.”
Running an analog studio with “cutting lathes, tape machines, and vintage gear” is no small feat. It requires constant reinvention and investment, but for Ancut it is worth it for the role vinyl continues to play in dance music culture. “This is how Analogcut started, driven by the need to work with and be involved as much as possible in this format.” That daily immersion in sound, hours spent mastering tracks for others, has inevitably shaped how he hears and approaches his own work. “I’ve been listening to music 8-9 hours a day, 5-6 days a week, for years now. The amount of music I’ve gone through in this time is huge, and I still feel inspired by it. From a DJ’s perspective, this keeps me constantly updated, and I get to discover many new producers and labels.”
When it comes to the effect had on making music of his own however, the impact is a little different. “On the producer’s side, things can be a bit trickier: I listen to a lot of high-quality music and this makes me set very high expectations for my own work. While that’s definitely challenging and inspiring, it can also bring some frustration. Right now, though, I’m finally working on new music, and I feel very inspired!”
Alongside Analogcut, Ancut also runs Discarded Gems, a label designed to spotlight other artists. The reward, he explains, is being part of the very start of a track’s journey. “I guess the most intriguing part of running a label is getting to listen to something nobody has ever heard before, giving feedback on it, and guiding the artist in the creation of an EP.” It’s a responsibility he doesn’t take lightly and it complements his work as both DJ and engineer, reinforcing his role in the ecosystem from multiple angles.
As might be expected, balancing DJing and production alongside the demands of a studio career hasn’t always been easy. This is a challenge that actually kept him away from his own music for a stretch of years. “This has been the most challenging part of my career over the past couple of years and also the reason I wasn’t able to work on new music for quite some time. It seems I’ve now found a good balance – I schedule fixed production sessions every week and treat them as if I were the client, so I have to fully commit to them. While this might sound a bit unusual, I feel it’s important to break the ice, especially after some time away from production, fully dedicated to mastering work and touring. I’m now finding the right balance between all of these aspects.”
That discipline has opened a new chapter. “My main focus right now is releasing new music. I have some tracks completed that I’m very satisfied with and I’m working on finalising the concept for an EP. My last release was a few years ago (apart from some remixes and singles released in the meantime), so I want to come out with music that truly represents who I am now.”
Nearly two decades after his first encounters with dance music, Ancut finds himself equally at home in the booth as he is in the mastering studio. Whether behind the decks, cutting records, or supporting other artists through his label, he continues to balance passion with precision, always returning to the format that shaped his earliest memories. Vinyl.
More info on Ancut
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