On May 2, Colorado musician Roger Dinardi, who manages the audio studio at Longmont Public Media, released 12 Notes for 7 Stories, a concept album born from a deeply personal journey through illness, creative struggle, and community collaboration.
After contracting COVID-19, Dinardi developed hyperacusis, a condition that made everyday sounds unbearably loud, even physically painful. “I couldn’t even pluck one guitar string or eat with a fork until recently,” he said. “It felt impossible. I couldn’t believe I was going to decide to write an album.”
Music was central to Dinardi’s life before his hearing drastically changed. “Music was the most important thing ever to me,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d be able to play again, or write again, or even record again. I really thought that part of my life was over.”
Still, he returned to songwriting, slowly and painfully, creating from a place of vulnerability and persistence. “Music saved me from a very rough situation,” he said.
Dinardi’s studio experience is steeped in a hands-on, pragmatic approach that embraces imperfection. “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. I learned that with a lot of difficulty.”
He describes how his creative process shifted from endless tinkering to embracing simplicity. In the past, he says, mixing a track could involve hours of tweaking digital distortion plugins. “We’d still be in the menu trying like the twentieth distortion version, right?” he said. “But here, we turn three knobs. It sounded good because that’s what we had. We’re done. Sounds great.”
He contrasts that with the temptation to overthink every detail, like choosing between different vintage studio console plugins. “Do I want the one from Dark Side of the Moon, or the ’70s version, or the ’80s one?” he said, laughing. “It could always be better, better.” But this time, he chose intuition over perfectionism, refusing to get stuck in what he calls “analysis paralysis.”
The album’s structure is inspired by seven universal story archetypes: Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, The Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy, and Rebirth. These stories are represented through the 12 notes of Western music.
The process was challenging at times. “‘Rags to Riches’ was hard,” Dinardi said, because he didn’t want it to be just about wealth. “I made that one about someone finding love.” “Comedy” also stumped him; instead of a silly ditty, he made it about “someone who’s just not taking life seriously.” And tragedy, written while he was still in intense pain from his condition, was the hardest to tackle. “Every note, every drum hit hurt. But I didn’t want to stop,” he said. He saved “Tragedy” for last, knowing it would require all his remaining energy. “I was so tired by the end. That track was everything I had left.”
Much of the album was made at Longmont Public Media, where Dinardi's dedication extends beyond his own music. He has helped build a thriving creative community by maintaining equipment, running workshops, and mentoring new users. “I volunteer every Monday night to teach people how to use the studio… so everyone can keep using it,” he said. Thanks to his efforts, the space now supports “a hundred to 200 capable audio engineers” across Longmont.
Marco V. Morelli, co-creator of Cosmos Cooperative, highlighted Dinardi’s deep involvement across creative spaces. He explained that Roger handles sound for Cosmos events in addition to his work at Longmont Public Media. Morelli also noted the collaborative nature of 12 Notes for 7 Stories, saying, “There are some cameos on the album… people from Longmont Public Media reading poems and doing other audio work. It’s a great partnership,” he said. “The album is really good. Roger’s a multi-instrumentalist. He sings, plays percussion, guitar, synthesizer, and much more.”
Dinardi credits the connections formed through his album and his work at Longmont Public Media for enriching his life and art. “My life got filled with the most amazing place. The most amazing people. Everything I needed to learn or wanted to learn just kept showing up.”
Dinardi’s rediscovery of music and community is, in his words, “my higher power. I lost my higher power, and now I got it back. It’s better than ever.”
That renewed sense of purpose is now fueling his next creative chapter. His upcoming album, Mr. Transistor, has been years in the making, with no fixed release date, but it remains very much a living project. He is already deep into work on it as a follow-up that builds on this album’s foundation. “I’m literally working on it right now,” he said, even pausing a recording session to take the interview call. “I just built a synthesizer wall for the next one.”
The 12 Notes for 7 Stories album release will be celebrated with a Listening Party and Open Jam at Longmont Public Media (457 4th Ave, Longmont, CO) on Saturday, June 14 from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. “I really just want to celebrate that the album’s done with everyone that helped me,” Dinardi said. “It’s a celebration. We did it. I can’t believe we did it.”
