Producer, Engineer

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Based on the work I've done (statistically), generally ornate and very detailed, although sometimes just raw and transparent.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Listen to the music more than you listen to yourself and don't be afraid to take a few steps back and let go of certain ideas you might be too attached to if that seems to be what's best for the music.

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: Mostly "guitar" music or "rock-band" format if I have to be specific, but not exclusively... if we're talking genres that'd be new wave, no wave, shoegaze, dream pop, post-punk, punk, psych rock, surf, indie, alternative and anything in between.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Stylizing. I have a strong understanding of the aesthetic traits of the genres I specialize in. Because one of the dangers of "stylizing" is sounding contrived instead of organically in a certain style. My strongest skill is the ability to seamlessly match or blend the gestures and details present in a certain style to a new song.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Whatever it needs!

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: The only real established aspect of my process is listening to the artist's song either stripped down, in it's rawest form or however they choose to present it to me. From there and forward each individual job will be unique and there is no blueprint or formula applicable to all. The cookie-cutter method will drain the life of your music, whereas the ability to find the right process for each song is what will allow it to become what it's meant to be.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have a home studio with my monitors, interface, a few preamps and around 12 different mics. A two guitar amps, a baritone, a custom made strat, a lot of pedals, an Italia Mondial semihollow Bass, a SansAmp, a full '70s drumkit, etc. But as fluid as my work as a producer is, is my access to spaces and gear- what I own isn't really what will determines the tools available thanks to the connections I have with like-minded colleagues who operate in similar ways as mine, and as a community we manage to cover any sort of necessity that arises (not just regarding gear, but also players and what not).

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: Tame Impala's Kevin Parker's method is inspiring from with his work ethic and philosophy to the actual finished products. In Tame Impala it's his ability to stretch sonically and still maintain the essence and quality of the project and in other projects it's how he manages to add so much value to those songs keep their own individuality! Moses Schneider's (Pixies producer) ethos is super important to me, where the producer is as transparent as possible in order to allow the artist create the most authentic work possible. He's proven that it's more about character and offering something special to and in the music rather than a clean and sterile recording. Affirming that any place can be your studio/workstation if you know how to use the tools available to you.

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: The song Hey Hey! by César Paniagua is the best example of the type of work I do. He brought me the song as just chords and vocals, played it to me with an acoustic and sang. We both knew going new wave would be right for the song, so I wrote instrumental parts that would fit the style and then we developed a song structure that would serve that. I recorded all the instruments, then tracked César's vocals... a few days later I thought of bringing in my friend from Ecuador, Zak Icaza for all the aux percussion you hear in the song. Once we were done tracking I mixed the song, did a few revisions until we were all happy with it and sent it to mastering. If César would have had a bassline written, for example, we would've worked around that (as it is in other cases)- I calculate what the song already has and what it needs to become what the artist envisioned when they wrote it, we talk about it and then we determine through an exploratory process what will the song finally become. Sometimes it ends up morphing into something completely new, sometimes it already is what it's meant to be and just needs mixing.