2-time Grammy-Winning Producer

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I work mostly in the box, with 2 UA Apollo 8 and 1 Apollo 16, plus an Apollo twin and an UAD2 Satellite. I rely on their analog emulations quite a bit in order to obtain more organic sounding results. This set up provides me with 32 analog outputs, which then go to a Burl B32 Vancouver, summing mixer, then back to the apollo for capturing the mixes. I monitor on Meyer HD-1 Monitors. They are my ears. Feel free to ask any questions!

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I just finished a project that brings together the music of 8 different solo artists from the US and Argentina with the sound of the string quartet. My string quartet arrangements as the lingering tone all throughout. This was a very special project and I am very very happy with how it turned out. I encourage you to check it out. It's called "The String Quartet Experience". (September 2015)

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My hearing. My musical training is on both classical and jazz, I would like to say my "musical" approach to the technical process. I love both.

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

A: I love Radiohead, Bjork, Coldplay, Boniver, Becca Stevens, John Mayer (all these for both the production value and their music, and of course that has to do with those people involved in their production), I like when a certain style carries a specific "mixing sound", because I believe recorded music is an art of itself, which many times can differ from the performed music at a live situation. When the album has the power to captivate me as much as the live performance, or just in a different but equally effective way, then that inspires me.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The human connections I've made through the years! Some of my best friends and the most meaningful connections I've made have been through music and through my work specifically. The freedom of being about to create is one of the most rewarding things I could have given. The uncertainty that sometimes brings the fact that there are really no right or wrongs, and an infinite number of paths to different sounds and emotions is a daily challenge. It keeps me in a constant search for improvement and discovery.

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A: I would highly recommend that anybody seeking music production services shows their material to different people and ask for ideas and suggestions based on their music. And to pay attention mostly to critiques rather than to compliments. The idea of bringing someone else to work in your music is to be able to get it to its fullest potential, and sometimes there are little details that a second pair of ears can catch and make for a great improvement. Also, the more insightful the answer you get, the more likely that the producer you are hiring will get more involved with the project and put the best out of themselves. This is about a creative process. Art is about involvement.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: I love to work on my productions using sibelius on rewire mode with pro tools. This allows me to fully experience the interaction between scored parts and the audio elements I already have going on the production. Most importantly how the main vocals and rhythmic elements interplay with a horn arrangement, string section or a single cello line. It's all about the composition of the full picture.

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

A: I do a combination of work, but mostly producing and arranging music for singer songwriter - solo artists that are seeking to expand their musical soundscape. I also do classical music recording and mixing of a variety of genres, from pop, to crossover of jazz and classical and video game music as well.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I try not to get caught up with what "I" can bring to the song, but rather, what the song is calling for. It could be a small chord change, could be a larger arranging decision, "lets bring some strings in here...", or "this sounds great, let's actually track that guitar in mono, we don't need more than that in here!". These are examples from a broad range of things that could happen. My answer is I guess, both my musical background and technical experience at studio tracking and mixing. And mostly, just having my ears very sensitive to any nuance or details that we could improve or that we didn't catch along the way...

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: First of all, I like to talk with my clients and find out what their musical intent is and, only after listening to their music, I can truly start to understand how I will be able (if so) to help in their project. To me, music comes first, always, so I really like getting in touch with the music as close as I can, listening to a songwriter playing their songs straight from their guitar and voice live at my living room, before than at a tracking room. Once I have a good idea of what will be done I like to plan a multi step process where we are able to address all the aspects of the production: reviewing the music, addressing compositional details, deciding on form and arrangements, sketch the songs in a pre-production mode, and from there start capturing definitive sounds and later on preparing for mixing.

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

A: It really varies. But usually people get in touch with me for either singer-songwriter type productions, where a solo artist who has a handful of songs written is looking to "expand" its sonic landscape (we could say), and perhaps include new instrumentation, arrangements, could be strings, brass, a bg vocals layer, or a full band to capture it all in a studio album. But sometimes it is a group or artist who is looking for a mixing engineer to mix their music, coming from a different studio or sometimes a combination of self produce and studio recording.