Thiago Schiefer on SoundBetter

Music producer with over 80 projects on the portfolio. Experienced in rock, metal, electronic and orchestral tracks. Worked on albums, games, film and ads.

Music is a deeply emotional communication method. Every artistic project has its own vision, and my job is to help your vision come across clearly and effectively!

My career in music is quite ample, ranging from songwriting to soundtracks, and to education. I have created soundtracks for more than 60 games, lots of animation episodes, a short film and hundreds of video ads; I've released albums as a solo indie artist, working alongside musicians from Remove Silence, Shaman, and Andre Matos; and I have more than a hundred students on my online music theory course at academiadecomposicao.com (in Portuguese).

With skills in acoustic and electric guitar, bass, singing, drum programming, synths, and mixing, I am used to recording all the instruments in my productions. I also have experience in Theatre and a postgraduate degree in Songwriting, Music Production, and Performance, so I will be able to help songwriters get the most out of their lyrics and their performances.

I'd love to hear about your idea and help it come to fruition!

Tell me about your project and how I can help, through the 'Contact' button above.

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Interview with Thiago Schiefer

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: I was an audio director for the game Decor Dream, by Tapps Games. It gave me a chance to work with jazz, which was a genre I wasn't used to working with, record a few excellent musicians, and develop interesting interactive tracks. I learned a lot working on this title!
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: A couple of games and my own tracks.
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: Unfortunately not so far.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Both. You can do almost everything with either, but I believe in using the strong points of each to arrive at the best results.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: Music that sound interesting and catchy at the same time, with great melodies, creative harmonies, and interesting sounds.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: I love music and I learn a lot about it from every single project.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: To do music based on descriptions, without providing references. I always ask for musical references, not to copy them, but to have a musical dialog with my clients and really understand what they expect of me.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: That it is easy and takes minutes to complete. Music production is demanding and time consuming work, and it take years of dedication for one to start understanding and performing in a professional manner.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: Do they have an idea of what they're looking for? What are their references? What is their goal with their project?
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Get in touch from the start! Talking is always the best way to find if someone is the right professional for your project.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: A laptop, an electric and an acoustic guitar, an audio interface, and my pair of Beyerdynamic headphones.
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I've started studying music in 2002, and within a year I already knew this was my future. I've played with a variety of bands and taught many guitar and singing classes from 2011 to 2018. I released my debut album in 2013, and in 2014 I started working with game audio. From 2017 to 2019 I worked as an in-house composer at Tapps Games, one of the biggest mobile game developers in Brazil, and left the company to move to Toronto and pursue new challenges.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: I'm focused and organized, communicate often, and always aim for the best any work could possibly be.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: Waxlimbs is a great alternative band here in Toronto I'd love to work with eventually. They have a very unique sound, a great sense of aesthetics, and very interesting performance personas.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Structure your music well! Repetition with proper variation is the key to keeping your music in people's minds.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: My career has provided me opportunities to work on a wide array of genres. I have worked with rock, metal, electronic music, hip hop, orchestral music, ambient, and so on. The genre I've been around with for the longest time is rock.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Composition
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: Relatability, balanced arrangements, interesting harmonies, catchy melodies, and well-crafted lyrics.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: Every work starts with a project analysis and reference research. My clients usually have more or less of an idea on how they want their project to sound, so I help them better visualize their final product with the help of musical references. Then it is a matter of sculpting the sounds and the structure for each track: the overall timbre will hook the listener and the musical structure will keep them listening.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I do all music production in-the-box using Reaper and a variety of plugins from Waves, SoundToys, East West, XLN Audio, Native Instruments and many more. I record guitars, bass, and vocals myself, and control virtual instruments with an 88-key Nektar Impact MIDI controller. I mix with a Beyerdynamic DT880, an open-back headphone with a flat frequency response and great sound stage.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Producers: Trent Reznor, George Martin, Finneas, Nigel Goodrich Vocals: Matt Bellamy, Eddie Vedder, Daniel Gildenlöw, Billie Eilish Guitars: John Frusciante, David Gilmour, James Hetfield Game Music: Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, Koji Kondo
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: Music, sound effects and voice acting for games and videos.

Frantic by Thiago Schiefer

I was the Co-Producer, Composer, Arranger, Singer, and played guitars and bass in this production

ProducerAverage price - $500 per song
Game AudioContact for pricing
EditingAverage price - $75 per track
Full instrumental productionAverage price - $500 per song
Mixing EngineerAverage price - $200 per song
Songwriter - MusicContact for pricing
Songwriter - LyricContact for pricing

Prices include 2 revisions (additional revisions are charged by the hour). Typical turn-around for one fully produced track is 2-7 days depending on complexity.