Percussion, Guitar, Cavaquinho

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: Working with Fausto Bordalo Dias as a percussionist. He's a legend among the Portuguese Popular Music artists, and I felt like being part of an historical band for 7 wonderful years, in which I've learned a great deal.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm composing and recording a soundtrack for a traditional tale told by an actor friend of mine, for his YouTube project. Next I'll be working on another soundtrack for a theatre play. Meanwhile, I'm collaborating with different projects in Spain, Chile and Argentina, as well as a wonderful project by Nandan G. here on Sound Better.

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: I do strongly recommend my long time colleague and close friend Ruca Rebordão, with whom I worked in several projects along the 30 years we know each other. He's a brilliant percussionist, full of resources, extremely musical and a very important asset in every project I know he's been participating in.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Depending on the requirements of the project I'm working on. I'm not a fundamentalist of any format, so I believe all tools are valid to serve and achieve the results required by the organic of each project.

Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

A: As I'm a perfectionist, my promise is to do the best I know in the shortest period of time.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The feeling that I made a difference and an improvement, along with the feeling of making a client happy.

Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

A: Being able to play several instruments, as well as work as a sound technician and producer and composer, people might tend to think my work would be average. As I told before, I'm a assumed perfectionist, so I have very high quality standards in everything I do. And if I see I can't meet those at all, I won't do it!

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Do they have a steady idea about what they're looking for?

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

A: Be as accurate as you can in your requests, and stay open to suggestions

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: My guitar, my cavaquinho, a Brazilian pandeiro and a cajon. Maybe also a flute to learn how to play.

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: I started working professionally at 17, playing and singing covers in clubs, with my guitar, which I did until I was 32. Around 20 I started to play electric bass, and joined several rock bands from my hometown, while attending the Hot Club de Portugal Jazz School. Soon after, I joined a samba band as a bassist playing every night in a club. While studying bass with a drummer/percussionist friend of mine, I became interested in percussion as well, and always ended up the studying sessions playing percussion. By 26 I was lucky enough to work with French/Chilean producer Ramuntcho Matta (producer for Don Cherry, among others) in a studio he was setting up in Lisbon, where I officially started professionally as a percussionist and also as a midi technician. In that studio I was also lucky enough to work with British sound engineer Jonathan Miller, with whom I learned a lot about recording, mixing and mastering. Simultaneously I worked as guitarrist, bassist or percussionist with several projects on Brazilian, Angolan, Capeverdean, Portuguese music as well as jazz and pop. From 1992 to 2002, I also worked as jingle composer/producer for advertisement, which gave me a wide range of resources to respond quickly to clients demands. In 1998, I was hired by the Portuguese branch of Sonymusic to produce a record with several Portuguese artists over Portuguese traditional songs. Also started composing/producing soundtracks for theatre plays. In 1999 I moved to Barcelona where I started to work with flamenco musicians, while joining Balkan and Moroccan music projects, along with Brazilian music and jazz. I also produced some records along the 10 years I lived in Barcelona, while teaching guitar, bass, percussion and combo, while continuing to compose/producing soundtracks for contemporary dance. In 2007 while visiting friends in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, I bought a cavaquinho guitar, and started learning it by attending a "roda de choro" in Barcelona, which consists in a gathering of several musicians to jam over knowned choro tunes. Back to Lisbon, I continued to collaborate with different projects and artists in different genres, whether as a guitarrist, bassist, percussionist or cavaquinho player. At the same time continuing to compose/produce soundtracks for theatre, and producing/co-producing albums for several artists in different genres. So, it's been nearly 40 years.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I'm not sure I have a style. What I do have is a my personal touch because what I play is result of my personality, and the way I hear and understand music, as any other musician.That's one's identity.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: The first phrase written on one of my early theory books was "Music is the art of filling silence", so I always keep in mind that silence is the canvas where music is painted. While directing a recording session, I always try to make the musician as comfortable as I can, that way he/she will pay back giving his/her best. And if a take is really inspiring although there's some technical imperfection, I never doubt in aproving it. What would be the live version of Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" without the feedback everybody's used to listen to?

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

A: I'm always working in different genres of music, fortunately. Depending on the work I'm proposed to work on, as a session musician or as soundtrack composer and producer. And I do enjoy it that way, it keeps my mind and my ears always fresh for a new different job.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Listening and my musical memory. There are shows I did 20 years ago and I could play it again the whole thing without any rehearsals.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Generally speaking, I always try to bring an improvement to a song by listening to its "soul" and acting accordingly.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: First of all I always listen very carefully and several times to the work I'm proposed, and attend to the different "readings" I might come up with, and try to choose the one that best meets the client's request.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My whole life I've been always trying to get the most of what I have, and explore deeply the resources I have. My sound interface is a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd generation, I use a tube preamp Behringer Ultragain Pro which works pretty well adding warmth to what's been captured by 4 ADK condenser microphones I've been using for years. I also have 3 sets of speaker monitors which I can combine at will connected to a Xenyx Control 2 USB: a pair of original Yamaha NS10M Studio from the 80's, a pair of 1029A from Genelec, and recently a pair of iLoud Micro Monitor from IK Multimedia.

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

A: I've always been influenced by many artists, musicians and music producers. Too many to name them all. Throughout time I might highlite Peter Gabriel's work, Weather Report, Miles Davis, David Bowie, Brian Eno, among many, many others.

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

A: Mainly I've been recording percussion tracks. Though I've also been recording some guitars or cavaquinho, or doing some mixing/mastering works as well