Music Producer

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

A: The first album by BEBE "Pafuera Telarañas" (EMI/VIRGIN 2005). This album sold about a million of copies, won a Latin Grammy Award, four "Premios de la Musica" in Spain, and a European Music Award. I was the arranger and musical director in this album, and also in this album's tours.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I am working in the production of Sandra Bernardo's new album. I am mixing a couple of projects from Spanish bands. I am finishing the mastering of the album by an Indian artist called Punnu Wasu, this is collab project, in which I did the musical production, arrangements, musical concept, beat and synth programming and guitars.

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

A: Not yet.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I work in the digital domain and I mix "in the box". Everything is easier, and there is a lot of plugins that I love that gives me that analog flavour.

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

A: We will get a great sound. You will be very happy with the final result.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love all the stages of a recording production... It is my absolute passion. From the pre-production to the mix and mastering.

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: What is the prize for...? My answer is: I need some information in order to tell you the correct prize. Can we use your instruments in the studio? "Yes, of course".

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Where do you want to go with your music? What kind of audience do you want to bring your music to? How do you want your sound to be?

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

A: Look my experience and my artist portfolio. And take a look to my website to see my beautiful recording studio located in the nature.

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

A: Laptop Headphones Audio interface Keyboard controller Microphone

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

A: From 1995 recording and producing music. From 1988 as a singer/songwriter writting and live performing songs.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Mixing organic and electronic as a musical mission in life.

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: Devendra Banhart, because I am a total fan of his music.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Pay attention to the key and the tempo of the song before going to the recording studio.

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

A: I work and I have worked with a lot of different musical styles. From Bossa Nova, Latin, Mestizo music, Tropical, folk, to electronic and spiritual music. Lately I am specialized in world music, spiritual and medicine music, and downtempo electronica.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill is my musical ear and my ability to listen and understand the artist, developing a vision for him and the songs.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring my whole 25 years of experience recording and producing, also my more than 30 years of experience writing songs (music and lyrics). I am not only a producer and engineer, before that I am a musician (singer/songwriter) who has participated in a lot of musical projects, mainly as singer/guitarist frontman and musical director in other cases. I have more than 200 songs written and featured in albums from myself, my bands or other artists with whom I collaborate.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Typically in a production, I start with the band or artist making a pre-production with rehearsals, listenings, and so on, developing the songs before we go to the studio. From that point, we start recording, generally with some reference tracks (voice and guitar or keys) to put the rhythm base (drums and bass). After that, we move to the other instruments, generally one by one. When all recordings are done, I generally edit all the material, giving some raw mixes to the artist for possible changes. When we are ok with the edition, I start mixing. I do a test mixing with the band or artist for general volumes and balances, then start mixing song by song. When the mixes are completed, we move to the mastering, repeating the mix process.

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

A: Danger Mouse, Greg Wells, Rick Rubin, Andrew Scheps, Devendra Banhart, Quantic, El Buho, Nicola Cruz.

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

A: Mostly I do production, recording, editing, mix and mastering for my clients, depending on what they demand of me. I also play guitars, bass, beat programming, synths programming and minor percussion.

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

A: The time that you have to spend on a project for taking it to its maximum level. It's a lot of time, and people sometimes don't appreciate it.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My control room is about 50m2, plenty of light and with mountain views. The recording room is about 40m2, warm and full of natural light. I record and mix on Protools and Studio One, also in Logic ProX. I have two MOTU interfaces, 14 simultaneous recording tracks. I have some outboard preamps, like Drawmer 1960 2 preamps and compressors, Summit 2BA-221 valve preamp, GAP PRE73 DLX neve style preamp, GAP COMP54 compressor. My main speakers are GENELEC 1031A with ADAM SUB8, and my second pair of speakers are FOCAL SHAPE 40, with an AUDIENT NERO monitor controller. I use ICON QCON PRO G2 and G2 EX, as a controller for my DAW with automated faders, transport and so on. My computer is a MAC PRO 3,5 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon E5, with 64 gb RAM power, and also have a MAC MINI I7 with 16gb RAM as a backup. I have a lot of different guitars, electric, acoustic and classical nylon; a bass, a complete drum kit, keyboard and some percussions, available for my customers.