Xisco Rojo on SoundBetter

Musician, Producer, Mixer, and Mastering Engineer with a 10+ year experience in various genres. I like to work closely with every artist/producer to help translate their vision into polished, competitive, and radio-ready songs, instead of the "one size fits all" approach. I also have a large experience as a session guitarist and keys player.

My background consists of over 10 years experience, working with every type of music act that exists. I run my own recording and mastering studio in downtown Madrid, where the magic happens.

As a Producer, I specialize in Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Indie, and Electronic, with a 360º approach at bringing a basic sketch to a full sounding production. I love arranging and completing the artists' vision, always taking off from the basic ideas and guidelines given to me.

As a Mixer and Mastering Engineer, I work in a wide variety of genres. The right mix will take any song from amateur to professional, and I have years of experience doing just that.

I have also worked for the film industry creating original scores, and have a large experience in sound design for art, theatre and performance projects.

I'm here to help you, no matter what your skill level is! We'll work together to make the best possible version of your project and your music.

When you contact me, I'll give you clear deadlines, pricing, and an idea of the approach we'll take. I'll tell you if I think I'm a good fit for the job, and on the case that I'm not, I will happily connect you to someone who is.

I would love to hear from you.

Send me an email through 'Contact' button above and I'll get back to you asap.

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Interview with Xisco Rojo

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: Thérèse's latest album, 'Un paseo por el campo', where the vast variety of styles and ideas made the project a challenging work from the production and arrangement point of view.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: Right now I am finishing the new EP of Técnicas y Procedimientos, the post-trap philosophical project of Efe Balsera.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Both, because it's the most intelligent thing to do.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: That I'll do my best at arriving where they want to go with their song.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: The feeling of succeeding at translating someone else's view to reality.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: That it's an easy thing to do, when there are many angles and perspectives to consider, both technical, esthetic and psychological.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: I try to learn their focus on the song/audio job they're hiring me for, and constantly bounce ideas and possibilities forth and back to have the best picture of what he/she wants for the song.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: A guitar, a Ferrograph, the OP-1 synth, and some percussion instruments.
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I have been in the music world since I was a kid, and I started recording myself on cassette very early on; after my teens, I started going into computers
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Trust your intuition, you'll never regret your choices!
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: I'd say listening; both to the sound and the music itself as well as to the artist's vision.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Does this idea sound good to you? I always reply: "Let's see... If we don't try it, we'll never know!!!"
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Eclectic, curious, experimental, but at the same time deeply rooted in tradition and sound excellence.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: All kinds, but I have a large experience in taking a raw unfinished sketch for a song and bringing it to its fullness.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: Perspective, a lot of ideas, possibilities and the best sound I can get out of the raw material I receive.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: Almost anyone, but I'll drop three names I'm most obsessed with lately: Loren Connors, Shabaka Hutchings and Chihei Hatakeyama.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Less is more.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: It depends on the case: if the song is brought to me naked, a basic instrument track and vocals, I use the producer approach to build it up. If the song is recorded and needs mixing, I ask the artist for sound references that can guide me to the type of production they want. As for mastering, I try to do a non-invasive work, letting the mix and idea of the artist be the focal point, and just make it lusher, bigger and radio-competitive.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I use an Allen & Heath GL2200 analog mixing board connected to an Apogee Ensemble converter, and a Mac computer with Logic Pro X packed with the best and latest plugins. Aside from that, I use a dbx 266 XL compressor, and have a Zoom Studio 1201 Multi-effects and a Zoom RFX-1000 Digital Reverb racks. For speakers, I use a combination of Alesis Mk2 and KRK Rokit 5.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: As producers, I really like the work of Jim O'Rourke, the philosophy of Steve Albini, the lush sound of Phil Spector, the cleanliness of Jonathan Wilson, and the imagination of Shawn Everett. I also enjoy very much the way people like Van Dyke Parks, Robert Kirby or Nico Muhly arrange a song.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: I do all type of sound work: from recording, mixing and mastering, to fully producing a song. I also do "session musician" jobs as a guitarist, but also piano, keyboards, synths, and all sorts of string instruments.