Luiz Tornaghi

I have fun mastering all day

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3 Reviews (2 Verified)
Luiz Tornaghi on SoundBetter

Ten Latin Grammys + other awards - In the industry since 1986 - Mastering since 1995

Works that won a Latin Grammy:
2019 Best Samba/Pagode Album: Mart'nália Canta Vinicius De Moraes by Mart'nália
2018 Best MPB (Musica Popular Brasileira) Album: Caravanas by Chico Buarque
2018 Best Portuguese Language Song: As Caravanas by Chico Buarque
2017 Best Samba/Pagode Album: + Misturado by Mart'nália
2017 Best MPB (Musica Popular Brasileira) Album: Dos Navegantes by Edu Lobo, Romero Lubambo & Mauro Senise
2012 Best Brazilian Song (Portuguese Language): Querido Diário by Chico Buarque

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Credits

AllMusic verified credits for Luiz Tornaghi
  • Joyce Moreno
  • Chico Buarque
  • Edú Lobo
  • Gilberto Gil
  • Dona Onete
  • Joyce Moreno
  • Chico Buarque
  • Joyce
  • Joyce Moreno
  • Bossacucanova
  • Bossacucanova
  • Antônio Carlos Jobim
  • Antônio Carlos Jobim
  • Simone
  • Zélia Duncan
  • Raul de Souza
  • Saloa Fara
  • Guto C
  • Jards Macalé
  • Maria Bethânia
  • Olivia Hime
  • Momo
  • Carol Saboya
  • Antonio Adolfo
  • Mario Adnet
  • Muiza Adnet
  • Nelson Ângelo
  • Rita Ribeiro
  • Maurício Einhorn
  • Jane Duboc
  • Francis Hime
  • Chico Buarque
  • Antonio Adolfo
  • Antônio Carlos Jobim
  • Antônio Carlos Jobim
  • Antônio Carlos Jobim
  • Marcos Sacramento
  • Mario Adnet
  • Raul de Souza
  • Maria Bethânia
  • Marcus Tardelli
  • Quito Pedrosa
  • Scott Feiner
  • Maria Bethânia
  • Maria Bethânia
  • Cássia Eller
  • Marco Bereira
  • Latino
  • Angenor de Oliveira
  • Ivan Lins
  • Daniel Spielmann/Mario Seve
  • J.T. Meirelles
  • J.T. Meirelles
  • Exaltasamba
  • J.T. Meirelles
  • Luíz Melodia
  • Margareth Menezes
  • Toninho Horta
  • Luíz Eça
  • Gal Costa
  • Antônio Carlos Jobim
  • Luciano Bruno
  • Antonio Adolfo
  • Beth Carvalho
  • Alaide Costa
  • Almir Chediak
  • Almir Chediak
  • Bibi Ferreira
  • Bibi Ferreira
  • Olivia Hime
  • Clara Sverner
  • Clara Sverner
  • Duo Reis
  • Elizeth Cardoso
  • Elizeth Cardoso
  • Orquestra de Câmara Rio Strings
  • Cristina Braga
  • Garrafieira
  • Gilberto Gil
  • Michel Legrand
  • Mônica Salmaso
  • Antônio Carlos Jobim
  • Antônio Carlos Jobim
  • Maria Bethânia
  • Chico e Caetano
  • Clara Sverner
  • Humberto Teixeira
  • J.T. Meirelles
  • J.T. Meirelles
  • Antonio Adolfo
  • J.T. Meirelles
  • Sérgio Santos
  • Ricardo Leão
  • Joao Carlos Assis Brasil
  • Errado
  • Guilherme Arantes
  • Francis Hime
  • Maria Bethânia
  • Elizeth Cardoso
  • Elizeth Cardoso
  • Gal Costa
  • Márcio Faraco
  • João Parahyba
  • Olivia Hime
  • Paulinho da Viola
  • Eveline Hecker
  • Armandinho
  • João Bosco
  • Sylvia Telles
  • Billy Blanco
  • Olivia Hime
  • Olivia Hime
  • É o Tchan
  • Olivia Hime
  • Claudio Dauelsberg
  • Claudio Dauelsberg
  • Duo Barbieri-Schneiter
  • Lô Borges
  • Toquinho
  • Toquinho
  • Ivan Lins
  • Ivan Lins
  • Ivan Lins
  • Ithamara Koorax
  • Ithamara Koorax
  • Francis Hime
  • Francis Hime
  • Francis Hime
  • Legião Urbana
  • Chico Buarque
  • Art Popular
  • João Bosco
  • Gabriel o Pensador
  • Orlando Morais
  • Timbalada
  • Chico Buarque
  • Chico Buarque
  • Neguinho Da Beija-Flor
  • Olivia Hime
  • Francis Hime
  • João Donato
  • Sergio Mendes
  • Bossa Rio
  • Dom Um Romão
  • J.T. Meirelles
  • J.T. Meirelles
  • João Donato
  • João Donato e Seu Trio
  • João Donato
  • Quarteto Maogani
  • Lucinha Lins
  • Carminho
  • Zero
  • Paulo Jobim
  • Mario Adnet
  • Carol Saboya
  • Antonio Adolfo
  • Elizeth Cardoso
  • Jaap ter Linden
  • Jaap ter Linden
  • Jaap ter Linden
  • Mozart-Ensemble Amsterdam
  • Mozart-Ensemble Amsterdam
  • Jaap ter Linden
  • Mozart-Ensemble Amsterdam
  • Mozart-Ensemble Amsterdam
  • Jaap ter Linden
  • Mozart-Ensemble Amsterdam
  • Jaap ter Linden
  • Jaap ter Linden
  • Maria Bethânia
  • Gilda Oswaldo Cruz
  • Maria Bethânia
  • Clara Sandroni
  • Joyce Moreno
  • Juribio Santos
  • Juribio Santos

3 Reviews

Endorse Luiz Tornaghi
  1. Review by Duda Larson
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    Great person and great professional. The job went flawlessly, with good communication and outstanding sonic results. Thanks Luiz, hope we work together soon.

  2. Review by Nabil E.
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    Mr Tornaghi was very responsive and really a nice person! He was able to deliver the output very quick and the quality was amazing.
    Looking forward to working with him once more on my future songs.

  3. Review by Gabriel Pinheiro
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    by Gabriel Pinheiro

    I've been mastering my stuff with Luiz for something like 20 years now. 3 times we've been Latin Grammy nominees for best engineering. The 2 Latin Grammys on my shelf have been mastered by him. My forever joke with him is that he makes me sound a way better engineer than I am. 20 years later I'm still amazed whenever I listen to my work back from his mastering. Try yourself, I'm sure you'll be amazed too.

Interview with Luiz Tornaghi

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

  2. A: I coordinated a project, and did hands on work, digitizing an archive with more than 12 thousand songs on 78 and 45 RPM records, spanning from 1902 to 1950s. The archive is now available to the public at https://acervos.ims.com.br/portals/#/search, as part of a larger collection. Choosing the right needle, the right weight, for each record depending on how deep the groove was, and what part of the groove mas most preserved, was a delight. Unforgettable music history lesson!

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

  4. A: I started as a synthesizer programmer in 1986, took a "break" at the New England conservatory, in Boston, then worked recording and mixing in NYC in 1992-95. Back in Rio de Janeiro, I specialized in mastering but never fully abandoned recording and mixing. Since 2005 I have my own studio, Batmastersom.

  5. Q: Analog or digital and why?

  6. A: When I began to breath studio life back in 1986 everything was analog. The first digital gear sounded like crap. Digital took a very long time to catch up. I mastered for many years with all analog equipment, Sontec, Avalon, Fairman, Manley... The digital stuff just didn't hold up. Until it did. One of the studios I worked in also imported equipment, so testing and comparing was part of the fun. Nothing like hands on to choose what you work with. At some point digital gear got into the mix, I would say "For this job this toy actually works!". Forward a few years and I saw myself giving the same snobbish look I did to the digital stuff: "No depth or detail arrhg!", this time to the analog gear: "Pretty, but where's the definition of my low end? Where's my stereo? What happened to that reverb decay?". Choosing what processors for each job was always part of the process (pun intended), and still is. It used to be that this involved a patchbay, or swapping cables (I would also choose what cables to use depending on the job. I know, I know, I'm not exactly normal...). More and more I would end up choosing a combination with more digital and less analog. This happened gradually throughout many years. For a long time I would try the analog gear again and again only to settle with "ok, it didn't sound good in this job...". I couldn't admit I actually preferred the sound I got out of the digital processors. At some point I just gave up the analog. - That said, the difference from one processor to another has a lot more to it that just being digital or analog. Whether digital or analog, hardware or software, each processor has it's tone, it's texture and it's limitations, there's no such thing as "fully transparent". When mastering, I upsample all material to 192KHz 64 bit files and use an external clock. It took a long time for SRC to sound good enough to justify this, but today it does. /// [Don't try this at home! ;-) Most SRCs still sucks and choosing the right SRC for the job is part of the deal!] /// This allows all my processing to be done at top resolution. Then comes the same testing of what processors are best for each job. Since quality and transparency are critical in mastering, I end up with a much smaller pallet of plugins than the one I use when mixing. Just as in the old days, not all processors pass the test. Some just lose too much of the original detail, or introduce some unwanted texture.

  7. Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

  8. A: The main star is the sound of the room. The care given to the acoustics and monitors are key in making sure what I do sounds good in other places too. I work in the box, using an Antelope clock and almost all my work at 192KHz & 64bits floating point. Of course you don't gain anything by upsampling, but I certainly gain from having all the processing done at the highest resolution possible. The choice of plugins changes a lot according to the project. I'm constantly trying new tools, their textures interests me a lot more than any special features. Often two theoretically very similar plugins deliver very different results both in quality and in texture.

  9. Q: What's your typical work process?

  10. A: The first thing is listening to the raw track and imagining where it wants to go. Of course this also involves listening to the client and trying to capture what sound he/she is aiming for. References are welcome. Falling in love with the music and the artist's vision for it is THE key for everything. - I prefer to alternate between songs or projects, with frequent breaks, than to stick for too many hours on the same song. Coming back with fresh ears is a lot more revealing and efficient. - At some point the music tells you it's happy. At that point it's time to show it to the client and wait for more input. More often than not I just get an ok, but sometimes the clients comments allow us to go to new more beautiful places.

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

  12. A: I've had the privilege of working for many of my heroes! Often it's an artist you didn't know who brings the most fresh and inspired music. I love having clients form all over the world, with different backgrounds and musical styles!

  13. Q: What do you bring to a song?

  14. A: The song brings everything. It takes me for a walk and hopefully it sounds more itself when I'm done.

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

  16. A: Listen to what they've done, make sure you like what you hear. Exchange a few words, make sure communication is fluid, that there's availability and common purpose.

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

  18. A: I have clients form all over the world, this diversity is a challenge I love. I guess this has to do with the fact that traditional Brazilian music, that of course is still an important part of my work, has a very broad range of influences and textures, from acoustic ensembles to some pretty heavy and/or groovy sounds.

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I was the Mastering Engineer in this production

Terms Of Service

Usually 48 hours from receiving the mix to delivering the master. Shorter times are possible. More time with your music means I'll spend more time on your music. ;-)

GenresSounds Like
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Gear Highlights
  • B&W 805 surround
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