Session drummer from Brazil

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

A: Macaco Bong - Deixa Quieto. I'm proud of it because it's a fresh reading of the seminal Nevermind album by Nirvana but in a whole new way, with great arrangements and a different proposal. I produced and arranged some songs and played drums on the whole album.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm working on composing some music to develop a work as an artist and not only as a drummer/sideman.

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

A: Sergio Bazza and Igor Wilcox

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both. Analog for the real thing, it's easier to get great sounds on analog gear. But the digital stuff has come a long way and it's a lot more practical and less expensive to use plugins nowadays, and you get a similar result.

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

A: To deliver the best quality and best sounding tracks to your project.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love the fact that I'm able to work with what I love and make a living out of it.

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

A: When can you deliver it? - In 3 days tops; Can you sound like X or Y drummer? - I can try to but I'll always sound like myself.

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

A: That it is an easy job. It's not! To look easy there's years and years of work behind the scenes to sound good and deliver a great sounding track.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What's the vibe of the song? What are the references for what you want it to sound like? Do you have specific parts you want for the whole song or for a section?

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

A: If you like what you see, send a message and chat with the provider so you can understand how he or she thinks and then probably you'll find the right person for the song you're producing.

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

A: My Gretsch round badge drum set, my Gretsch 4155 snare drum, a Istanbul agop 30th anniversary hihats, the K custom dry complex ride medium thin ride and a DW 5000 pedal.

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

A: I started playing at church when I was 12. I've studied with great teachers from Brazil such as Nene (Hermeto Pascoal), Lilian Carmona (Baden Powell), Fernando Amaro (Vinicius Chagas) and have been a professional musician since I completed 18 years of age. I worked and recorded with some great rap artists from Brazil as well as pop and rock artists for the last 10 years.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Sensitive and full of energy but subtle if the song needs it.

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

A: Larry Goldings, I love his style and his compositions. Now for pop artists I really like Bruno Mars.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Trust your judgement and believe in the music you make.

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

A: I do everything from jazz to heavy metal. I have a vast experience playing all kinds of styles.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Communication, musicality and transparency are my strongest skills.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: With my work I usually bring energy and flow to the music I'm recording, doing my best to get the sound the client wants out of his/her head.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Usually I start by listening to the song and having a good conversation with the client to get to know exactly what he or she wants for the song. After this briefing and getting to know the song I setup the right instruments and mics for the track and record the song, after that I export the stems and send them to the client to a final check.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have some great sounding vintage drums (60s Gretsch) and modern drums too (Pearl Masters) along with a variety of cymbals and a few snare drums. To capture audio I have some Golden Age 1073 and Sony MXP desk channels/preamps which go through a Focusrite 8 channel interface for A/D conversion. My mic setup is 2 AKG C414s which I use as overheads along with some Shure Beta microphones for the drums and SM57s for snare drum.

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

A: Steve Jordan, Mark Guilliana, Tony Williams, Jojo Mayer, Abe Laboriel JR., Edu Ribeiro, Celso de Almeida

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

A: I record drum tracks for different projects and genres, providing great quality audio stems and performance.