Renato Pestana

Session drummer from Brazil

Renato Pestana on SoundBetter

I'm a drummer and teacher from Brazil with 15 years of experience in styles like jazz, samba, rock, pop, rap, etc. I've played with artists like Luedji Luna, Zudzilla, Macaco Bong and other singers and bands from Brazil.

I'm a Brazilian drummer who have been playing professionally for 10 years now. I love music and am very happy to call my passion my profession for the last decade. I've toured and recorded with Brazilian artists ranging from rap to thrash metal and beyond. In later years I've specialized in samba, baião and other Brazilian styles as well as jazz and instrumental music, although I'm still active playing rock and heavier styles.

I love to work with different people and pay a lot of attention to details. My aim is to have a great communication so I can provide you the best drum tracks possible for your project and get you exactly what you want to your music.

Service Offered:
Acoustic Recording Session
Multi-Track
High-Resolution Quality
Video Rec

Setup:
Pearl Masters Studio drums;
Gretsch Round Badge drums;
Domene Cymbals, Paiste Cymbals, Istanbul Agop, K and A Zildjian Cymbals (Large variety of Cymbals, from Pop to Jazz).
Microphones: Shure, AKG etc.
Pre-Amplifier: Golden Age 1073, Sony MXP, Focusrite Octopre.

Genres: Funk, Pop, Brazilian Music, Jazz, Fusion, Latin, Hip-Hop, Drum&Bass, R&B, Blues, Rock, etc.

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

Interview with Renato Pestana

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

  2. 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.

  3. Q: What are you working on at the moment?

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

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

  6. A: Sergio Bazza and Igor Wilcox

  7. Q: Analog or digital and why?

  8. 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.

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

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

  11. Q: What do you like most about your job?

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

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

  14. 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.

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

  16. 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.

  17. Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

  18. 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?

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

  20. 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.

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

  22. 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.

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

  24. 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.

  25. Q: How would you describe your style?

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

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

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

  29. Q: Can you share one music production tip?

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

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

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

  33. Q: What's your strongest skill?

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

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

  36. 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.

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

  38. 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.

  39. Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

  40. 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.

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

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

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

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

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Karakum's Crate by St. Louis Disaster

I was the drummer in this production

Terms Of Service

Drums Recording:
- Multi-track; High-Resolution 48k/24;
- Any genre;
- 3 Revisions;
- 3 Days Delivery
- Commercial Use

Additional Costs:
- For video recording: $20
- Extra Take: $30

GenresSounds Like
  • Luedji Luna
  • Djavan
  • Rage Against The Machine
Gear Highlights
  • Gretsch Round Badge drums
  • Pearl Session drums
  • K Zildjian Cymbals
  • A Zildjian Cymbals
  • Paiste 3000 cymbals
  • istanbul agop cymbals
  • akg c414
  • shure sm57
  • focusrite
  • neve preamps
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