Synthesist & Jazz pianist

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

A: I provide tangible solutions to the ideas of my clients. Synths, being electronically created, have an immense range of sound possibilities, and normally the artists that come to me have a perception of a certain sound in their minds, but don't have the knowledge and tools to make it. That is big part of my job, listen to my clients and make their ideas real. I usually collaborate with producers and artists who need a synth expert for sound design and a keyboardist to record tracks, and actually I also do lots of live shows with the people that I record with.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I don't own lots of gear actually. I prefer having a selection of instruments that I know inside-out how they work and sound, rather to have a "museum", as Richard Russell said once. My main synth is the ASM Hydrasynth, it's my Swiss-army knife for sound design. It's like a modular synth, but with the expressive keyboard of a CS-80. The true charm of this synth is that basically you can modulate anything from the board to lots of modulation sources, and that combined with beautiful complex oscillators, there's a lot of sweet spots you can find. My studio is widely occupied by a semi-grand piano, the Yamaha GB1. I love this piano, especially because it has a "grand" tone, but it is way more practical to record it. It reminds me of some of the old jazz albums at the Village Vanguard, like "California here I come" from Bill Evans. I normally record them with a pair of SE8 mics, since I've been using them for years now and I like how they capture my piano. For commissions that are tighter on schedule, I like to use a lot the Arturia V Collection. Normally I use the Buchla (which I'd love to have a Music Easel one day), Prophet and Rhodes emulations, which are super close to the real ones in my opinion. I have my personal sound packs from all of these, so I can access and edit my favorite presets in a quick way. If I want to have a more "analog" feel, I love passing it through my Chroma Console, which makes it feel more vintage and degrading. I (still) don't own a proper modular system, and that is because I discovered the Empress Zoia, a pedal that is actually modular within itself. You have several MIDI, audio and FX modules that you can populate into the pedal and make connections just like you would do in a modular system. This makes it super versatile, as it ranges from a simple effects pedal where you could just have for example a reverb and a delay, to a complete generative modular patch with sequencers and cv modulators. I use it extensively for soundscapes and weird glitchy FX. My studio is in a town between Valencia and Alicante, and it's one of the greatest places ever in my opinion. I'm at the feet of an incredible mountain, and in 10 minutes I can be at the beach. This helps me a lot with my process, since I can go out for a bit, enjoy the views and the weather, and come back refreshed and with new ideas.

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

A: I recently toured with Pedro Ricardo, one of the most creative, raising producers from Portugal. My job was as amazing as challenging: I had to bring all the sounds –except guitar and drums– from his productions to a live set-up. And making it all in a compact setup so we could carry it on in planes! It turned out to be one of the most rewarding and unique experiences I've ever had. I learnt a lot from it too, since I had to analyze every song, extract what was essential from it and then recreate those sounds.