Let's make some great songs?

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm working with Paletó Em Brasília, a punk/grunge band from Brazil.

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

A: Well, SoundBetter is full of great pros, some are very famous.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: It depends. They are different and similar at the same time. Is that important? Most of the time, no.

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

A: Producing is about taking care of your song like you take care of your sons. If you do it right from the beginning, they will probably grow into beautiful human beings. So I promise you, I'll take care of your song as I would take care of my own son.

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

A: Some customers want to know how a song was recorded and mixed, and whether they can get that sound too. The answer is kind of, "Is your song in any way similar to that? Can we listen to your material?" You should think of references to guide your process, but sounding the same requires more than that.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What do you expect from your song? What would you like as a result?

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

A: We are here to help. Ask me anything.

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

A: A nice acoustic guitar and a huge stock of strings. And a glass slide. I mean, a desert island can not provide AC for your mic pres. Yeah, of course this is just an imaginative joke, sorry.

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

A: I started giving music classes when I was 15. Since then, I have worked with publicity, TV, music studios, gear brands/importers, and things like that. Music has been my life since I was a kid, playing, producing, rehearsing, recording, mixing, mastering...

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

A: I would like to work with The Clash. Of course, this is now impossible, but they were so creative and energetic, their music feels so authentic. I've been listening to The Drowns playing "Them Rats" live, this is beautiful. By the way, nice rec/mix for a live capture.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Sure. When recording vocals, always test the singer's voice with a few different mics.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: A song needs to touch people in some way. When someone listens to a song, they expect to feel something, and if that something is unforgettable, they will listen to it many times. That's what I want to bring to a song.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Supposing we are talking about mixing a song: - clean/edit the tracks (if they are not ready to work on) - choose a focus, an objective, imagine the result - create the workflow to mix - mix, master, finish

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I just moved to a new place, so there is not much here at the moment. I have lots of plugins and VST instruments, plus room correction equipment for monitors and headphones, so it is basically everything "in the box" for now. The most important thing is "to build the sound in your head". If you know what you are searching for, the equipment doesn't matter much in most situations.

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

A: Well, I really like Rick Rubin's work when it comes to a philosophical approach to music. With that said, this is all relativity theory. We all know there are no right or wrong answers in this industry, but the approach that the sound needs, and this is all. I think Rubin would agree with me if I say we need to let the sound live and breathe by itself, and not try to put it under our control.

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

A: At the moment, I mostly do remote mixing for bands/singers and advertisements, plus sound design for short videos.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I like to listen.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: It makes me feel great. I love to be surrounded by musicians and exchange music ideas, learn a new music style or a new rec/mix technique, find the right mood for a song. It is a wonderful job.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I like details, but I prefer emotions.

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

A: Folk, pop, rock, heavy rock, Brazilian, acoustic, punk, soundtrack. I'm totally open to all kinds of music, bring it on.

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

A: I produced the album "Amarelo" for Os Intelectuais. It was a long process where we became good friends and I love the songs, they are beautiful and the lyrics are simply the best ever. It is in portuguese, so unfortunately if you don't understand the language you won't get all the power of these songs, because lyrics are too strong. Yes, I can speak english, portuguese and spanish very well. A little german too, but it is really just a little, ok? Auf wieder sehen!