Mauricio is a
multinstrumental musician from Chile that moved here ten years ago more or
less. He works as a musical productor and a guitar teacher in a music shop. He
is the man that helped me to record my songs.
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When did you started
working in a recording studio?
I started to
work in music at 1995, I think that the first time that I was invited to record
a guitar and I freaked out with the progress. I continued with my job as a
musician but step by step I have been adding these part of productor. The first
produccions very simple were at 97 with a cassette and the first well done at
2000, with me as a productor in a big study. When I arrived here, Catalonia, in
2010 I worked in studios like Estudi 44.1 and Musicland. Depending on the type
of production and the budget we go to a bug study or a little one. Only a while
ago I did a production of sardanes and in this studio we cannot record the
Coblas or Haveneres.
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Did you study
something in special for working as a productor?
The productor
is like the director of a movie that has to imagine the movie when the composer
comes with the idea. You don’t need any specific studies, with working at a
studio is enough. I studied the degree of composition and arrengements four
years that connected me with the previous part of the production. You can’t
imagine how many people works in a project, the composer comes with the idea,
the arranger is like the screenwriter because he has to write in a score
everything that the musicians has to do. My studies has been as an arranger and
in the studio I learned by myself.
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Which is the
type of music that is most recorded in this studio?
As this is a
small studio the most recorded thing is the voice and guitar. Singers-songwritters.
Haveneres or Rumbas with guitar and voice. hip hop because is simple and they
bring like you did a base and then we record the voice and the backing vocals. I
may do a demo of a band in this studio but not a professional job.
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Have you ever
worked with somebody famous?
I have worked
with Camara Lenta that had a big break last year when they performed in El
Hormiguero their song Mil Disculpas and reached the million of views. With this
group I have worked with the arrengements and I have recorded a guitar. We
worked with a famous productor named Thomas Youth that has two grammys and has
recorded with Amaia Montero, Zas, Jenny Colum and Cat Stevens. He is very young
but it’s the most important person I have ever worked with. I have worked with
the singer-songwritter Lluis Lozano, and we have done the production of his
album that he is just now releasing.
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What would I
need if I wanted to do a studio at home?
You need a
computer with a big capacity of RAM with 16 GB. You can choose between a pc and
mac because there is not much difference. You need a sound target that you can
find for 70 euros, an economic microphone and some economic speakers. You don’t
need to buy a table because you can connect the microphone or the instruments
to the target. That would be the essential equipment.
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Normally you
work alone or with people?
I always try
to work with people because is the best. In a production with a team where
there is the musician, the composer, the productor, the arranger, the engineer,
the assistant of the engineer. Because the recording engineer is one but there
are specialists in recording that know exactly where to put the microphonefor
any instrument. Then the one that does the mix, and the mastering. There’s some
studios that only record or edite. When there is a time you can have a very
professional result, but sometimes the budget is not enough and I can do a
little bit of everything but it’s not the best option. I like it when they
contract me for doing only the production or the recording, an arranger or even
if I only work as a musician.
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How many time
does it take to edite a song?
It depends on
the number of instruments, because it’s not the same to edite a song with 70
instruments or a single one. If there is a lot of instruments it can take
between four and eight hours, I think that is the time that could take to do
the mix. Yes a professional would use that time, that is the same time that and
engineer with some experience would last.
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Do you work
in something else?
Yes, I have
more than one job, because in music you have to do everything. I have been 25
years living only of music. Normally people work in music and in something else
but I do it all with music. I’m a music teacher, something that I also studied
in Chile for 5 years because there this degree exists. I give particular classes,
I play in clubs, work as a productor. I play the guitar, piano, drums and bass
but the guitar is my favorite one. Music only music.
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Do you think
that a good edition can make a person that doesnt know how to sing sound good?
Of course,
Enrique Iglesias and Kiko Rivera are amazing examples of this. In Youtube you
can find versions that someone uploaded, that it shouldn’t be done because that
should remain in the study but there some productors with bad praxis. Records were
they sing live. Enrique Iglesias for example sings with his voice doubled, the
recording and he singing on it so it is “real” but it’s only fake live. Someone
upload this recording of them singing where you can see how they really sing. Normally
they use a programme called autotune that corrects the tunning that is the most
difficult thing to correct. For me this is very bad because in the past the
singers were the people who had the talent but now anyone with money can. That’s
why the real thing is the live, but some artists use the fake live now and
cheats.
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Nowadays
there are some singers-songwritters that wants to record their songs?
Yes, luckly for
me nowadays there is a lot of people that wants to do things, we are in a time
when music is changing. In the past we had the cd sellings or the legal download
but nowadays… today the only way the musicians have to make money is with the
live and there is no musical scene and is very complicated. There’s a lot of
people but the music industry is in danger. I’m very happy of working with
people with a lot of talent that sings amazingly and have songs that says
things. I hope that some this changes and everyone has an opportunity.
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What made you
want to work in the music industry?
I started at
13, 14 when I wanted top lay the guitar but they told me I wasn’t good enough
but at the end a guy taught me. I started studying music at 24 because I spent
some time studying economy and administration because my family didn’t want me
to be a musician so I studied something else. If you like music you should
study it, not like I did because I started at 24, quite late, while working and
paying my degree.
