Interview with Mauricio

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.

-          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.

-          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.

-          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.  

-          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.  

-          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.  

-          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.

-          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.

-          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.

-          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.

-          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.

-          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.