PRODUCTION
A selection of my work as a producer, arranger,
session multiinstrumentalist and sound engineer for bands and songwriters
LOS PECES "Ocho brazos para abrazarte"
(THE FISHES "Eight arms to hold you")
Los Peces were formed by Zaragoza-born Clara Téllez and Santi Comet. Santi played keyboards for the last period of La Naranja China. I was asked by Los Peces to produce their second album. Beforehand, they asked me to arrange and mix a few of their demos. One of these songs was "Ocho brazos para abrazarte" (Eight arms to hold you - yes, the working title for The Beatles film "Help!") which became the title track and was also the first single. I added string arrangements and made some changes to the song's structure.
I did the album's pre-production, recorded some instruments (guitars, bass, keyboards and vocals) and also arranged most of the songs at my studio.
The rest of the recording and mixing was carried out at Maaya Thila Studios, Madrid, owned by David Hyam. The recording engineer was Marcos Liviano with whom I also mixed the album. It was mastered at C.A.T.A. Studios, Madrid, by Luis del Toro and was published by Warner Music in 2008.
You can listen to the entire album here:
ZODIACS "3, 2, 1..."
Zodiacs are a rock band from the Basque Country. It was formed by Ignacio Garbayo (vocals and guitars), Miguel Guzman (bass and vocals) and Lázaro Anasagasti (drums and vocals).
All the pre-production took place in my studio, where I added keyboards and guitars, and partly arranged and restructured some songs. I also helped with the lyrics. The album was recorded at Reno Studios, Madrid. The recording engineer was Karim Burkhalter, with whom I also mixed the album. Mastering was carried out by Nick Litwin at Mastering Mansion, Madrid, and it was published by Warner Music in 2009.
Later it was reissued with an extra song which was featured in an ad for Fanta. The ad was already finished with the music from another band, but someone decided at the last minute to change the music. After agreeing to provide the Fanta ad music, we had to rewrite the song using the existing lyrics to match the video image. It was a complex task but came to fruition.
You can listen to the entire album here:
COQUE MALLA "La hora de los gigantes" -edición especial-
(COQUE MALLA "The time of the giants" -special edition-)
After the rock'n'roll band Los Ronaldos split up, its vocalist Coque Malla released his first solo album, “Soy un astronauta más” (I'm just another astronaut), in which I did some backing vocals. Later he asked me to join his band in which I played guitars, keyboards and did backing vocals. Some time later we formed Las Mentiras (The Lies). There were two formats, one as a four-piece combo featuring Laura Gómez Palma on bass and Daniel Parra on drums, and one as a duo. With the latter we toured all over Spain for three years, playing mainly covers of our music heroes. In 2004 I also participated as a guitarist on the recording session for Coque Malla´s album “Sueños” (Dreams).
This record is a special edition which includes seven songs recorded live with guitarist Nico Nieto at Madrid's concert hall “Sol”. Coque asked me to produce the editing and mixing of these songs. Published by Warner Music in 2010.
You can listen to the entire album here:
NADA PERSONAL "De un lugar extraño"
(NOTHING PERSONAL "From a strange place")
Carlos García, better known as Carlos Piedra, is a songwriter and singer from Madrid who constantly reinvents himself. His project Nothing Personal is sometimes a solo effort and sometimes with a band. He came to me as a soloist to “dress” some of his new songs. He showed me his demos recorded with an acoustic guitar and vocals and asked me to give them an indie feel because on previous occasions he had recorded his songs with a mainstream sound and wanted to change this.
The recording took place in my studio and I took care of the arrangements and recording, by programming drums, playing bass, guitars, keyboards and percussion and recording some backing vocals. I also mixed and mastered it in my studio. This EP was released by Flor y Nata Records in 2010.
You can listen to the entire EP here:
Nat Simons is a singer-songwriter based in Madrid. I discovered her some time ago through MySpace. After hearing her voice and discovering that she wrote the songs, I immediately got in touch with her. That same week, I went to a gig of hers and after the show I asked if I could produce a couple of her songs.
The chosen songs were “Wild Way” and “Indian Trees”. I made the arrangements and recorded all the instruments in my studio. The songs enjoyed wide acclaim and led to the recording of her first album. This production is from 2010.
NAT SIMONS "Wild way"
FULL "7 meses en la caseta del perro"
(FULL "7 months in the kennel" -Demo-)
Full are a Seville band based in Madrid. They had recorded some songs in their rehearsal room in Seville and were looking for someone to give them a “facelift” and mix and master their material.
They sent me the audio files and I set to work. To make the songs as tight as possible I had to spend some time fixing several tracks, but the arrangements and the feel were already well-defined.
I replaced some live drums with programmed ones to sound as natural as possible while respecting the original recording. I also mixed and mastered the songs in my studio.
This independent demo EP was released solely in digital format and marked the take-off of this great band. It was published in 2011.
POL 3.14 "Al mundo entero"
(POL 3.14 "To the whole world")
This cover was co-produced with producer and sound engineer José María Rosillo for the Coca Cola Music Experience, 2011.
The original song was a 1972 Spanish adaptation of “I'd like to buy the world a Coke”, from a 1971 Coca Cola advert.
I played all instruments, sang the backing vocals and recorded them in my studio. Pol's vocal track was added at Audiomatic, J.M. Rosillo's recording studio, where the mixing took place.
Executive production and publication was carried out by Globomedia Music.
SAIMON SIMONET "Filoestilia"
Saimon Simonet is a pianist and composer from Madrid who has been among other things Raphael's music director. He came to me as a fan of my musical project La Naranja China and especially for my album “Electrodoméstico" (Household appliances).
He had a handful of songs on piano and voice and wanted to make an eclectic album, giving each song a different style besides being sung by different singer. When I heard his demos I could sense an air of Broadway musical, classical music, bossa nova, rumba, pop and rock. And so I did, arranging each song to reach it's own character. I arranged and recorded strings, brass, wood, drums, bass, guitars and a long etc., and he even asked me to sing one of his songs.
It took me six months to complete the whole album but I had the opportunity to dwell as an arranger and producer. It was recorded and mixed entirely in my studio and was mastered by Nick Litwin in Mastering Mansion, Madrid. It was realised by PAE publishing in 2012.
POL 3.14 "Jóvenes eternamente"
(POL 3.14 "Forever young")
Pol is a songwriter and singer from Madrid who quickly gained notoriety after releasing his first album and including some of his songs in the tv serial "Los hombre de Paco" (Paco's men) and also after having participated in various events such as the Coca Cola Music Experience in 2011.
This is his second studio album. It was attended by several producers including José María Rosillo, who asked me to co-produce a couple of songs. We met with Pol at José's studio and started shaping the songs. Later I made the arrangements in my studio to finally be recorded and mixed in Audiomatic by J.M. Rosillo. My contribution was as co-producer and arranger for the songs “Un millón de mariposas” (A million butterflies) which was the first single realise, and “Amantes en Barcelona” (Lovers in Barcelona). This album was released by Globomedia Music in 2012.
WILTAY "Nothing can stop us"
Wiltay is a songwriter and singer from Singapore. He lived some time in Spain and was looking for producers to work on the songs for his new album.
It was Pablo Parser (Circodelia, Zodiacs, Mister Marshall, composer and music producer at OEO) who told him about me. He called me and after a few days we were working on one of his songs. He wanted to include s string sarrangement of which I directed. I also helped him out with the song structure and the melody and once he finished the lyrics we recorded the song “Nothing can stop us” in my studio.
He later returned to Singapore where he gathered the songs he had recorded with different producers to complete his album "WTF". It was published in 2014 by Warner Music Singapore.
PERRO FLACO "El 23"
(SKINNY DOG "The 23")
David Negrín, known artistically as Perro Flaco (Skinny Dog), called me to show me some of the demos he had recorded at home and to consider the possibility of developing and finish them together.
His songs catched me at first listen. He already had clear ideas beforehand, so my work mainly focused to give some suggestiones and fix some issues here and there to be recorded from scratch based on the ideas he presented me. David sang the main vocal track and the backing volcals, he recorded acoustic guitars, harmonica and some electric guitars, and I took care about the rest, in adittion to mixing and mastering. “El 23” is the song he choosed to present his new career. Published in 2016.
LICHIS "Mariposas"
(LICHIS "Butterflies")
After a break of several years I went back to stage as a guitar player for Lichis, when he proposed me to be part of his live band after the realize of his studio album "Modo avión".
After completing a couple of national tours and visiting Argentina, he proposed me to work on the production of his new songs. Before finalizing his new album he wanted to publish this EP in digital format for what we previously recorded some demos in my studio. After that, we recorded the songs in his studio Felicidad Producciones. This EP contains the song "No soy un extraño” (I'm not a stranger), a cover of the Argentinean artist Charlie García. The first single was "Febrero" (February), song for which I had the privilege of arranging and directing a string quartet. Álvaro Barco, Ferni Duhalde and a me were at the desk controls. It was mixed by Ferni Duhalde at Reno Studios and was mastered by Juan Hidalgo at Mastertips. Aired in February 2017.
You can listen to the entire EP here:
CARLOS PIEDRA "Los oficios del lobo"
(CARLOS PIEDRA "The jobs of the wolf")
After his musical adventure under the pseudonym of Nada Personal, Carlos Piedra asked me to produce his new songs collection.
At the start, the intention was to work on only four tracks, but shortly after Carlos decided to continue recording until completing this album of twelve songs. This time he opted for a simple production: his voice, two acoustic guitars and some occasional choir, something that according to him is "defensible" in small venues.
In addition to the production, I played almost all the guitars and made also most of the arrangements. I also recorded, mixed and mastered it in my studio. This album was realised by Flor y Nata Records in 2017.
Puedes escuchar el álbum al completo aquí:
DANI MAYO "Agua de Mayo"
A friend in common, Luli, introduced us some time ago with the idea that I perhaps could produce his new album. Months later Dani phoned me and introduced me to his new compositions at the same time he brought me his first album. After listening to it he told me that although he was delighted with the result of it, on this occasion he wanted the new album to come closer to what it sounds live, easier and with less instrumentation. The idea seemed good to me and after profiling the production during a couple of rehearsals, we got down to work.
In addition to taking care of the production, I played and recorded all the bass lines, some chorus and also collaborated with some percussion. I recorded and mixed it at my studio MUSICREA and the mastering was carried out by Javier Abril. This production was realized in May 2018.
(DANI MAYO "May water")
compositor & productor musical
