4PocketsAudio Interview with Guilherme Freitas, Brazilian Guitarist Singer and Composer
Guilherme Freitas is an established Bassist/Guitarist/Singer and Composer from Brazil. He is best known for his bands Gugles and Pajama Flowers, he currently plays with Bandabala,. The Band has just re-recorded their favourite Pajama Flowers hits completely on the iPad.
Q.1 Gui who were your musically influences? I’ve heard a lot of music in my life but if I have to mention what I most heard would be Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Beto Guedes, Brazilian pop rock( Legiao Urbana, Lulu Santos) Beatles, AC/DC, Stones, Nirvana, Beach Boys, Genesis plus many other artists ,
Q2. You’re a multi-talented Guitarist/Singer/Composer, is there a particular aspect you prefer? I started getting interested in music as a acoustic guitarist at 14, but at 18 I had to learn to play bass because I joined a band that needed a bass player, I continued to play bass for many years, and went back to playing guitar 7 years ago. Right now I’m in love with guitar.
Q3. Why did you decide to Re-Record the tracks on the iPad? The first reason was that at the time of the band in ’95, we did not record the job decently, just made records on cassette tapes. Another reason was also that the band no longer exists and some former members no longer work as musicians, so there was no possibility would be all together again, each took different paths in life. The band was independent at the time and had no access to good studios.
I always liked those songs and felt sorry for not having done a good recording of them. When I bought the iPad 2 years ago, I noticed that when recording electric guitar I got an excellent result, and it reminded me of the work of Pajama’s, I had to ask for help to remember the lyrics and started to record a couple of tracks before I knew it I was recording 14 songs.
Q4. How did you find the process of recording everything on the iPad? I’ve always been interested in using portable recorders, I already had several studios port (tascam, yamaha), drum machines, sequencers. When I saw the iPad I started doing small tests in Garageband was impressed and so I bought the IPad.
I used the Apogee Jam, and soon I learned how it worked and I realized I was getting better guitar sounds than in several professional studios I’ve ever had recorded in. Soon I noticed that the GarageBand would not be enough and that I needed a more professional app and found Meteor, then yes I was really excited to do all the work.
I started the searching process for drum loops and how we had done the arrangements back in 95. I actually recorded all the basic instrumental in Meteor and vocals in Garage Band, because I had to use many tracks, as I did many backing vocals.
The instruments I used were
Electric guitars (Gibson Sg, Prs Custom 22, Fender Plus and Suhr S3) I used a 60 amp trademark of Tech 21, miked by the senheiser 609 in direct apogee jam.
Effects on guitar I used eletronics TC Nova system, Fulltone OCD, and Suhr Riot. ,
The acoustic guitars (Yamaha) I always recorded 2 tracks, 1 miked by MIC and another running straight at Jam.
The bass (Tagima and precision and music man) I ran for a pre AMT eletronics and ran straight into Jam.
The keyboards and the strings I got everything in Garage Band.
For a long time I was in doubt if I would record the vocals on the iPad or in a studio outside, but then found the apogee MIC and recorded in my home. At the end of the process I had a problem, I would not be able to mix work on the iPad because I used more than 12 channels, and used 2 different apps to record
So I pulled all the wavs separately into the Meteor where they were mastered, mixed and everything. Throughout this process, Paul from 4pockets helped me a lot by email. Thanks Paul.
Q5. What aspects of Meteor Multitrack Recorder made it your iPad DAW of choice? I found the meteor very professional, with 12 tracks and effects, it felt really like recording in professional studio, also the excellent technical support from 4Pockets provide customers.
Q6. We were impressed with the harmonization of the vocals and guitars, how did you achieve this? I always enjoyed doing many backing vocals, something like Beatles, Beach Boys, and Queen, and in fact, in this work, I really did million of vocals. As I was doing at home, it had no cost, and I could take as much time as I wanted so I could do many experiments.
I recorded the harmonization’s and sometimes sang 2 to 3 times each harmonization to get that wall of sound, like Queen and Beatles on the songs Right on, Sun is on the way. The verse of In the Evening and chorus of I’m Addicted, was sung by the musician and song writer Toninho Mattos.
I did not know if it would be successful but I tried lol. I do not use auto tune any part of the songs.
In eletric guitars, the process was similar. I played the same riff over and over again to give those aspect of the wall of sound too. But I played really again, because if you just duplicate the track you do not get the same result, only increases the volume.
Q7. Brazilian musicians seemed to have taken the iPad to the heart of their music creation, why do you think this is? I think the whole world is using IPad to record, but maybe it’s a success in Brazil because a good studio here is very expensive and one of medium size sometimes you do not get good results.
Q8. When will we see the Gui Freitas or the Pajama Flowers on the iTunes Store? Actually I do not know how iTunes works for independent band, I need to tell you how this really works, in Brazil, the people still do not have much in the habit of using iTunes, the people still downloads the net. But I think it would be great if I could put my songs out, but at the same time, because the band to be independent, I do not know if people would know that the band is available on iTunes, I will get better informed and see. When I recorded this work I was not really planning on selling it, it was just to record it and show it to friends, but would not be so bad if I could make some money with it.
Q9. What’s does 2013 hold for you, can you tell us what are you plans are? I am a professional musician in Brazil for 22 years, now I play in a band called Bandabala . This band plays Brazilian rhythms and it works here. My plans are to disseminate these Pajama Flowers songs and continue working hard.
You can find out more about Gui on his Facebook Page and on his twitter @guifreitas5
We would like to thank Gui for taking part in the interview, particularly since English is not his first language. I have promised him that I will learn more Portuguese than how to order a beer.
Keep an eye out for other tracks from Gui and the Pajama Flowers, I think 2013 is promising to be an exciting year for him.
