Tell us a little bit about yourself: Where are you from? What do you study? How did you discover your passion for audio?
I had my first experience with sound recording in 1994, at the age of 12, in my hometown Bagé in Southern Brazil. As a piano player, I formed a band with my two brothers and started recording rehearsals with a Tascam Porta One four-track cassette tape recorder given to me by my father. During the following years we wrote and recorded a number of tracks and submitted them to several record labels, which helped us to secure a deal with Antídoto/Polygram Records in 1996. Later that year, I did my first recording at ACIT studios in the city of Porto Alegre. That was a huge learning experience as I had the opportunity to observe and learn about recording techniques, microphones, analogue consoles and tape recorders, and got to work with professional sound engineers and music producers in a professional recording studio environment. In 2000, I started a degree in Marketing and Advertisement at URCAMP University in southern Brazil and simultaneously set up my own recording studio, called SG Studio, where I recorded local bands, produced jingles and created commercial audio content for radio and television.
In 2009, I came to the United Kingdom to undertake a degree in ‘Sound Engineering’ at SAE Institute London. There, I started exploring ‘Pure Data’ visual programming language to create interactive applications and multimedia works. Since then I have developed numerous applications strongly influenced by music, animation and cinema; usually mixing live performances and immersive environments with real-time interaction. I am currently developing new projects as well as working towards my PhD in Arts and Computational technology at Goldsmiths University in London.
Tell us about your project. What is it? What is the story behind it?
The ‘Interactive Art Gallery’ was my second entry in an Audio Engineering Society Student Design competition and I am trilled do have received the ‘Gold Award’ for the second consecutive year. This year, my project consists of an interactive screen-based platform to display works of art. My original idea was to translate paintings into sonic landscapes created with the combination of music score and sound design. During the development process I have also started exploring the use of narrative; ultimately, it opened up a new set of possibilities and after six months of work I created the ‘Interactive Art Gallery’.
Diego's App: The 'Interactive Art Gallery'. Shown here is an exploration of Picasso's Guernica
What's your advice for software or hardware designers who are just starting out?
Follow your intuition, work hard and be patient.
· What do you like about the AES? How does it help you to become a better and more successful designer and audio engineer?
The best thing about the AES is that it is a gigantic network. Therefore, it allows you to be in contact with other professionals and have access to the latest research and developments in the audio field.
Tell us about your favourite experiences at the 136th AES Convention in Berlin!
My favourite experience was the opportunity to display my work to a wide audience and to receive valuable feedback from recognised artists, engineers and researchers from the audio industry.
What are you up to when you're not doing anything related to audio?
I like being with my family and friends, reading, running and travelling.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
In the recording studio.
Check out the Interactive Art Gallery and an excerpt from A Walk Through the History of Bagé in this video.
Diego's music production work:
Chapa / Glimpse of Light - Drums Recording @ SAE London
Chapa - interview (Creation Room)
If you want to get in touch with Diego, just send him an e-mail.
Posted: Monday, July 7, 2014
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