On November 2nd, recording engineer Gabriel Pinheiro, a Grammy nominee and Brazilian Film Academy award winner, conducted a “Brazilian Percussion” class at IAR.

Gabriel discussed and demonstrated samba instruments and microphone choices, emphasisizing how to record samba and how it is mixed for a typical Brazilian recording. Assisting him were IAR instructors Dan Gaydos and noted percussionist Gary Fritz.

Gabriel began his career in 1996 at Mega Studios, one of the biggest recording studios in Rio de Janeiro, working mainly with the Neve V2 and SSL 4000 large-format consoles. He moved on to post-production within the company, working on films, documentaries, and TV ads.

Leaving Mega Studios to work as a freelance engineer at various studios throughout Rio, Gabriel returned to audio-post as a mixing engineer at VideoFilmes, one of Brazil’s most important film/documentary companies. There he won the Brazilian Film Academy award for Best Sound.

In 2001, he became the chief engineer at Biscoito Fino Records studio. He has recorded more than 35 albums, along with 4 DVDs and two film soundtracks, and he was nominated for the Latin Grammy award for Best Engineer in 2004.