Rafael Sardina, known professionally as Rafa Sardina, is a
basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous c ...
recording engineer
An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproducti ...
,
mixing engineer
A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...
and
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
known for his work with
Alejandro Sanz
Alejandro Sánchez Pizarro, better known as Alejandro Sanz (; born 18 December 1968), is a Spanish musician, singer and composer. Sanz has won 22 Latin Grammy Awards and four Grammy Awards. He has received the Latin Grammy for Album of the Year ...
,
Luis Miguel
Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri (born 19 April 1970) is a Puerto Rican-born Mexican singer, often referred to as ''El Sol de México'' (The Sun of Mexico), which is the nickname his mother gave him as a child—"mi sol". Luis Miguel has sung in mu ...
,
Calle 13,
D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo (), is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He first garnered attention after co-producing the single "U Will Know" ...
,
The Clare Fischer Big Band and
Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...
.
Sardina has won 5
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
s
and 13
Latin Grammy Award
The Latin Grammy Awards are an award by The Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from anywhere around the world that has bee ...
s.
He is the current governor of the
Recording Academy
The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy Aw ...
, Los Angeles Chapter and has served on the board of trustees of the
Latin Recording Academy. Sardina is a founding member and vice chairman of the Latin Recording Academy's CPI (''Círculo de Productores e Ingenieros''), equivalent to the Producers and Engineers Wing of the Recording Academy.
He was the executive producer of the 2017 and 2018
Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year galas honoring
Alejandro Sanz
Alejandro Sánchez Pizarro, better known as Alejandro Sanz (; born 18 December 1968), is a Spanish musician, singer and composer. Sanz has won 22 Latin Grammy Awards and four Grammy Awards. He has received the Latin Grammy for Album of the Year ...
and
Maná
Maná () is a Mexican pop rock band. The band is considered one of the best-selling Latin music artists and the most successful Latin American band of all time with over 40 million records sold worldwide. The group's current lineup consists o ...
, respectively.
Early life and career
Sardina was born in
Bermeo
Bermeo is a town and municipality in the ''comarca'' of Busturialdea. It is in the province of Biscay, which is part of the autonomous region of the Basque Country in northern Spain.
With a population of 16,765, it is the most important fishing p ...
, a fishing port in the
Basque Country
Basque Country may refer to:
* Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map)
* French Basque Country o ...
located in northern
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
. Sardina's interest in music started at a young age. At the age of 6, he secretly played his younger sister's guitar and later told his mother he wanted to become a professional musician.
His parents moved to
San Diego, California
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
when he was 15. After a couple of months, Sardina returned to Spain, finished school and started playing in bands. His first experience in a recording studio was at the age of 16, when he attended a recording session of his cousin's band in
San Sebastián.
Sardina joined medical school at age 16. During his second year of school, he started working as
front of house
In the performing arts, front of house (FOH) is the part of a performance venue that is open to the public. In theatres and live music venues, it consists of the auditorium and foyers, as opposed to the stage and backstage areas. In a theatre, ...
and
monitor engineer
Live sound mixing is the blending of multiple sound sources by an audio engineer using a mixing console or software. Sounds that are mixed include those from instruments and voices which are picked up by microphones (for drum kit, lead vocals ...
for local acts. During his fourth year of school and right before taking the final exam, Sardina decided to drop out. He saved up for a three-week recording certification program at
The Recording Workshop school in
Chillicothe, Ohio. Sardina then went back to Spain and continued saving until he enrolled in a program at
Full Sail University
Full Sail University is a Private university, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit university in Winter Park, Florida. It was formerly a recording studio in Ohio named Full Sail Productions and Full Sail Center ...
in
Orlando, Florida.
In 1993, four weeks before graduating with a Valedictorian Award, Sardina organized a 24-hour trip to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
. He did interviews at
Record Plant
The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blon ...
,
Westlake Recording Studios
Westlake Recording Studios is a music recording studio in West Hollywood, California.
History
Westlake Recording Studios was founded in the early 1970s by the American audio engineer Tom Hidley under the name Westlake Audio. Hidley was experienc ...
and
Ocean Way Recording
Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, California, Nashville, Tennessee, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates record ...
, where he later started working and became assistant engineer. During his time at Ocean Way, Sardina recorded artists including
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...
,
Madonna,
Frank Sinatra,
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
,
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, f ...
,
Dr. Dre and
David Foster
David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...
.
In 2001, after working for 5 years at Ocean Way, Sardina founded Fishbone Productions and started working as an independent engineer, recording at his studio "AfterHours". Sardina became better known for his work on
Pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* ''Pop'' (G ...
,
Rock,
R&B and
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
records, although he also works on a variety of genres including
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...
,
Orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
l,
Gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
,
World
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
and
Film/TV soundtracks. He continued working with artists including
Alejandro Sanz
Alejandro Sánchez Pizarro, better known as Alejandro Sanz (; born 18 December 1968), is a Spanish musician, singer and composer. Sanz has won 22 Latin Grammy Awards and four Grammy Awards. He has received the Latin Grammy for Album of the Year ...
,
Luis Miguel
Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri (born 19 April 1970) is a Puerto Rican-born Mexican singer, often referred to as ''El Sol de México'' (The Sun of Mexico), which is the nickname his mother gave him as a child—"mi sol". Luis Miguel has sung in mu ...
,
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, sou ...
,
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
,
Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...
and
D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo (), is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He first garnered attention after co-producing the single "U Will Know" ...
.
Sardina engineered the album "Symphonic Soweto: A Tribute To Nelson Mandela", which won the South African Music Award for Best Contemporary Album in 2018.
AfterHours Studios
Sardina founded AfterHours Studios to record his projects. AfterHours was first located at his previous house. Sardina describes it as being ''"just a tiny room, tracking little things like drums in the hallway"''.
The studio is now located in
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles
Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California.
Geography
Woodland Hills is in the southwestern region of the San Fernando Valley, which is located east of C ...
, where he remodeled a two-story three-car garage and an adjacent room. The live room, control room and isolation booth are on the first floor, while an office and a lounge are located on the second floor. The studio operates around a
Solid State Logic
Solid State Logic (SSL) is a British company based in Begbroke, Oxfordshire, England that designs and markets audio mixing consoles, signal processors, and other audio technologies for the post-production, video production, broadcast, sound ...
Duality console and incorporates multiple
outboard processors into a
digital recording system.
The studio was featured on
Mix Magazine's Class of 2017.
Awards and nominations
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
Latin Grammy Awards
The Latin Grammy Awards are an award by The Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from anywhere around the world that has bee ...
References
External links
Interview with Rafa Sardina , Latin Recording AcademyPensado's Place #279 , Engineer/Producer/Mixer Rafa Sardina
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sardina, Rafa
Grammy Award winners
Latin Grammy Award winners
Full Sail University alumni
Latin music record producers
People from Bermeo
Spanish record producers
Living people
1968 births