Tracking What Moves the Mix

Based in São Paulo, Thiago is a 3x Latin Grammy-winning recording and mixing engineer known for his versatility, technical finesse, sharp ear, and deep musicality. He’s worked with major artists and labels, earned multiple Latin Grammy nominations, and was twice named Brazil’s Best Recording Engineer. His journey began with punk rock rehearsals, church sound systems, and DIY recordings—long before he knew audio could be a career. A university music tech class sparked that realization, and by 2012, he was officially in the studio, where he’s been shaping sound ever since. Thiago is a proud member both NARAS and LARAS, and the AES.

What’s your current setup like?
I currently work with a simple hybrid setup that includes a Dangerous Music summing box, Antelope Orion 32 converters, Neumann KH310 monitors, Sennheiser HD600 headphones, and an SPL 2Control monitor controller. When I need to run audio through analog gear, I head over to Everest Studio—the studio I’m partnered with—which has an excellent collection of high-end equipment. The gear there includes an SSL Origin 32-channel console, Neve 1084 preamps, Retro 176, Manley units, GML EQ, 1176s, Distressors, Fatso, API processors, Pultec-style EQs, and JDK compressors, just to name a few.

What’s the biggest challenge in recording and mixing?
I think both have their own unique challenges, but there’s one thing they definitely have in common: knowing when not to overdo it. Less is always more, and at the end of the day, you have to trust your ears. There’s no fancy explanation here. It’s a simple answer to a question that can be as complex as it gets.

What’s your workflow like? By feel vs. technical thinking?
I like to take care of all the technical details beforehand so I can fully focus on the artistic side—whether I’m recording or mixing. For example, when mixing, I always prep the sessions in advance and handle any technical issues upfront. That way, I can stay in a creative flow instead of stopping every 15 minutes to fix a problem. It might be a bit OCD, but it works really well for me.

How do you handle big sessions with tons of layers?
When mixing, I usually divide the song into sections. That helps me give each part its own character and balance—especially in large sessions with lots of layers. It’s the way I make sure every section stands out and serves the song in its own way.

When did you first come across Sound Radix plug-ins?
Back when you first released Auto-Align 1 – which I still use daily, by the way.

We'd love to hear more about your workflow—what’s your typical process like?

1. I start by aligning all the secondary snare drum microphones—such as the snare bottom mic—to the main snare microphone (snare top). Then, I align the hi-hat, ride, and overhead microphones to the main snare as well. If the drum image in the overheads doesn’t sound right after alignment, I experiment by adjusting the number of samples Auto-Align moves. I generally prefer minimal changes, but sometimes larger shifts are necessary. Of course, this depends heavily on how well the drums—especially the overheads—were recorded.
2. I then align the secondary kick drum microphones to the main kick mic, which I always designate as the kick inside mic. After aligning, I flip the polarity of the kick tracks group to check how it interacts with the newly aligned overheads. Depending on the result, I decide whether to keep the polarity flipped or not.
3. I repeat the same process for the tom microphones—aligning them and flipping polarity as needed based on how they sound with the overheads.
4. Finally, I align the room and extra microphones to the main snare drum track. However, I’m careful to preserve the depth of the sound, so I often reduce the sample adjustments Auto-Align makes to the minimum suggested amount (the value closest to zero).

I prefer to maintain the original timing of the close-mic’d drums (kick, snare, toms) that I receive in a session, especially since many engineers quantize these parts to the grid. I don’t want to alter that timing unless necessary. But, as always, I trust my ears and adjust accordingly.

For Auto-Align 2, which I use on multi-mic’d instruments other than drums, I generally follow the recommended workflow. I open the ARA plugin and let Auto-Align 2 process the tracks. If the adjustments are too drastic, I experiment with the other suggested sample changes to find a better balance.

For both songs, I used Auto Align 1 on all the drum tracks. For "Praise Him All Ye Creatures", I used Auto Align 2 on all the guitars. I can’t recall precisely, but I may have also used Pi to help the guitars and synths on "Praise Him All Ye Creatures" work together cohesively.

What are you working on right now that excites you?
I feel like I’m in the middle of a career shift. Even though I love both recording and mixing equally—and I used to go through cycles, spending months recording several projects before another wave of mixing work would come—this year has been mostly focused on mixing. I’ve been taking on fewer recording projects, usually ones that are more specific or intentional.

What advice would you give?
Honestly? It comes down to hard work. I don’t consider myself particularly talented or gifted—I simply study and work a lot. Working in music can be frustrating and challenging in many ways, but perseverance is key. You just have to keep pushing forward.

You can keep up with Thiago on Instagram and his website.

Photo credit: Everest Studio,São Paulo.