Having being born in 1963, I started playing music over 30 years ago, at the age of 12, in my native town of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I first took up the drums and percussion, but soon swapped it for the guitar, initially learning how to play classical guitar, then added steel guitars 6 & 12 strings and slide guitar, followed by the electric guitar.
In 1979, I was invited to join a local Progressive Rock band, playing bass guitar instead. This band, called 6L6, became a very influential and innovative Rock band at the time, with some members of the band later on ending up on what became a highly hugely successful band (in Brazilian terms) called Barão Vermelho.
Joining 6L6 was an offer I could not refuse, and one that have had a profound impact on my future career and throughout my life. We had reasonable success and played to many big audiences, including playing twice to crowd capacities in excess of 8 thousand people. We got a record deal with Ariola and had an album out, but due to internal problems, the band eventually split up.
After that, I joined another prestigious rock band called Serapis Bey, but this time, we concentrated our efforts on studio work. We did soundtracks for a couple of theatre plays, ‘Madame Blavatsky’ (about the life and work of Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, the founder of Theosophy) and ‘A Night At The Oscar’, as well as some short films. We were eventually asked to contribute with a few songs to an American film production, called ‘Only The Strong’, about the Brazilian Martial Arts ‘Capoeira’, featuring the, now famous Zoom zoom zoom song, used by Mazda in commercial ads throughout the US, UK, Europe, Brazil and Japan to launch its cars.
Whilst in Brazil, I was very fortunate to have studied music harmony and theory with a very respectable music teacher, Isidoro, whom had studied at Berkeley University, in the United States. This knowledge, combined with the experience gained from studio and live work, enabled me to do some session work, as well as teach guitar/bass and harmony/theory on a much higher level, and later on, to work professionally as a producer/programmer/arranger, recording artists/singers & songwriters.
In 1983 I also appeared in an American production film, called Blame it on Rio, featuring Michael Caine, Michael Johnson and none other then Demi Moore! I played guitar on a couple of scenes and, in one scene on the beach, I was surrounded by 7 topless models - it is safe to say, it was the best and luckiest day I have had in my life to date!
After an initial spell in 1985, I have now been living in England, permanently, since 1993. I have been in a number of bands in the UK, doing live work and recordings (usually performing original songs, but have also been in covers bands as well, which has always been great fun).
I eventually started producing, arranging, programming & recording artists & singers, as well as my own compositions.
I have been doing this professionally for some time now. I have also been concentrating on writing music for the Film/Television & MUSIC LIBRARY industries. Having so far written music for a few videos/DVDs released by UFO Magazine/Quest Publications, with two of those, The Mysterious Spheres Video and NASA, The Secret Transmissions having received awards in the US for best documentaries/film and music in the UFO related subject.
I had my own CD, entitled Mysterious Spheres (to which I composed, arranged and produced all songs, having also played all instruments on it), distributed by UFO Magazine/Quest Publications, being awarded the “Best music CD in a UFO related subject” in September 2002.
I have also had some of my work (12 tracks) released by Stock Music, a Belgium company specialised in MUSIC LIBRARY. Some of this work can be heard on the MUSIC LIBRARY Titles section.
I have done some session work recordings here as well, notably for Xplosive Records, whom have had a couple of hits with Blazin’ Squad, and for a Ray Ruffin’s Brandy single (unfortunately, it was not released) and also for Nicole Formescu, a very talented and gifted singer/songwriter, whom had a number 1 hit with Blue in December 2001 (If you come back).
I still teach guitar/bass and music theory/harmony these days, for people of all ages, as well as different music backgrounds and knowledge (from entry level to advance).
I have my own studio set-up (you can check its equipment list elsewhere), which has enable me to further develop my writing, playing, production & recording skills, allowing me to put into practice, everything I have learned along the years. I am a perfectionist and very detail conscious in my approach to music, and that I believe, is vital in order to produce and play quality music. And I always set myself very high standards, and this should, in the end, or so I would like to believe, make all the difference.
I have been, as a producer/programmer/arranger/musician, producing and recording upcoming singers and songwriters, full-time, for a number of years now, and have had mixed success so far (including tracks released commercially in Japan in 2005 and many others taken publishing deals). Since I do not get involved in the process of releasing and/or pitching for the songs I produce and record for my clients (and added to that, the very fact that, however talented some of them are, most of them are not signed to any labels or have any publishing deals as such), it makes things very difficult for me, and at times, quite frankly, not very motivating, as I end up not having a great deal to show for in the end.
It is true that a lot of the times, people will judge you by the success and track history you have, but because of the circumstances described above, that makes it, in my case, a very difficult situation for me, making it also very difficult, as a producer, to make the jump to the next level, which I feel, is long time overdue and many will say, well deserved. But throughout this website, the proof of my talents and many skills are splashed all over its pages, but please do not take my word for it, just check me out!
Several of my clients, notably those from SongLink, have recently had songs published and released, so the future looks very promising indeed. Time will tell!!
Instruments PlayedI play several instruments, and as a producer I usually get to play every instrument needed on the songs I produce, from guitars to bass, keyboards and percussion, as well as programming & doing arrangements. Having said that, the bass guitar (finger picking/plectrum/slapping & two-hand tapping techniques), the Chapman Stick (an American 10 string bass guitar) and guitars (all types) are my main instruments. I play lead & rhythm guitars, acoustic & electric, nylon & steel, 6 & 12 strings, as well as slide guitar. The so-called “Spanish guitar” style, which I also play, seems to be very much in vogue these days and my clients are always requesting it. Shame they don’t call this, “Brazilian guitar playing”, but hey, I accept any compliments that come my way!! It is only a matter of (wrong) geography!
When programming on computer, I usually use either keyboards or a guitar synthesiser to input MIDI data. Due to my early encounters with the drums & percussion, as well as my roots in Brazil, I find it very stimulating to program drums & percussion (which are usually very predominant in my music productions). I can also play live percussion whenever needed.
Musical InfluencesBecause I have been in this industry for so many years, I have been influenced by a great number of different styles of music, from Progressive Rock to Hard/Heavy Rock, Country Music to Jazz-Rock Fusion, Brazilian & Asian music, New Wave to Techno Pop/Trance/Dance, and most recently, World Music/New Age. Due to this variety of styles, I have developed many different styles of playing, having a very strong sense of melody and rhythm.
I find that, whenever I am producing current music, which is what I tend to do most of the times, such as Pop or R & B/Soul, House, Garage, Dance/Trance etc, I can always call upon any of the above styles and sometimes, even mix them up. I feel this quality most definitely adds a certain originality & freshness to the music I produce. As result of that, I believe I have become a more creative & versatile musician.
Whenever producing a vocal song, I always strive to make the instrumentation sound as strong and melodic as possible, so that musically speaking, the backing tracks I produce and arrange will ALWAYS stand on their own rights.
For me, the most important thing, the one that I always strive to achieve above all, is to produce high music quality. For me, being commercial, which is, unfortunately a necessity these days, does not mean producing crap or uninspiring dull music.
A great deal of these so-called producers and many of the people involved in the music industry today are not genuine musicians, like me, for instances. Many of these producers are only programmers, and most cannot play a single note of music. As a direct result of that, the music charts tend to reflect this and of course, will surfer as well, hence the very poor quality of music we hear today.
But I have faith that this will soon change, and the public will be demanding for better quality music, because lets face it, a great number of us, music lovers, are sick to death with all that! Bring back the old days, when musicians could play and singers could actually sing! I am not an old-fashioned person, I just love and am 100% passionate about what I do, and as a result, want to protect it with my life! I feel my clients do come to me, partly because of this passion, which reflects on all the music I produce for them, but also, of course, because of the highest quality of the music I produce, regardless of its styles.
Hobbies & InterestsApart from, obviously, music, I am a Formula 1 fanatic, and have been following Motor sport now for some 30 years. I read just about anything on this subject and haven’t missed a single race in more than twenty-five years.
I guess the same can be said about UFOlogy/spiritual matters. Again, this is a subject that I have been following for over twenty five years. I read a lot about it, attend lectures every year, and have met most of the world’s top Ufologists. I write a lot of New Age & World Music these days, as well as write “UFO music” for videos and lectures related to this vast and very interesting and intriguing subject.
I am one of those people that are 110% sure there’s a lot more to life and all that surrounds us than our governments want us to believe. Hopefully my music journey will lead to the spread of these convictions and beliefs. As music for me is indeed more of a mission than an actual profession.
Well, congratulations, you have managed to read it all!! Well done, I hope there will be something of interest for you here and through out the pages of my web site!
Thank you! May God and all the Divine Forces above bless and enlighten us all!
Ricky Seraphico