Meet Claudia Pinel Iatalese

We were lucky to catch up with Claudia Pinel Iatalese recently and have shared our conversation below.

Claudia, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

Ever since a young age I was always passionate about music. The way one song could connect so many different people around the world always astounded me. However, I never saw myself being a performer nor an artist because I didn’t want or like the attention that it involved. I grew up playing piano and guitar and even though I wasn’t the most passionate performer, I knew I wanted to work with music somehow. During high school, I discovered that there was much more to music than just the performers and artists. There was in fact a whole group of people behind the scenes helping the artist create and execute their vision. As soon as I discovered audio engineers and music producers existed, I knew I wanted to pursue music production and engineering professionally. I wanted to work with music and be a part of the creative process but not necessarily perform or be the artist. As soon as I got into production and engineering, I quickly realized that my passion and purpose was capturing that intimate and emotional performance and bringing it to the audience. I want the listeners to feel the same energy I am hearing and feeling in the studio when musicians and artists connect with each other or to themselves.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am an audio engineer and record producer based in Los Angeles and originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I believe my career began when I started learning piano and guitar, because even though I am a music engineer and producer, I think that knowing how to play these instruments and knowing music theory helps me to better understand the projects I am recording and working on. These skills also helped me get into Berklee College of Music where I graduated with two majors, Music Production and Engineering and Music Business/Management. Right after graduating, I interviewed and received job offers at a studio in New York and another in Los Angeles. I ended up choosing Los Angeles not only because I enjoyed the city, but mainly because of the importance and history that the studio in Los Angeles carries. The Village Recording Studio is recognized worldwide, and several internationally known artists and bands have recorded their music here, such as The Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Elton John, Coldplay, Fleetwood Mac, John Mayer, Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey, etc. I started working as an assistant and now, after two years, I am part of several different sessions and projects. These sessions include not only musical artists and bands, but also recording sessions for films and TV series such as Lionsgate’s “Borderlands” and Hulu TV show “Tell Me Lies”. In the past year, I have also worked as a second engineer in sessions for artists such as Solange Knowles and Kesha, and bands such as Dramarama and Opium Moon. More recently, I have been working as a recording engineer on Mel Fine’s new and upcoming EP. I love collaborating with people who are passionate about their music, no matter the genre, and I like to think of my role as an audio engineer as providing and taking care of all the technical aspects so that the artist can fully focus on their art.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Moving away from my family and friends required a lot of adaptability that ultimately helped me be prepared for unknown situations in the studio, but knowing they are supporting me no matter how far away I am is a great feeling that always motivated me. As I mentioned before, I believe having knowledge on music theory and being able to play piano and guitar helped me bring the musical side to the technical side of music production and engineering. I also think that diligence and risk-taking were very impactful during my journey since going into the music industry is a risk in on itself. However, taking risks leads to growth, creativity and new opportunities, and in the studio taking risks leads to new sounds. Therefore, taking risks is just a way to unlock new potential so never be scared to adapt and take risks.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

They let me experiment. I was very fortunate that my parents never expected me to follow the same career path as them, and instead allowed me to dream and discover different paths on my own. In the end if that path ended up being the same as theirs or completely different, they would root for me regardless. And as a kid one of the most frequent question you are asked is: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” But how can you truly know if you haven’t taken risks experimenting different things yet. Even though that question can help you think about the future and dream up possibilities, it ultimately suggests that the goal is static rather than something dynamic that can change as many times as necessary.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clauiatalese/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudia-pinel-iatalese-3040201bb

Image Credits

Photos by Grahm Finn and Emma Jonietz