At the start of this year, our quest for musical experiences led us to the vibrant city centre of Edinburgh, where we enjoyed a performance by Scottish artists Calum Busby and Calum Baird at the Whistle Binkies.
While enjoying the music and vibrant atmosphere, our interest was piqued when Calum Busby mentioned his ongoing recording sessions in Porto, Portugal.
This revelation sparked a desire within us to explore music communities around the world further. Our first destination on this international journey was the recording studio in Porto that Calum mentioned, located in the city's heart. We were fortunate to have Henrique Tomé, the studio manager of Estudio Cedofeita, kindly answer a few questions that you will find in this blog.
As we begin this journey of cultural exchange and artistic collaboration, we welcome you to dive into the diverse world of musical expression that knows no limits. We aim to build connections, promote comprehension, and appreciate the universal language of music, one harmonious note at a time.
1.Hi Henrique. Please tell us about your studio. What sets it apart from others in terms of services and atmosphere?
We're Estúdio Cedofeita, a music recording studio in the heart of Porto, Portugal. We started 2 years ago as young professionals looking for a way to leave our mark in the Portuguese music industry. We had little experience and fresh out of university, but we knew exactly how we wanted to be and, as all of us are musicians in independent bands, we knew what the city lacked in terms of offer for aspiring young musicians.
So these past two years we devoted ourselves to produce and record emerging artists that wish to affirm their art in Portugal and, hopefully, around the world. The team has 4 members, 2 producers (Freitas and Gabri) and 2 managers (Tomé (myself) and Barra). What really sets us apart from other studios is the common mission the 4 of us share in creating a community of artists that help each other projecting one's work to the world, so our clients quickly become our friends and these friends quickly join the rest of this community, or a big family of artists and music industry professionals.
2.Are there community initiatives or events you've been involved in, and what is the involvement of the Porto community in supporting local talent?
One of the main aspects that really cement our voice within this music community is our non-profit project called Cedofeita Live. Cedofeita Live is a monthly programme of live sessions recorded inside our studio - and, soon, outside of it too - featuring artists and bands we really like, most of them emerging or almost unknown to the wider audience.
This started almost as soon as the studio itself started, and it's one of our favourite activities because, for these artists, it's really important for them to have live material with good quality to showcase their music, even if it's just to help them book shows for example.
Cedofeita Live is growing rapidly, and now dozens of bands are asking to be featured in one of the episodes. We also partner with a concert promoter here called Night Shift, so now we're trying to feature international artists that they bring to Porto in our live sessions too. Our ambition here is really widespread, even if our focus remains on local talent. Now we're also realizing the value of hosting these live sessions in front of an actual audience, so the new episodes start featuring small audiences and we feel even closer to the Porto art community.
3. Are there any success stories of musicians who have worked with your studio and gained recognition?
The studio is still very young, and so are most of our clients. It's great to see a sense of common growth between all of us - with unknown bands producing their first record with us, becoming recognized and, as a consequence, so do we. The studio gets taken more seriously everyday, so do the music projects that come from here. But there's still a long way to go, we have to be patient and stay focused on producing good-quality records.
4. In Porto, or for your studio, are there any funding options or discounts available for community organizations or emerging artists?
When a music project is just starting out, or is made up by students that don't earn wages yet, we usually offer discounts in order to reach a good balance between fair pay and realistic budgets. We're very careful about that and we know our growth is sustained by these up-and-coming artists, so we can't look for shortcuts here.
5. Have you been to Scotland or collaborated with Scottish artists?
I've never been to Scotland, unfortunately. One of our producers has and he loves it there. Most of the bands we admire are from the UK so we're always paying attention to whoever reaches Portugal from there. We've worked with Scottish artist Calum Busby and it's been a great experience. He recently travelled to Porto to record with us, so we got a nice taste of what it's like expanding this network beyond borders. Like Calum, we would love to take part in helping other music scenes thrive, even if we need to admire it from afar.
Thank you for joining us on this journey of discovery.
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