AES Student Blog

Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from and what do you study?

We are Halley Eduardo Jaimes and Nestor Mauricio Santamaria, we are from Colombia and studied at the University of San Buenaventura in Bogotá. We are students of sound engineering and we are about to continue our career. Our passion is music and recording studios.

What initiated your passion for audio? When did it start? 

In our case, we started as musicians, Eduardo as Guitarist and Nestor as bass player, we started to know the audio world from a young age, however, at this time we didin't think we would be part of this beautiful audio world. When we began to study mathematics and physics at the University, it began to be part of our lives that together with music turned the recording studio into our true passion.

Tell us about production of your submission? What is the story behind it? What inspired it? How long did you work on it? Was it your first entry?

Cuarteto bacata is a quartet of traditional andean music from Colombia, conformed by two “bandolas”, one “tiple” and a electric bass guitar. The Goal of the project was to introduce the bandola in different types of andean rhythms, this time they played the rhythm “pasillo”. First we have the “Bandola” that sounds similar to a mandoline. On the other hand we have Colombian “Tiple” that is similar to a twelve Steel string guitar, but it has a brigther sound. With that in mind, the most complex thing was that the instruments are not conventional, which means that we had to find the best way to record them and find the most natural sound of these instruments.

It was a very cloudy and sad day, we really don't know why, but "milagro" it's a melancholic musical piece so the energy at the studio was perfect. We think that in this record is imminent the homesick feeling that the song want to transmit. In our opinion it's a really beautiful piece.

What/who made you join AES?

We joined the AES thanks to our University. We participated in local competitions about a year ago. The benefits of being linked to the AES are great and we are very grateful for the great work they have done.

Tell us about your favourite experiences at the 141st AES convention in LA!

The best thing about the convention was the closeness we had with the most important people in the audio industry, learning from their experiences, listening to their recordings, comparing them and asking about them. We had this same kind of closeness to all the elite audio brands that were part of the commercial convention area. Everything was incredible. Thanks to AES, you guys are the best.