New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Classical musician
Ramon Figueras recently used a DPA d:vote 4099T Instrument Microphone for Trumpet to record audio for an unusual video project that highlights the variety and diversity of his life as a professional trumpeter.
Entitled My Day, the video features multiple screens showing Figueras playing many different styles of music, from classical to Balkan, folk, jazz and Latin - and with a bit of improvisation thrown in for good measure. Figueras changes his clothes to suit the style of music being played and to give the viewer a feel of how varied a normal day in his life can be.
"I have always studied classical music but since I was 15, I have been 'sharing' my trumpet with many styles and bands," he explains. "My life has been - and is - divided in different music styles and profiles. All of them have the trumpet in common and myself as a performer, so I wanted to make a video that showed something of this divided feeling and how I live the life that I love."
Figueras invested in his own d:vote™ 4099T Instrument Microphone for Trumpet after being introduced to it by
Daniel Lazar, the violin player with The Kuraybers, a world music band from Oslo in which Figueras plays trumpet.
"Daniel told me how happy he was with its sound and as he is a great musician - and someone whose opinion I respect - I had to try it," he explains, "I used it during a soundcheck and was very impressed. It really was a 'wow' sensation. I had played with many clip microphones in the past but the d:vote™ 4099T was easily the best, so I bought one for myself."
A key advantage of the d:vote™ 4099T is the ease with which Figueras can attach it to his trumpet using the dedicated trumpet clip.
"The clip is very easy to use and very gentle on the instrument," he says. "I also really like the microphone's clear sound, transparency and versatility. I have used it to record guitar, trumpet, voice, drum set, piccolo trumpet and trumpet with different mutes, and I have always obtained a satisfying result. Even after many tours, gigs and trips, it still works as well as it did the first day I got it, and during that time the sound engineers I have worked with have always been very happy with my choice of microphone."
Originally from Terrassa in Spain, Figueras studied classical and contemporary music performance at ESMUC in Barcelona and obtained a Master's Degree at NMH (Norges Musikkhøgskole) in Norway. Known for his vitality and versatility on stage,
Ramon has played with folk and jazz ensembles, pop, blues, funk and ska bands, as well as with big bands, on comedy shows and in musicals. He has also participated in more than 30 studio and live recordings and in 45 TV show episodes (Stjernekamp 2 on NRK in Norway and La Partida de TV3 on TV3 in Barcelona).
He now lives and works in Scandinavia where he holds the associate principal trumpet position at Wermland Opera in Karlstad, Sweden. He combines this job with two other main projects: The Kuraybers and Doctor Prats, a pop band from Barcelona that has now released two albums.
"A normal day for me can start with a morning of rehearsals with the orchestra and finish with a recording session for one of my other projects," he says. "Capturing this diversity is what My Day is all about. I began the project by first composing the whole tune and then recording it using my d:vote™ 4099T. The music has many tracks and layers so I recorded it trumpet by trumpet and then mixed it. Once it was mixed, my girlfriend Sara Bretones filmed the music video using nothing more than a tripod phone holder and an iPhone."
Figueras is not alone in preferring DPA - all of the string players in the Wermland Opera use d:vote™ Instrument Microphones. Recently he has also been experimenting with DPA d:dicate™ 4011A recording microphones, using them in various studios including NOTAM in Oslo where he worked with The Kuraybers.
Since completing My Day, Figueras has started his own YouTube channel where he shares music-entertainment videos. His latest video, which also features his d:vote™ microphone, is entitled Trumpet Meets Electric Guitar.
"I'm currently playing with the Wermland Opera orchestra and preparing new material for my channel," he says. "I will soon release a collection of videos called
Ramon & Friends, where I play some of my new tunes with good friends and awesome musicians who have recorded their parts in many different countries including Spain, Norway, Poland and Argentina."
Figueras will be touring over the summer with Doctor Prats and appearing for the second time as a solo artist at the Nesset Musikkfest in Norway. He also has some festival appearances lined up with The Kuraybers.
-ends-
My Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur06nkV_u04
Trumpet Meets Electric Guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ER_RsaHCUc
The Kuraybers: https://youtu.be/xyuu7Xc7bGI?t=3m14s
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