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Luana Hits Our Shores For Sound Career

Luana Hits Our Shores For Sound Career

Aug 14 2018
person at audio mixing desk
Luana Moreno

Luana Moreno’s journey in sound has taken her from her hometown, Sao Paulo, Brazil, to cruising the Baltic Coast in Europe, and all the way to Australia. At Melbourne Polytechnic she has developed the practical skills and gained the creative confidence to take her sound production career even further.

Luana’s initial interest in music was as a performer. “When I was eighteen I got to buy my first guitar and start practicing seriously. In 2013-2016 I did a BA in Music, specializing in guitar, in Brazil.” Performance in the studio can be a pathway into production for recording musicians, as it was for Luana. “I had a trio, and we were recording our first demo. I saw the guy who was recording us, and I thought: that doesn’t seem too hard. I could do that. Intersecting with that I met a producer. He showed where he worked, and he was making good money at the time. I thought – I could do that. It seemed easier to make a living as an engineer, than as a musician. I had a pretty stressful job where I spent ten hours a day, and I reached a tipping point. I just quit the job, went to take an audio basics short course, and started in the business.”

From Assistant to Freelancer

Starting as a studio intern, she was recruited by a larger mobile recording production company, Audio Mobile. “They had two live recording units. One was a bus and another one was a truck. They did the broadcast for The Rolling Stones in Copacabana, so that’s how big they are. I started as their studio assistant and I’d been there for roughly one year, and eventually I ended up leaving the mobile studio to freelance.”

Freelancing led to an opportunity in working on a cruise ship, for the Brazilian season on board The Horizon for The Pullmantur Company. “How cruise ships work, well, they cruise around the world following the summer. I was hired for three months only to do the Brazilian coast, but I met the fleet supervisor and he liked my work.” Realising she wanted to visit Europe, some savvy networking resulted in a transfer to another ship, The Empress, cruising the Baltic Coast. “That was a pretty great adventure. I spent six months more on that ship. So roughly almost ten months. Living and working on board. That’s the first time I left Brazil. It just planted a seed – I can live abroad.”

Australia Wins

Luana considered her options for living and studying abroad. “Two places in the world who are more friendly to foreigners at this point in time are Canada and Australia. To be honest, I just didn’t want to go to Canada, because it’s too cold. Australia won by the weather. Which is pretty funny when considering I ended up in Melbourne, but it’s not ten below zero degrees for nine months here. Melbourne is a nice cold; cold enough to be cozy!”

Of all the audio training providers in Australia, Melbourne Polytechnic stood out from the crowd. “I did quite a bit of research. I wanted to study more; the music production course in Brazil – frankly, just as expensive as studying here – I mean in Australia from the Brazilian perspective – and I just got feedback saying the Brazilian course is really not that good. So I did quite a bit of research and Melbourne Polytechnic’s program really struck me as something comprehensive, that would cater both to my musical needs and aspirations, and to the technical side too. A program that has both composition and live mixing. That’s the kind of thing that fits me.”

Creative Confidence Nurtured In Class

Now undertaking her Advanced Diploma of Music Industry (Sound Production), Luana is happy with her choice. “I have to say the program exceeded my expectations in all aspects. Even live sound, where most of my professional experience resides; it was pretty helpful to get here and see how Shane Simmonds referred to things. The lingo is slightly different. The classes that I have with Tamara Partridge, which are arrangement and composition, helped me have more confidence in my creative process. Everything is very practical. You end up with finished products that you can actually upload and share. Just doing that with the support of the teachers and within the program really helped me build my own skills and made me more confident.”

Don’t wait for your career to take off – launch it! Come and grow your career as part of our supportive creative community of students and teachers. If you are ready for a great adventure, contact our International Office or Sound Production team today!