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"Sound as a Passion"
By Luís Gustavo Martins*
I was coming up to my sixteenth birthday, at the peak of adolescence, when one day my father confronted me in a concerned tone, “why haven’t you asked me for a motorbike yet?! Your cousin won’t leave your uncle alone about getting one…”.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am seriously crazy (and was at the time) about anything with an engine and speed (but preferably the four-wheeled variety – probably because I grew up hearing my Grandfather say “a donkey that can’t stand up on its own is not worth anything”).
However, the truth is that when I was given the opportunity to attend a music school and I was put in front of a keyboard (a CASIOtone 401 if my memory serves me) my curiosity and interest began to develop for anything electronic that made music or sound (“music” in the loosest sense of the word).
It didn’t take my father long to realise that despite “electronic music” being a hobby that couldn’t be compared with the risks involved in giving a hormone charged pre-pubescent boy something with an engine (to my mother’s relief), it wasn’t going to be any lighter on the pocket (“toys” of that type were not cheap). It wasn’t going to be easy on the ears either (I believe may be to blame for my father now being almost deaf). My parents were even more concerned about exactly what career path I was going to follow if I carried on with my obsession for electro acoustics.
But my obsession with sound grew and it turned into something more sophisticated. One day when I was still a young boy I came pretty close to being banned from a shop in Porto that sold Japanese synthesizers because I wanted someone to explain to me the history of the FM synthesis in the DX7 (big news at the beginning of the 80s). I still think today that the shop owner must have said to my father, “it’s not normal for a boy of my age to ask that type of question”, “buy him a motorbike and he’ll get over it!”
I don’t know for sure even today if this was the catalyst that helped me choose my course. For the sake of the story, I like to think so. What is true is that the lack of answers and my curiosity for sound (electronic sound in particular) led me to go on the hunt for knowledge in that area.
The question was, “what do you want to be when you grow up?”.
My family hadn’t been very enthusiastic when I stated that I wanted to be a racing car driver, so I realised I had to find another dream. “You want to be a sound engineer? How are you going to study for that?”. As a young boy in Portugal at the end of the 80s, the answer to this question was not easy but taking a Professional Technical course in Electronics seemed to be a step in the right direction. I knew for sure I was on the right track when I took a module in “Radio and Television” with something similar to FM Modulation. And after another module in Digital Systems, it finally became clear to me how sound could be produced with ones and zeros.
My interest in learning more about electronics led me to apply for a course in Electrical and Computer Engineering at FEUP at the beginning of the 90s and this decided my future career. Relieved and in full support of my choice, my parents stated, “at least you’ll have lots of options when you finish...”.
In the middle of my five years of modules on electrical devices, industrial automation, communication protocols and all sorts of others (I now understand their propaedeutic value), I encountered an oasis of Circuits and Systems, Signal Processing and Digital Systems. We didn’t talk about sound exactly but any hint at sine waves, filters, spectrums etc., caused undecipherable nightmares for the majority of my colleagues but for me it was brilliant.
But as my course drew to a close, I began to think that my future profession was not going to incorporate my passion for electronic sound (at least not in Portugal). Then came the day when I had to choose my final project and on the list there was one in particular that stood out (maybe my memory is playing tricks on me but I remember seeing it on the Department Board flashing at me in neon lights): “20 band Digital Audio Equalizer, Prof. A. Pimenta Alves, Prof. Aníbal Ferreira - INESC (Norte)."
It was fate, I was in the right place at the right time and I had the right training (I hoped) to grab the challenge. I was happy to be selected and that was how I first came into contact with INESC (still called INESC Norte and not yet INESC Porto). I had a whole year of intense training but it was very exciting (working with two colleagues and friends) and I could not believe my luck (I don’t think there had been many offers for final projects in this area at FEUP, just a few in speech or audio amplifiers).
But there was still a shadow hanging over my future. My final year project was coming to an end and I started going to job interviews (back then they came in truck loads). None of the offers were particularly interesting, I lost count of the amount of times that they tried to convince me that “A sales technician is an interesting area with a future…” during an interview (I don’t doubt that it is). The most interesting offer was to join the telecommunications department of a large company in Portugal based in Lisbon with R&D laboratories in Aveiro. I would be looking into communications protocols for mobile networks (they were still quite new then). The salary was very generous for a graduate (even today) and I was tempted to sell my soul and accept that in Portugal there was no place for a sound engineer. Maybe one day, who knows?
"You’ve got mail"
I had handed in my final project (with success) and I had my diploma in my hand; it was time to pick my job. After various interviews, I was days away from going to Lisbon to make my final decision about my career. At that moment I got an email (still new at the time) “FROM: palves@inescn.pt; CC:ajf@inescn.pt; SUBJECT: Creation of Audio Group at INESC".
It was an invitation for a research grant at INESC to work with the new Audio group at the Telecommunications and Multimedia Unit (UTM). It was an unbelievable opportunity, again I was in right place at the right time (I wasn’t looking forward to moving to Lisbon or even Aveiro, despite being from Sever do Vouga, I had been in Porto for 10 years). The choice was easy, I cancelled my interview in Lisbon.
So that was how in 1997 I proudly and enthusiastically joined the Audio group at the Telecommunications and Multimedia Unit as a research grant holder. Over my 14 years at INESC I developed professionally and personally under the watch of great professors, such as Prof. Aníbal Ferreira, Prof. Pimenta Alves, Prof. Pedro Guedes de Oliveira and Prof. José Ruela and with great colleagues that became great friends.
INESC Porto gave me the opportunity to work in the area that is my true passion and there were many more opportunities throughout my time at the institute.
Today I will officially leave INESC Porto. But my real link to this institute is unbreakable; we share a great part of our past and I simply cannot thank them enough.
I remember my father, like any father he was genuinely worried about the future of his son. At the time he said to my mother, “See, didn’t I tell you? I should have given him a motorbike when he was little! But no, he had to go for the synthesizer…giving up a salary like that for a grant…stubborn boy!”.
I was definitely blessed with luck but I was also guided by my passion for sound and I can’t thank my parents enough for all of their support as I went searching for my true vocation (although I still like to think that I gave up a successful career in racing ;)). Both INESC and my parents were fundamental in this journey and without them it would not have been possible.
* Ex-Collaborator at the Telecommunications and Multimedia Unit (UTM)
