Humberto Gatica

Humberto Gatica is a Chilean-born American recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer, best known for his work with Celine Dion, Chicago, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, Cher and Michael Bublé.

Gatica's international collaborations include producing artists singing in over six languages.

Gatica's career is highlighted by humanitarian projects including We Are the World, We Are The World 25 for Haiti, Hands Across America and Voces Unidas Por Chile.

He has received 17 Grammy Awards and 24 nominations.

Gatica was born in Rancagua, Chile in a musical family.

His grandparents owned a bar in Rancagua where they played the piano and the harp.

His uncles Arturo, Orlando, María and Lucho Gatica were singers.

Lucho Gatica is widely known in Latin America as the “King of Bolero”.

At age 9, Gatica's father died of an illness and his mother had to travel to the United States to look for employment.

He moved in with his grandmother.

Passionate about music, he taught himself to play the guitar at age 13.

He describes that he particularly liked how the bathroom at his grandmother's house resonated when he played the guitar.

At age 16, after the death of his grandmother, Gatica decided to leave Chile.

His Aunt Yolanda gave him the equivalent of 20 dollars.

He gathered enough money to fly to Mexico City and then took a bus to Los Angeles.

He reunited with his mother and younger brother and started working at a warehouse during the day and in a parking lot at night.

Four years later, in 1972, while Lucho Gatica was in Los Angeles, he called his nephew Humberto asking him to meet at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Lucho Gatica asked Humberto to take him to MGM Recording Studio.

Two months later, Humberto was invited to a recording session with Sammy Davis Jr., an artist he used to listen to with his grandmother in Rancagua.

Gatica describes this experience:

"“From that moment on I was completely in love with the whole world of recording. The studio manager allowed me to become an intern and I did everything from cleaning to changing lightbulbs”."

- Humberto Gatica

Gatica gradually became an assistant engineer at MGM.

In 1973, the recording engineer for a session with producer Don Costa was ill.

Too late to cancel the session, Costa decided to “take his chances with the kid” and gave Gatica the opportunity of engineering the big band session with 40 people.

He continued engineering for Costa afterwards.

When MGM Recording Studio was sold a year later, Gatica was laid off.

He became a freelance engineer and started working with producers David Foster and Quincy Jones alongside engineer Bruce Swedien.

Gatica was once spotted at Sunset Sound studios in Hollywood engineering three sessions at the same time for Kenny Rogers, Kenny Loggins and Chicago.

In 1974, Gatica engineered the album “Elis & Tom” by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Elis Regina.

His work with Brazilian artists also includes Djavan's “A Voz, O Violão, A Música de Djavan” and “Lilas” albums, Paulinho Da Costa's “Agora”, Gilberto Gil's “Realce” and “Luar (A Gente Precisa Ver o Luar)” and Simone's “La Distancia”.

Gatica started collaborating with producer David Foster in the late 70s.

Spanning over 25 years, they produced multi-platinum albums and singles including Chicago's Chicago 17 album, Celine Dion's “My Heart Will Go On”, Josh Groban's “Noël”, Michael Bublé's “Crazy Love” and Andrea Bocelli's “The Prayer”.

Foster describes his workflow with Gatica in an interview from 1984:

"“Hum is becoming a co-producer. It’s not even that he learned it from me; we’ve learned from each other. (…) When Hum’s in the studio with me, he’s working with me, not for me.

As I’m about to reach to turn up the vocals just a little bit more, he does it.

Or about to turn up the Rhodes a little bit more in the (head)phones because the singer is singing a little out of tune, he does it… with no communications”."

- David Foster

Gatica shares his point of view:

"“I have been absorbing the way David produces. I admire what he does, so it is easy for me to put my feelings into the creative circumstance.”"