Product Designer Bernardo Mas, Otis College Alumni, is a Spanish/Brazilian, producer, musician and classic cars aficionado that devoted his life to make things look and work better.

My name is Bernardo Mas and I’m a product designer, born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I come from a Spanish/Portuguese family and that should have took me straight to the kitchen, were my family is specialized on, but no, I wanted to figure out music since my dad used to play the Beatles during the day and Simon & Garfunkel at night on his acoustic guitar. I wanted to feel the goose bumps and emotion over and over again that music prompted in my body. I started learning the guitar at 13 years old which lead me up to school bands and DJaying playground parties at the age of 14. That was the 80’s and since then I didn’t stop collecting records and listening to music. Yea, I’m older which gives me the privilege to say that I was there at Rock in Rio 1987 singing “love of my life” with Freddie Mercury on my dads shoulder. Music is magical and I kept trying to decipher why such a thing would change my mood, would make me cry or simply drive faster!

 

It was the 90’s now and my friends were buying their first cars. Guess what? I instantly started installing CD’s, amplifiers and huge subwoofers for all of them in my garage! That was the beginning of my audio adventure since I was reading all kinds of American audio magazines I could get a hold of. I had my own shop by now and started competing on IASCA (International Auto Sound Challenge Association) and USAC (United States Autosound Competition). I really loved the possibility to make speakers sound good in a horrible environment, an automobile and that helped me a lot to develop good ears to try and get a soundstage inside of a car. My shop became an instant reference in Rio and I was suddenly installing home theaters and audio systems on Yaychs as well. I became a Brazilian car audio champion around mid 90’s and an IASCA judge for audio installation at the same time.

 

On my mid twenties now I was in a band which later on would have some success and teach me good life lessons! I started composing, singing, performing, rehearsing, touring, arranging, recording and producing. I don’t think I have to say those were great years, more like a decade and we performed with big names from the independent 2000’s ska, punk, hard-core scene.

 

At some point, things got a little “repetitive”. I was playing with the band, helping at the family business and decided to go back to my design school, the one I dropped off cause I didn’t have much time to dedicate to it, just to hear one of my teachers telling me about great design schools in Los Angeles, in case I wanted to take my skills to the next level. I moved here in 2011 and felt in love with everything LA. Not only the music scene, design, art galleries, skate board, car culture and everything I always loved was just happening right in front of my eyes.

 

I’m still here 11 years later, with a product design degree from Otis College of Art and Design, a head full of ideas and a lot of passion to share with whoever wants to embark on my audio venture.