les. (2014-2016)
les. (Laboratorio de Experimentación Sónica - Sonic Experimentation Lab) was an itinerant recording studio founded at El Sótano, a 19th-century house located in the heart of San José, Costa Rica—also home to the city’s iconic and culturally vital jazz club.
Conceived by Tomás de Camino and Bernal Chaves, les. emerged as a collaborative venture between producer and audio engineer, dedicated to recording live sessions and capturing the unaltered acoustics of the house’s various rooms. The project’s central idea was to create a vibrant sonic laboratory—a resonant space where a local scene could thrive, while preserving ephemeral musical moments as unique sound postcards.
Over its active years, Bernal recorded more than 80 independent bands at les., including a live-acoustic EP by Latin Grammy-nominated Chilean artist Camila Moreno, and multiple projects for renowned Costa Rican composer and musicologist, Susan Campos.
