In less than two years since he graduated from the Sound Design for Visual Media program at VFS, Eduardo Castillo has established himself as a pro sound designer, racking up credits on ads for Doritos, Corona, and even the Singaporean Army (when they give a note on your work, you take it) through his employer, Prado Sur Audio in Mexico City. He recently talked to us about how he got started on this career path, and his passion for sound that keeps him going.

Update! We’ve just received word that Eduardo’s earned his first dialogue editing gig for a movie called Labios Rojos which should be hitting theatres later this year. Congrats!

Q: Hi, Eduardo. Thanks for answering some questions for us. Could you begin by talking about what drew you to designing sound?

A: At the beginning, it was all about the music for me. I started listening to a genre called Psychedelic Trance, which is a combination of electronic music with lots of sound design, and that got me into making my own sounds using synths. I think I like this genre because the speaker is always filled with the whole frequency range – it is a very full sound. I try to apply that into my sound designs. Then, I started to pay more attention to the way everything sounded whenever I went to the movies, especially in horror films where the sound design complements the music and vice versa. Sometimes I even lost the plot because of that. I realized that was what I wanted to do, and after some time of searching for schools, I realized VFS was the best option.

Q: Since you graduated, you’ve landed contracts for pretty big companies like GMC, Corona, and Doritos. What’s it like working on such a large scale?

A: It´s awesome. I am very lucky to be working in one of the best audio post studios in Mexico. I´m very thankful for all the help I received from my teachers at VFS. I think it´s a big responsibility and I feel very proud, especially when you see the commercial you sound designed at the movies. I used to arrive late whenever I went to the cinema, especially here in Mexico where there´s almost like 15 minutes of commercials before the movie starts. Now, I try to arrive as early as possible.

Q: How did you get involved with mixing/sound designing a TV Spot for the Singaporean army?

A: There´s a lot of talent in Mexico when it comes to directing. A Mexican director named Hari Sama got the gig. Obviously these commercials need sound, so he called Rodrigo Barberá – my boss – who assigned the job to me. This kind of commercial requires you to be very fast.  I had only three days to hand in the whole thing, so it was kind of stressful. But at the end the client liked it, and everyone was happy with the way it turned out, so I was excited.

Q: It seems like almost all of your recent work has been in advertising. What do you like about this kind of work?

A: I guess, the best thing about it is that all the TV spots you do get a lot of distribution, so lots of people get to see your work, and that´s rewarding for me. The thing that I don´t like about it, is that sometimes you don´t have much input on the way the final sound turns out. I mean, most of the time there´s talent in the agencies, but at the end it all depends on the client´s opinion. Sometimes, the client is like 60 years old and doesn´t have any clue whatsoever on how the sound is supposed to be heard, so he ends up asking for something that´s already been made a million times. That´s kind of boring, but I guess you always have to find a way to sell your idea to the clients. What I tend to do is first show the client what he wants to hear, so he trusts you, and then I show him my version of it, which sometimes works.

Q: Was it difficult to find work in Mexico once you returned from studying at VFS?

A: Not at all, actually. I was very lucky. My boss sent an e-mail to VFS saying they needed a new sound designer, so that´s how I found out they where looking for someone in Mexico City.  I sent my resume and they sent me two Corona commercials without any audio so I could do my own sound design and send it back. The next day I got a call from them asking me for an interview.  I was there the day after that, and that´s how I got hired. Having studied at VFS was the key to get the job.

Q: What do you think you’d be doing in life if you didn’t make the choice to come study here?

A:  I work as a DJ on the weekends as well, which always helps with rent, but I think I ´d be a musician. I have studied music my whole life and my ears are my main instrument, I can’t imagine myself doing something else.

Q: What projects are you currently working on? What’s coming up for you?

A: Every week I get different projects which last only a day or so, but the main one is the Corona campaign. There are like five of them in 5.1 [surround sound] which I´m really enjoying working on, because we gave them the idea of having sounds that didn´t have anything to do with what was going on in the picture but always synced to picture. I can´t really talk much about them though.

What I´m trying to do is get more into movies. I have some good contacts right now, and in Mexico, almost all audio post work is made by studios who hire freelance sound editors, and they have their house mixer who mixes everything of course. So just three weeks from now I’ll get in contact with them, and we´ll see what happens. Hopefully something good. My plan at the moment is to keep working where I´m at, and working my way up in the film industry.

Not a bad plan, Eduardo. Thanks, and good luck!

Watch (and listen to) Eduardo’s work in the Singaporean Army’s “The Steel Within” ad here.