We recently connected with Gabriel Rivas and have shared our conversation below.
Gabriel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
It is quite a story, actually. I came to the US to study music mixing in college, and I ended up falling for audio editing for movies. It was through my roommate, who at that time was studying for an MFA in film production, that I was introduced to her professor, who turned out to be a re-recording mixer at my college’s dub stage. His name is Dave. I was not entirely sure what audio post was, but I asked him if I could “shadow” him while he mixed. He let me, and I started to go and ask him every single time. I learned some audio mixing skills, hardware shortcuts, and how to use the Avid S6 console.
In addition to that, I have a friend who helped me out since he was heading in the same direction as me. I took my college courses in audio post, started watching some videos on YouTube, and got in touch with professionals in the field. I would have wanted to get into audio post earlier in my studies, but I think I have managed to make up for “lost” time.
From my point of view, there are some skills that would help you get wherever you want: patience, problem-solving, enthusiasm, passion, and an open mind for all the positions and variety that exist in audio post.
I wouldn’t say there are obstacles out there; you just have to learn how to manage your time to be able to study, practice, and act—of course, without neglecting your personal life. That being said, time management is very hard to acquire since there is so much knowledge out there being thrown at you at once, and you might not know how to react or process it. But as long as you remain steady and open to techniques, ways to do things, and feedback, everything will be good. At least, that is what has been working out for me so far.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Gabriel Rivas, and I am a Peruvian sound engineer and musician. I moved to the USA to study recording arts at Full Sail University in Orlando, FL (but I never thought I would be related to film at all). I have realized at this point that most people in the audio post industry have either started with or just have a passion for music.
As I mentioned before, my path into the audio post-production world started in college. I was introduced to it by a roommate who was studying film at the time. She thought it would be a good idea for me to try something different apart from music. Eventually, I started to get more into it until I was fully committed. I began by offering my help to students and eventually to indie projects. I would get gigs and start making connections. I also made a lot of reels or found broken audio and cleaned it to have examples of what I do.
I have had the privilege of working in all areas of audio post-production, developing and improving skills in each area: ADR, sound effects, dialogue editing, mixing, etc. I consider it very important to get hands-on experience in everything related to audio post-production so you can have insight into everything before deciding which path(s) to follow. In my case, I have found dialogue editing to be my “thing.” It is where I have spent most of my time executing and getting better at it through actual hands-on experience. My job consists of taking the production audio and enhancing the dialogue quality in reference to the noise floor, making it more understandable (audible), removing undesirable elements, and making it stand out from the background. If I do my job right, you won’t notice any fade between the dialogues or changes in room tone between takes. In other words, you will think that it sounded like that when it came from the production.
I feel that everyone has to be confident in their skills, knowing, of course, that they don’t know everything and that learning is an endless path, which is exciting to think about. In my case, I have trained myself in a way that my creative and technical sides work together always for the sake of making the audio understandable and intelligible. I guess you develop these skills when the budget of the project is tight or there is no budget at all, and you just have to make it sound right.
It makes us proud and it is always great to hear positive feedback from clients, such as: “the dialogues are so clear,” “the sound editing and sound design are perfect, on spot,” or “the mix blends perfectly,” etc. But I think constructive criticism, even alongside positive feedback, creates room for improvement and extends your insight on the subject.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
When I first started offering my services, I would reach out to some fellow filmmaker friends to ask about any gigs or shoots they had and, if possible, to mention my name for sound editing. Later on, once I had a more substantial portfolio, I began using websites like Fiverr, Upwork, and Backstage (the latter being the most efficient but also the most competitive). On these platforms, you essentially apply to jobs posted by people looking for services such as sound, music, and editing, among others. Recently, I have been directly reaching out to movie accounts on Instagram (it’s great that people now create accounts for everything), so I can have direct contact with them. They usually ask me to send a formal email with reels, a portfolio link, and/or a resume.
Another useful approach is to be on set and try to network. For example, by working as a PA, boom operator, or sound mixer (I figured it should be something related to sound, but it can be any production role that might be beneficial).
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
When I first started, I was advised to fill my schedule with gigs, to stay as busy as possible, and to do my best on all of them to build my portfolio. The problem is that it doesn’t really work that way, at least for me. I couldn’t expect someone to do their best on a project while handling three others at the same time. I believe that at the beginning, it’s okay to take on multiple projects to gain experience. However, at some point, you need to meet and exceed the expectations of the level you’re at.
So, to recap: quality over quantity. Maximize your skills on a project and make your name stand out along with it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gabrielrivasaudioworks.com/audio-editing
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabrielrivasaudio/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielrivasaudio/