By: Ana Maria Betancourt
Delve into the immersive world of sound design with Felipe Collazos, a sound designer and music engineer who has reshaped the sonic landscapes of commercials, animations, and documentaries alike.
The job of a sound designer, beyond selecting sounds that match the actions of a film’s characters, demands precision and attention to detail. Felipe Collazos ventured into sound design when he was still unsure of his career path, and today, he has worked on numerous productions that have propelled him forward in the industry.
Collazos was born and raised in Bogota, Colombia, where he started to play the bass and decided to pursue a music career in the United States. Freshly graduated from Berklee College of Music, one of the most prestigious music and audio schools in the United States, where he earned a merit scholarship, he decided to try his luck in New York. There, he started at a music studio focused on producing hip-hop artists and gradually delved into the post-production world, where he began to put down his roots.
Initially, he focused on sound design and mixing commercials for renowned brands such as Coca-Cola, ESPN, Polo, Ralph Lauren, Spotify, DKNY, Broadway Shows, Xfinity, and Nike. For Collazos, the challenge of sound designing a commercial lies in the fact that “the vast majority of them don’t last more than 30 seconds, so everything you want to create and include has to fit in there and contribute to making the message direct, concise, and attention-grabbing.”
Every audiovisual product comes with its own set of challenges. Felipe Collazos has become a versatile sound engineer and sound designer by lending his expertise to television commercials, documentaries, films, animated shorts, and concert documentaries.
His first foray into animated products was when he contributed his skills to sound design and mixing for the video A Tour of the Ancient Greek Underworld, a TED-Ed short written by Iseult Gillespie that illustrates the story of Achilles entering the Hades realm. This experience sparked a passion in him that he hadn’t been aware of before: creating a precise sound atmosphere coherent with the narrative thread and the product’s aesthetics, following his instincts and experimenting with the world of available sounds to make an audiovisual product an immersive, realistic, and joyful experience.
As he gained proficiency in animated videos, he had the chance to participate in one of the most ambitious projects of his professional career: Slide, the latest film by the renowned filmmaker Bill Plympton, a two-time Oscar-nominated director. This film has been nominated for six international film awards, including Best Film at the Annecy International Animated Film Awards, the Free Spirit Award at the Warsaw International Film Festival, and the Breakouts Award at the Slamdance Film Festival, among others. One aspect he highlights from his involvement in this production is the constant pursuit of balance in sound to ensure the entire film’s auditory experience is realistic. “Animated projects allow further experimentation, but they’re also challenging because the sounds must complement the visual part of the film without distracting the viewer,” Collazos affirms.
His involvement in historical and musical documentary projects has provided him with a more nuanced understanding of the craft. While working in the sound department for Monumental Artist Den: Ellie Goulding at Kew Gardens UK, a concert documentary of the British artist, he realized that the most crucial aspect of such productions is determining what will take precedence in terms of audio, which entails making significant decisions that will impact the final product. If there are interviews, the focus should be on highlighting the sections where the interviewee speaks to ensure clarity and consistency in the narrative arc being told; if there is music, efforts should be made to ensure it maintains a consistent quality with the other audio elements. This underscores how the craft of sound design allows for subjectivity and the designer’s creativity.
Similarly, being part of the sound department for the documentary High Noon at the Waterfront, which explores the McCarthy-era persecution of artists suspected of being communists, was an opportunity for Collazos to consider the needs of such an audiovisual product. “This documentary required a significant focus on voiceover to generate engagement,” explains Felipe Collazos. When recording the voice of Edward Norton, he and his team had to ensure that the contrast between archival audio and recent voiceovers served a purpose and remained coherent.
Felipe Collazos has distinguished himself with his fresh and innovative approach, making a mark in the post-production industry. His experience across a wide range of productions, creativity, and obsession with precision have been the cornerstones of his professional growth and the characteristics that set him apart as a music engineer and sound designer.
Published by: Khy Talara
