JUNE 2024
Karel Psota is a French-American composer based in Los Angeles. His work has been featured in over 20 trailers, including those for Wonder Woman 1984, The LEGO Movie 2, Invincible, Men in Black, and Pokémon Detective Pikachu.
He has also composed music for RIOT Games, with notable contributions to the Valorant Shattered Cinematic, TFT Vegas Opener, and the Chamber Agent Reveal Trailer.
Outside of composing, Karel is a sound designer for AVA Music Group. His sound design can be found in the INSTINCT, EMINENCE, and QUANTUM trailer sound-effect libraries.
Let’s hear more…
MASA: So, tell us, were you always passionate about music and sound? When did you first pick up an instrument and how did that lead to you ultimately creating epic soundscapes for trailers?
KAREL: I started guitar at 10, mostly to look cool. Things changed 2 years later when I heard “Justice – DANCE”. I got obsessed with how that record sounded. I remember buying the 15 sec ringtone for 2.99 Euros and listening to that loop over and over again. There was something about the glue compression that got me obsessed.
Naturally, that lead me to music production, and I started recording bands, producing EDM and mixing records. Once I reached 18, I decided to move from France to LA.
Turns out, a lot of composers had the same idea. How could I stand out? My plan was to avoid competition with the ‘Zimmer-Williams’ replicas. So, I doubled down on the common composer’s weakness: drum mixing and sound design.
Now, the problem is that when you spend 4 hours on a drum loop, not every industry is going to work out; TV and Film composing was for speedwriters. The only industry that rewarded that level of detail was movie trailers.
After 2 years of constant rejections, I landed my first trailer: LEGO 2. My plan had worked. I removed all the orchestra and let an over-mixed drum loop cut through the noise. That win gave me confidence to pursue my sound.
That piece later got nominated in 2019.
MASA: Yes it did - and the jury thought it was brilliant. You've been involved in many other iconic trailers. Are there any specific projects that stand out for you, where you feel your creative vision was fully realised?
KAREL: Odd Banker – Orch Compression. Simon Pucheu and I spent 1.5 years on the production. It’s also the only song on the EP that wasn’t aiming for sync. It was just a work of passion with no returns expected. We accepted that it was a cursed track.
Of course, the universe had other plans.
Our EP hadn’t even come out when we got a stem request from RIOT Games. They were looking for a French-sounding track for their new VALORANT agent. That’s some 0.01% odds.
Most AAA companies would have referenced the top charts of the country or used a cliché instrument like an accordion. But RIOT made a tasteful move that most suits would have missed - they went for the French micro-sampling compressed sound.
The trailer was a chef’s kiss. RIOT killed it with the animation and sound effects. It’s still the most viewed agent reveal of all time.
The song itself was also quite a success being used in game montages, AMVs, travel videos and animated short films. It’s even become a ‘meme’: some VALORANT players pretend their in-game mic is low, then blast a “deep-fried” version of the beat to troll the voice chat.
It definitely went beyond any vision we had. I now see kids remake the music… and that warms my heart because I was that kid not too long ago.
MASA: Wonderful. And are there any projects that you felt particularly challenged by?
KAREL: Hands down, scoring video game cinematics. I don’t know how Neil Acree (Overwatch) or Blakus (Star Wars Battlefront) do it.
I find that anytime I’m conforming to picture, I get a headache. It’s a puzzle that uses a different part of the brain. Add the revisions and rewrites on top, and you basically have to micromanage your remaining brain cells to meet the deadline.
Bryan Nguyen and I spent 4 months on ‘VALORANT Cinematic 5 Shattered’. 10 to 12 pages of revisions every 10 days. I rewrote the whole score 7 times.
The reward isn’t great either. Unlike trailers where the music is the backbone of the edit, with cinematics you’re writing around the picture, so it’s usually undermixed in the final stages.
In hindsight, the only good thing is the difficulty. That is the reward itself.
MASA: Can you walk us through your typical workflow for composing / sound designing a trailer? How do you approach each project?
KAREL: For sound design, it’s basically like going fishing in your own brain. Some days, I’ll be in a flow state where I can get a chopped potato to sound like an ‘HZ Surdo JXL Mix’. Some days, I’ll spend hundreds of dollars on recording sessions, and can’t get a floor tom to sound like a floor tom.
For trailer music, I start with the drum groove or a signature sound, that’s basically the identity of the track. All the rest is auto-pilot from there: a few Braaaams here, few AVA whoosh-hits there…
I don’t use any template, but I have a lot of custom sounds. I also re-mixed and re-tuned a lot of commercial libraries. Devs should really start tuning their brass.
MASA: How do you strike a balance between creating an impactful soundscape while keeping the focus on the film or game itself?
KAREL: A lot of the time, I’m writing for a pitch without picture. So, it’s in my best interest to write a versatile piece that works for different movies.
The key is to see how it sticks to a broad visual. For instance, I like to take some ‘not really badass’ trailers and play my music under them. Anyone can put their music under Dune 2 and feel good about themselves, but can you tastefully elevate the trailer of Sing 2?
You’ll quickly see that you’re too intense, or the emotions are too nuanced, and you need something simpler.
Most of the brain power is spent simplifying.
MASA: What tools and software do you rely on most heavily?
KAREL: The mute button. It’s such an elegant skill to remove an element and enhance the mix at the same time. As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s wrote:
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
I’ll also cut the fat in the envelope of different sounds. Multiband transient designers and envelope shapers are great for that.
Once everything is surgically clean, almost too empty, I’ll glue everything back together with heavy use of compression.
I mostly use compressors for ‘vibe’. I prefer to feel compression than to think about it. In a way, I do my best to preserve my ignorance as all the artists I love don’t theoretically know what they’re doing.
For non-percussive sounds, I look for tools that create movement. Small amounts of chorus and flanger can make a big difference. I had such an “ah ha” moment when I recreated the ‘Toto – Hold The Line’ piano and bypassed the chorus. I didn’t expect it to make such a difference. Listen HERE
MASA: Can you share an example of a particularly challenging sound design element you created and how you achieved it?
KAREL: I really loved how the toms sounded in Mad Max: Fury Road (like everyone on this planet).
JXL recorded it but I suspect Christian Vorlander is the wizard that processed it; he was Junkie XL’s main assistant during Mad Max/300, and founded 2WEI shortly after.
Many attempts to recreate that sound were made; I tried 3 times over 5 years using sample libraries and recording full drum kits. I never got the dead tuning right, nor the ensemble sound, nor the processing.
Eventually, Tom Holkenborg released the drums with Orchestral Tools, but it didn’t sound the same. It was missing the processing magic.
I decided to continue persisting with my own recordings. Got lost in many mixing fever dreams. Using Pro-MB endlessly on every mic position till I passed out…
Then one day, I went back to a session and thought “Hmmm… that’s not too bad. Let me quickly create a synth layer to fill missing transient information, shift some formants, and add a Pro-R”.
The drums were done.
Then I spent 2 years using it in tracks and adjusting the mixes to be as versatile as possible.
Once I got tired of using it, I rendered the toms as drum loops and released them in the EMINENCE Kontakt instrument. Composers started chopping the drum loops to make single patches. It made me laugh because that’s what I did with JXL loops back in the day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAjRmAZWgZ8
In hindsight, it deviated away from the Mad Max/2WEI sound, but it captured the essence of what people liked about it: the weight, the glue, the punch, and how it sits effortlessly in a mix.
It was a great learning experience!
MASA: The incredible tenacity involved! On to our next question, what are some of the biggest trends you see in trailer music and sound design currently?
KAREL: Obviously covers are here to stay. Nostalgia and brand recognition have too much influence in a focus group.
Production-wise, once the plague of neo-classical and KF synth-bend-clock-loops is over, we might see more vocals used in abstract ways. I heard a few cool trailers that really grab your attention with strange vocal sounds. Dune 2’s opening scene “Power over spice is power over all” could set a trend.
MASA: How does your work as a composer and sound designer complement the work of the film or game's original score and sound design?
KAREL: Since they’re completely different departments, I’m assuming that trailers have zero influence on the official score. However, some trailer pieces are so good that they get attached to the film regardless.
Bryan Nguyen’s cover of ‘Imagination’ for ‘Ready Player One’s’ trailer made it to the official soundtrack.
Thomas Bergersen’s ‘Final Frontier’ track is now associated with ‘Interstellar’ forever.
Mark Petrie’s ‘Red Shift’ is echoed in Goransson’s score for ‘Venom’.
Phil Lober’s ‘Sidewinder’ fooled the trailer’s comment section into thinking that it was ‘Aquaman’s’ theme.
MASA: And lastly, what will you be looking for when judging? What makes a piece of work worthy of a Music+Sound Award?
KAREL: Custom sound design, and bold mixing choices will be double points.
Above all, I’ll be looking for pieces that generate a strong emotional response. Something so strong, that it bypasses my analytical brain. Something where the ‘mistakes’ feel genius. Something I’ll want to download to selfishly study later.
MASA: What an incredibly insightful chat, Karel. Thank you for sharing so much. Having your talent and judgement on the MASA judging panel is priceless to us 🙏
Visit Karel’s site HERE
AVA Music Group HERE
