Colette Huemer: “Without Artists, This Whole Thing Falls Apart”

Sometimes, in a career, you can just get it right. Speaking to Mophonics Austin's EP Colette Huemer, it’s easy to get the impression that this is precisely what happened to her eighteen years ago. 

With her Mophonics story having begun in 2005, Colette has recently embarked upon a new chapter within it: Leading the charge for the studio’s presence in the burgeoning creative hub of Austin, Texas. Following the buzz from SXSW, her attention has now turned to bringing the same reputation for sonic excellence that’s seen Mophonics thrive in Los Angeles and New York to Austin. 

Along the way, Colette plans to unearth more outstanding musical talent and create more iconic campaigns. To find out how she plans to do that - and reflect on her story so far - LBB sat down with Mophonics Austin’s EP…

LBB> Colette, let’s start by winding the clock right back - what kind of a kid were you growing up? 

Colette> My sister and I are first generation Americans (our parents are Austrian), and we moved around a lot as kids, living in the hotels that my father ran. 

I was the younger, right-brain instinctual one that loved travel and being the new kid at school.  The “rebellious” teacher's pet, voted most friendliest - and ironically best dressed - and vegetarian and animal activist way before it became on-trend! But I had my share of visits to the principal's office, mostly for breaking the dress code. 

LBB> And when did you first know that a career in music and sound would be right for you?

Colette> My career in music only makes sense in hindsight. I was always drawn to the music scene, and saw a lot of my friends become successful early on.  My first job out of college was for the band Creed doing graphic design, which I’d studied in college. My sister at the time was living in L.A. doing A&R for Tom Shadyac’s Sub label at Universal and I remember her trying to convince them to sign David Gray before anyone knew who he was. I thought it was the coolest career to discover bands and listen to music all day long.  I ended up following her to L.A., got into the punk scene and then I stumbled upon Mophonics through a friend. Once I joined Mophonics I felt like I had a home to start putting some of my innate skills to use.

LBB> Looking back on your career so far, is there a particular project which stands out as especially significant to you? If so, why?

Colette> There are hundreds of spots I’ve touched throughout the years, but one that jumps out was the Delta 2028 Olympic and Paralympic unveiling announcement in LA in 2020. 

Above: Mophonics’ awesome work for Delta Airlines, tied into the Olympics and Paralympics heading to LA in 2028, was projected onto the Griffith Observatory building in an iconic moment in 2020. 

It was March 2020,  just a week or two before the pandemic. We were working with our director friend Ben Tricklebank who always does super interesting experiential work. 

I pulled this gorgeous orchestral track by one of our composers, and my ECD Steph Altman got into the session and the stems. He dissected the DNA and stretched the piece to work against a 20-minute film that was projected onto the entire exterior of the Griffith Observatory building.  

It was a magical evening. And then the world shut down.

LBB> You’ve been part of the Mophonics team for eighteen years and counting. What have been the biggest changes you’ve seen during that time?

Colette> When I started at Mopho we were in this great old building behind Abbot Kinney in Venice, where they stored the gondolas when it was all canals. There was no AC upstairs where my desk was! We had a music library of a few hundred tracks and Steph and Shelley Altman [now ECD and head of production, respectively] and Josh Marcy and I would sit and discuss endlessly which five tracks we’d present, sometimes until 2am and I’d crash on the couch. 

At that time, all the work was with massive agencies. And almost all the artists from the music industry that I was coming from were still really reluctant to “sell out” and do ad work!

But now we’re doing a ton of direct-to-brand work, labels and publishers are of course falling over themselves to get songs in ads. Josh is now the music director at Media Arts Lab, we have a huge team with a gorgeous rooftop space in NY, a massive 10,000 sq ft space in Culver City, and I’m now out in Austin. It’s all pretty wild.

LBB> On which note, how have you been finding the move over to Austin - and what’s exciting you most about your new role? 

Colette> The move has been energizing after those two years of such uncertainty.  I honestly didn’t know what to expect, but I felt like Austin was on the rise and was poised to become a middle ground between LA and NY.  A lot of industry friends moved here during the pandemic mass exodus from LA, NY and Chicago and I’m excited to see how the new mix of people can foster the already booming Austin scene.

The community here is amazing, I can’t overstate that enough. People are just so friendly and really welcoming, and I get to be the new kid again.  

LBB> It says a lot about Mophonics that you’ve been part of the team for such a long (and growing) span of time. Would you say that Mophonics has an overriding ‘philosophy’ as a studio? If so, how would you describe it?

Colette> My own philosophy has always been being completely transparent and honest with the composers we work with - that’s so important to me. I really care about the artists, because without them this whole thing falls apart. My early days were spent around bands and artists, and my LA colleagues - Steph and Casey and Mike, are all guys who would have been artists in the record industry a generation ago. So it’s part of our DNA to look out for our creative brothers and sisters! 

Consequently I believe we’re known by many in the composer community to be very fair people to work with, and I’m proud of that.

Apart from that, we have a simple principle that drives us: we always want to crush our presentations so hard that we make our clients look great to their bosses or their clients. If you can pull that trick, you will be successful, and your clients will keep coming back. That means having huge creative stamina to keep going till you’ve found the solution, and keep delivering at the highest standards. We all really care about what we do, and we keep going until we’ve cracked it.

LBB> I understand that you’ve been involved in finding some of the best talent that Mophonics has worked alongside over the years. So, what’s the secret to finding great musical talent?

Colette> We’ve been blessed to have some very special creative talent come through our ranks - some stay for a year or two, and some stay for a decade - but the truth is we can always spot the special ones. When you hear a great song, or a great voice, or great score, you know for sure there’s talent. Then it’s about how and if you can develop that talent. 

I’m really proud of how we’ve nurtured them all. For me I’d say it’s mostly intuition coupled with how I understand music. But mostly it’s about feelings, and good production. I know what I like. 

LBB> And how have you been keeping up that search now that you’re in Texas?

Colette>  That’s easy to do when living in the best live music city in the world, even outside  of SXSW.  Austin is a conveyor belt of great bands with over 250 venues so you can roll a dice on any given night and see a good show. 

I’ve also been fortunate to connect with composer Graham Reynolds whose work extends out beyond his famous film work with (also-Austin) Richard Linklater.  Seeing his influence here is stamped in my head, and many more to come I’m sure.

The best part is I get to be the finger on the pulse for Mophonics out here and tap into the talent while still digesting the newsletters from my favorite pub/labels that haven’t included Austin shows yet.. ahem. 

LBB> Finally, imagine you had a time machine and the ability to go back and give yourself one piece of advice at the start of your Mophonics career. What would you say, and why?

Colette> I’m constantly trying to practice mindfulness through all life’s ebbs and flows. I’m human and make mistakes, which is okay.  But I’d tell myself to stress less, always trust my instincts and to not to take things so seriously - we’re not saving lives here.

But music is the universal language, sometimes what we do can have a positive effect, even in a small way, and that makes me happy. And to keep breaking the rules, because that leads to the best stuff.