Thinking in Sound: Working Fast and Instinctively with Raphaël Ajuelos

Raphaël Ajuelos is an award-winning sound designer, mixer, composer and founder of next-generation sound studio, Concret Form.

Raphaël has a storied history of developing immersive and dynamic sound design to brand filmmakers globally, having worked with Rimowa, Google, Spotify, Nike and more. 

LBB> When you’re working on a new brief or project, what’s your typical starting point? How do you break it down and how do you like to generate your ideas or response?

Raphaël> I like to work fast and instinctively, in a non-linear way, so after chatting with the creative team and aligning on the direction, I like to get started as soon as possible, exchanging ideas with the team and letting inspiration flow freely. I begin each project with the parts that inspire me the most. Then someone from my team takes care of the foley and I take care of the design and mixing. If it’s for a music project, I’ll either compose the track, or work closely with a composer until the right tone is found. 

LBB> Music and sound are in some ways the most collaborative and interactive forms of creativity - what are your thoughts on this? Do you prefer to work solo or with a gang - and what are some of your most memorable professional collaborations?

Raphaël> For music creation, I love the idea of collaborating with my team and exchanging ideas. Like most popular music is made nowadays, collaboration is a good way to push the boundaries of creativity.

I have some memorable moments that come to mind with some of the SNL musical guests from my time at the show, but my number one memorable collaboration is hands down that day I was lucky enough to be personally invited by Jimmy Lovine to spend the day with him and his director in his LA studio, to mix a film he was producing. 

LBB> What’s the most satisfying part of your job and why?

Raphaël> I love when I’m fully locked in on the same vision and direction for a project with someone I’m collaborating with. This is usually a recurring director, CD or editor. It’s almost telepathic. 

It’s also amazing to see projects I have worked on in the past referenced in treatments and creative decks for upcoming projects. It makes me feel proud!

Lastly, it always feels special getting to collaborate with people I have come up in the industry with. I love to see us all growing together in our respective fields.

LBB> When it comes to your particular field, whether sound design or composing, are there any particular ideas or pioneers that you go back to frequently or who really influence your thinking about the work you do?

Raphaël> I’m constantly inspired by the Musique Concrète movement that emerged in France in the 1940s. Musique Concrète is all about using real life, raw recordings and creatively manipulating them into expressive, elevated, and emotionally packed sounds. It’s a form of music, which basically set the foundation for sampling that we see in most modern music today. 

LBB> I guess the quality of the listening experience and the context that audiences listen to music/sound in has changed over the years. There’s the switch from analogue to digital and now we seem to be divided between bad-ass surround-sound immersive experiences and on-the-go, low quality sound (often the audio is competing with a million other distractions) - how does that factor into how you approach your work?

Raphaël> I’m not too worried about that. I think it’s also a generational thing, most mixers from previous generations tend to be bothered about it a bit more usually. Technology has evolved so fast that the latest MacBook Pro or iPhone for example, actually have pretty decent sound compared to similar devices even five years ago. 

Of course, they don’t sound like pro studio monitors, but most of the work I do is for social media or TV so I always make sure our work translates well through phones, laptops, AirPods etc, where they’ll be watched/listened to ultimately, while making sure they’ll still sound great on a high-quality sound system.

In the early stages of my career I witnessed many other mixers patting themselves on the back for a mix that sounded great in a studio with $1M+ worth of equipment, only to find that when listening to it on normal speakers or computers the sound hadn’t adapted properly (no bass for example).  

It would be foolish to mix a social media ad on top of the notch studio monitors with amazing acoustic and shake hands at the end of the day without checking the mix on a phone’s speaker, when 90% of the people experiencing it will be listening via their phone. 

LBB> On a typical day, what does your ‘listening diet’ look like?

Raphaël> Nowadays I usually listen to Oasis a little too much and then listen to work stuff.

LBB> Do you have a collection of music/sounds and what shape does it take (are you a vinyl nerd, do you have hard drives full of random bird sounds, are you a hyper-organised spotify-er…)?

Raphaël> Many Spotify playlists and folders. I also have a big vinyl collection back in Paris but never took the time to bring it to LA. One day.

LBB> Outside of the music and sound world, what sort of art or topics really excite you and do you ever relate that back to music (e.g. history buffs who love music that can help you travel through time, gamers who love interactive sound design… I mean it really could be anything!!)

Raphaël> I love architecture, interior design, and design in general. I feel like if I wasn’t working in sound I’d probably try to design something else.

LBB> Let’s talk travel! It’s often cited as one of the most creatively inspiring things you can do - I’d love to know what are the most exciting or inspiring experiences you’ve had when it comes to sound and music on your travels?

Raphaël> Yes, definitely! My wife and I have both been lucky enough to work remotely since Covid, so we spent the last couple summers working from France (where I’m from) ) and working from there or anywhere else has been super inspiring. Late nights because of the time zone difference when working with US clients but great when working with EUR clients. I love it and hope to be able to keep on doing so. It’s refreshing.

Also, I have a small portable recorder that I travel with and use to record sounds everywhere on the go. Which I then incorporate in my work.