Uprising: Chris Christoforou’s Hard Work, Love and Experimentation

It’s safe to say that associate music supervisor at SIREN, Chris Christoforou, has music running through his veins. He started his first band in year five, when he was just nine years old, covering Green Day, Nirvana and Blur. He and his bandmates would go to the studio to record the sessions on their drummer’s birthdays every year, courtesy of said drummer’s father, who was also a musician. 

Chris’ year-five band dismemberment was never going to be the end of his music career either. He proceeded to join various other groups growing up, and his fixation only grew. “I always knew I would be involved with music in some form since I was a kid,” he says. “At college, there was a point where I thought maybe I should keep it as only a hobby, but after receiving my results, it was clear that I thrived in music over everything else, so I took a U-turn on that idea,” he jokes.

What he loved most about the process at the time was writing and playing in front of a crowd - something that he started doing as young as 14, gigging at pubs and recording his EP with his band when he was 16. Outside of school, Chris’ life basically revolved around the live music scene and seeing where it would take him.

Throughout, his tightly-knit Cypriot family always supported him - even though none of them had ever been part of the industry - and Chris learned heaps from them growing up about consistency and impeccable work ethic. “They taught me that even if it’s not my kind of thing, I should always appreciate and approach music the same, regardless of if it’s my taste or not. I’ve applied this way of thinking to everything in my life which impacted my outlook massively.”

Those years were crucial for Chris’ musical development, so his family’s support was paramount. “I think I honed my craft throughout my years of growing up, which was just essentially me loving music,” he adds. “I started producing electronic music independently in my spare time when I was about 18 years old, so over those years of experimenting with genres and styles, I naturally became competent.” These experiences naturally proved invaluable to him later in life, when starting his career in music supervision.

During his early adulthood and through writing, producing and performing music, Chris saw his passion shape into an applicable career choice - namely, sound design. With this in mind, right before university, he took a gap year during which he did his first ever job as a runner at post house The Farm Group. 

So, putting together his undying love for live performance and band-hopping with his experience running in post production, Chris embarked on his undergraduate adventure, at Bournemouth University, studying music and sound production technology. “An amazing experience” is what he calls his time in the coastal town, where he met some of his best friends and took his first step in DJ-ing - something he still does to this day. 

Chris’ ambitions towards sound design never left him over the course of his university journey, so after he graduated he went right back to working in the industry, this time at a different post house. However, that second job was where he discovered music supervision, a turning point in his career. “From that point on, I was dead set on becoming music supervisor, so I was thrilled when I received the job offer from SIREN.”

Soon after joining SIREN, Chris took part in Wimbledon’s 2022 campaign, where the team ended up going with a track that he had put forward, which was essentially also his first ever professional project. “It felt amazing to have won that job after putting in a lot of work for it and was stoked to see it out in the world,” he reflects. On the same project, Chris ended up winning gold at the Young Arrows in the Music Supervision category - “a huge confidence boost, for sure,” as he puts it, but also an undoubtedly incredible achievement for that point in his career.

While Chris is still figuring out his own best ways to approach a project, right now he is most enjoying music searches and deep diving into any brief that comes his way. Finding suitable tracks for what the clients are after is just the cherry on top, and while sometimes this comes easily, he also knows that “working in creative teams means pushing toward a unified goal and [his] vision might not be everyone else’s.”

Reaching this “unified goal” on a job also means discovering new music as he goes, which is something Chris does in his spare time anyway, so the fun virtually never ends. And while balance sometimes is hard to figure out, not just between life and work, but also between multiple projects he says, “Staying organised and level-headed throughout stressful times is something I think loads of people struggle with, but I’m lucky to have a great team I work with at SIREN to help me find good ways to deal with it.”

Besides loving his current team, Chris is also excited for all the new talent coming through - “Seeing young professionals do their thing and get recognised is amazing,” he says. However, he recognises the “incredible lack of diversity” in the majority of the roles within the industry too. “Myself and the team at SIREN are all passionate about trying to improve. I’d say roughly 95% of the composer submissions we receive are from white male composers. We’re trying to proactively address this, so I would really encourage composers of other genders and ethnic backgrounds to please get in touch with us via our composer submission inbox.”

In his free time, Chris continues to produce music and dabbles in DJ-ing, and finds it therapeutic after a long day’s work. So contrary to popular belief, working on his passion never made him less passionate - “If it isn’t clear already, I do love music believe it or not.” Working on “silly side projects” with friends gives him the opportunity to remember things aren't supposed to be too serious and lends itself to a good laugh. It’s also something he has always enjoyed, ever since setting up his first band with friends when he was nine years old.

“Besides this, I run my own event and I DJ,” Chris adds. “It’s a big passion project of mine and I love doing it. We’re called Ramen Sound - check us out on Instagram @ramensound”

What remains true is that Chris lovedhis job way before he knew it existed, and when he clocks out, he’s still doing it for fun. “I’ve always wanted to just be happy in general day-to-day life if I’m honest,” he says. “I know too many people who hate their job and wish they were spending their time doing something else. It takes a huge chunk of life, so my main goal is to enjoy what I do day-to-day and be successful doing it. That’s why I’m able to work hard and love what I do - and, of course, experiment where I can.”