My love of music opened up a world of sound. I always loved to listen to music but I wasn’t good at playing it. Then I read the credits in an album sleeve and realized there are many people working behind the scenes. That’s when I decided to study to be a sound engineer and form Kidnappers.
I predicted the downfall of the music industry. By the late 90s, sales were down, producers were turning to home studios. At this same time a foreign movie studio contacted me to work on the sound editing for their movie and trained me up, too. It was pretty fun.
Whether making sounds for movies or music, it’s pretty much the same goal: entertaining people. But movies require much more attention to detail. Music alone can create a feeling, but with film you must create sounds that will sync the audience with the movie’s mood.
Be open-minded and you will grow faster. I work on 25-30 movies a year. It’s not easy dealing with so many directors and producers who all have their own ideas. But it’s their movies. Their imagination pushes me to learn more skills and earn their trust.
Understanding your clients’ pressures can help you get the right attitude. A filmmaker might stump up a B50 million budget for their movie, book all the cinemas, and if you can’t finish the soundtrack in time, they will lose a lot of money. Luckily I have a good team who love their job and understand that we need to work under pressure to finish at least two movies a month.
Winning at the Golden Reel Awards gave us the confidence to compete globally. Our position in Asia is pretty good as lots of foreign clients come to us because we are relatively cheap, but still very good quality. In Asia, Thailand is second only to Japan and maybe Hong Kong when it comes to sound editing.
Technology can be a distraction. I often meet young people who can do a lot with sound and editing but they don’t know what they want to be. It’s good that they know so much, but they need to put their knowledge to good use. Sound editing isn’t something you do straight after graduating. The industry is pretty small in Thailand because the equipment’s so expensive. You think movie-makers are spending B10-12 million on their film only to put it in the hands of an unexperienced sound editor? It’s not like something you post on YouTube.
I’ve always loved vinyl. I’ve collected it since I was young. Then I decided to learn how to produce records in Germany. I was afraid that the art of making vinyl would die. All the vinyl factories in Thailand closed down long ago. I paid B2 million for a two-week course on producing vinyl and brought back a machine made by two German geeks to do it at home. It’s really satisfying to learn, as I was born in the analogue era. I can die happy now.
Vinyl is back for sure. The sound quality is incomparable. I’m producing limited run vinyl under the name Boop Records, so I know the market is growing. I used to make about four records a month; now it’s more than 20. It’s a time-consuming process. My clients range from artists in Thailand and abroad to collectors who want to make a copy of their original vinyl.
I love to visit record shops, especially in Oxford Street and Soho in London. It’s heaven. I will stay in a shop for hours. As for Bangkok, my favorite places for vinyl are Eight Music in Thonglor and Fat Black Records at Crystal Design Center.
People today are so lucky that they have lots of music to listen to and making it is so much cheaper. The only problem is the drop in quality. In the old days, musicians needed to play really well before going to record at a top-notch studio. Now you can record all the instruments separately. Poor quality MP3s are also to blame. Why should record labels spend big to create a sound that will eventually only be compressed into MP3?
Kidnappers’ new album will be electro-pop, as always. May [Pakawat Wiwitaya] and I just want to stick to our old style instead of chasing the trends. Luckily, vintage is in vogue now! I think our analog synths are in now. Just like before, we have a new singer—it’s always been our concept to kidnap a girl to be our singer.
I make music because I love it, but I work as a sound editor to make a living. I’m just lucky that I love both.
Find a balance. Every day is short: know what you want to do in life and do your very best.
