Oihenart Garai is a recent dBs Institute Bristol alumni who moved to London to pursue a career in the sound for film industry. Now working full time in a post-production studio, his journey has involved a film award ceremony in Croatia and having his eyes and mind opened while studying at dBs.
Originally from the Basque Country in northern Spain, Oihenart moved to the UK, specifically Bristol, to study BA (Hons) Electronic Music Production at dBs Institute.
After graduating from dBs with First Class Honours in 2022, and then completing a Master's at Bath Spa, he moved to London to pursue a career as a sound designer and engineer for film projects. In the two-and-a-bit years since graduating, Oihenart has already found work in studios, freelanced as a runner for post-production houses, been nominated for an award and now landed a full-time role as a Junior Audio QC Technician at EIKON Group, a post-production house working on Hollywood films.
“My name is Oihenart Garai. I come from the Basque Country between France and Spain,” says Oihenart, “I began by playing the piano and the viola in the local music school. Then, when I was around 17 or 18, I was like, ‘What should I do for uni?’ I wasn't even considering music at first, to be honest… I found dBs and chose it because it was so electronic music focused, and it seemed like a very friendly and cosy university, not too big. Where I'm from, Bilbao, it's a similar city to Bristol; similar in size, similar in architecture. I thought that Bristol might be a more suitable city for me than London, for example.”
Inspired by his lecturers at dBs Institute, particularly Emmanuelle Spinelli, who “opened my boundaries to what music can be,” Oihenart discovered that music-making is much more than working in a DAW and learnt the value of analogue workflows, using synthesisers and how to inject feeling into his music.
Joining Bath Spa for a Master’s in Sound Production after graduating from dBs, Oihenart was swiftly enrolled to work on a short film called SIT, written and directed by Andrea Ciobanu, through one of his MA lecturers, Jan Meinema. Providing all of the sound for the project, from the sound design and Foley to the music and mix, Oihenart’s score was nominated for Best Original Score at the International Sound & Film Music Festival last year.
“What I'm most proud of from that project is my time management,” says Oihenart, “It was four weeks of working 10-12 hours every day. First, I spent around seven full days editing and cleaning dialogue. I wanted to anchor the rest of the film around the dialogue, and then I did sound effects and Foley. I had to do everything for that in one week. Then for the music, I had about 10 days or so, and then the last three days were spent mixing.”
And what was it like getting nominated for an award? “At first it was a bit like, ‘Hey, is this legit?’” says Oihenart, “‘Should I be celebrating it or not?’ I slowly realised that I should totally be celebrating it. There might be more glamorous film festivals out there, but the fact that they asked me to attend and they were willing to give me some accommodation, that made it feel very real… Most of the attendees were professionals and much more experienced than me and people who actually do this for a living. They also invited some guests that were Oscar-nominated, some recordists and sound mixers. The guy who mixed Titanic was there, the guy who did the sound for that Batman: The Dark Knight was there. Really big people.”
“It was such a loving community that we just wanted to see each other's work. So there were a lot of viewings, a lot of screenings and stuff. It felt great to share my work, to see other people's work, and to see that sort of sense of community… It felt incredible.”
Leaving the award ceremony in Croatia high on confidence, Oihenart felt like new opportunities had just opened to him. The sound for film world is not just about score composition, where you can be under huge amounts of scrutiny and pressure to turn around your work at a rapid pace; there are opportunities for sound designers and audio professionals, too.
“I have learnt how other people have made this work,” says Oihenart, “We all know Hans Zimmer gets paid to do his stuff, but all the people in between, I wasn’t really sure how much they're getting paid, how they're getting by, whether they have to do jobs on the side and stuff like that. Seeing people that do this for a living, and they do it consistently and they're not poor, they don't live under a bridge, that has given me some confidence as well as contacts.”
“To be a composer, you need to generate so much music instantly. You don't have a margin to have writer's block, you know? That has made me cautious, and where I'm at right now, I see myself more as a sound professional or sound designer rather than a composer. I see myself as somewhat of a hybrid.”
Speaking to me before he got his new role as a Junior Audio QC Technician at EIKON, Oihenart quite prophetically said that he planned to list every post-production studio in Soho and systematically contact them all in the hope of landing a role. Now working full time in a post-production studio, it’s safe to say the strategy was successful.
“Getting a job in audio post-production has been my number one goal ever since I finished my studies at dBs,” said Oihenart after landing his full-time role at EIKON, “One of the first things I did was contact all the audio post-production studios I could find online. I soon realised that 80% of the post-production houses in the UK are concentrated in Soho, London. So, I started making day trips from Cardiff to London to visit the studios in person, which led to a couple of shadowing opportunities and runner jobs and allowed me to learn how the industry operates and make valuable connections. During this time, I was also freelancing as a sound designer for indie films and social media content while assisting at studios a couple of days a week.”
“Using LinkedIn to understand the structure of the industry, I distinguished the roles I was actually interested in and began submitting tailored applications for positions where I was a strong candidate. One of these applications turned out to be successful. I had an interview with EIKON Group, and now here I am! My best advice to anyone looking for their first job in audio is to stay humble, never pretend to know things you don’t, and channel your passion into learning, building a body of work, and—most importantly—physically going to studios and meeting people in the industry.”
So, looking back, how did studying at dBs Institute help Oihenart reach his goals? “dBs helped me have an open mindset to sound art. It has taught me how wide the spectrum of music can be and how there are so many different professions within music and sound. When I first joined, I was really impressed by the facilities. But I wouldn't say the facilities alone will teach you. I had a few really, really, like great lecturers who have definitely pointed me in the right direction. dBs’ strength is definitely pushing people to explore the boundaries.”
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Want to follow in the footsteps of Oihenart? Learn more about dBs Institute and our courses here.
