Meet Frank Ruiz | Sound Supervisor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Frank Ruiz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Frank, what’s the most difficult decision you’ve ever had to make?
I think when it comes down to it, the thing that I always come back to as the hardest decision I have made in my life, would have to be when I made the big leap of deciding to move out on my own. Not only from the comfort of my family but moving out specifically to Los Angeles, California. With not too much of a plan and just going off of hope that no matter what, I had to make it work living out in this city because it took a lot of help for me to be able to even make the move out here. I did at the time also have the support and help of my significant other when we first both settled into our tiny apartment out here in California. It was quite a shift for both of us as we came from bigger families and there’s so many things that just take some getting used to when living out on your own with no nearby support system to be able to fall back on. By the end of the day we were each others only company and pretty much each others everything when it came to assistance/support. Choosing to move out into a state/environment neither one of us have ever been in was a big decision and one that I am still amazed, was able to be achieved.

It took a lot of different things on our part and overall like I said in the beginning, this wasn’t even a fully well-thought-out plan and there wasn’t much to go off of that we would succeed in making life/our careers work out here. However, one thing I knew from the start is no matter what I had to make it work out here in Los Angeles because I wasn’t just going to let everyone’s help and assistance getting us out here go to waste and be all for nothing.

I honestly didn’t know if life was going to work out for me or not out here in southern California but 8 years later and somehow I am still making it work, and I am very thankful that even though now, I am on my own and by myself, I am able to have not only a career in what I went to study for in school but that I can enjoy life and not have to try and survive out here because those first 3 years of being out here I definitely was not living in California I was just barely surviving in California and as most people will tell you that is definitely not the best way to be.

Looking back on it all now, I definitely know a lot more than I did then at the time and throughout everything I have been through, I am really glad that I took the risk to come out here. I wouldn’t have wanted it to be any other way.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve said this a lot in the past, but I am most proud to still be here and still thriving in my industry. I have seen a lot of folks who have tried to move out to Los Angeles like myself and unfortunately had to move back home because they just couldn’t make it work out here in the big city. This place is a difficult environment to thrive in not only because of how unpredictable the industry is but because it is just so expensive to even live-out here and get here in the 1st place. The ups and downs, the strikes, the pandemic, the pure chaos that is surviving Los Angeles, that to me is one of the biggest things that I am proud of. Both professionally and personally, I have been able to solely focus on my career in audio-post and I was able to quit doing food delivery services to supplement income when I didn’t have any audio-post gigs lined up.

None of this was in any of the sense easy and I would be lying to myself if I said there weren’t times when I thought for sure I wasn’t going to make it and have to move back home to Oregon. Thankfully, I kept to my word and said “No matter what, I am staying out here.” so I did everything I could to be able to afford to stay out here in L.A. and from all the odd jobs to selling a lot of what I owned and surviving paycheck to paycheck. I was able to keep my head held above the water and not sink until I was finally granted a full-time line of work with The Zeus Network and that has been one of the biggest blessings in my career as I was so uncertain if that would be something I could ever achieve in this industry. The timing of this was especially in good fortune because the facility I was working at before Zeus Network had gone out of business and that was my 1st experience with how shaky this industry is.

Years later and I am still here, the biggest thing I can say to folks who want to overcome these challenges is to determine how serious one is about making it out here. This place will test you and like most people have told me in the past when I 1st moved out here. It takes about 3 years to really get yourself settled in and make your community so those first 3 years are going to be the hardest and determine, whether or not you can make it out here. Find your drive and always keep your reasons for being out here in the back of your mind, this is your dream and no one else’s, so give it all you got because sometimes you may only have yourself in the beginning.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
So I have a few places I continuously like to go to such as one of the many comedy clubs all over Los Angeles and particularly Flappers, where we can go to enjoy some good laughs and good times with both veteran and new comedians alike. Afterward, we can always grab a bite to eat at one of the many restaurants downtown Burbank has to offer but I in particular love to go to Barney’s Beanery which is located just around the corner from Flappers. They have more than just your ordinary diner comfort food but to me, it’s a step above what you would expect at your average diner and the drinks are always well made with options galore.

Another great spot I love taking folks to is Round 1 Arcade, there’s just so many games to play & overall the environment draws you in with the lights and aesthetically inviting sounds. It reminds me of a casino however in here the points are exchanged for tickets and the only spots where you are playing a game of chance are with the coin games or crane games.

If someone is interested in going to the beach the 2 obvious suggestions are Santa Monica and Venice but recently for folks who have pets, I’ve learned about Rosie’s Dog Beach in the Long Beach area of town. This is a great beach spot for folks who want to enjoy a fun time by the waves while being able to see lots of pups and dogs running around or even bringing your own to enjoy the scenery with you.

An additional great spot I love showing people for good food and great drinks with a lot of different options to choose from would be the Grand Central Market in downtown L.A. While getting to the location and parking may take a bit of time since it is located downtown, this is a great spot that has multiple styles of food to choose from along with merchants and small shop stands that sell unique and interesting items. The best part is that depending on the time or day of the week is that they also host events or game nights where folks join to not only experience the stuff that Grand Central Market already has to offer but a sense of community as well.

Now another great spot I love taking folks to is the Los Angeles County Arboretum, located in Arcadia it’s a great spot for both walking in nature and getting to see the botanical gardens along with some of the animals that roam free inside of the place. It’s a great spot to check out and it’s a pretty decently sized place so time spent here could be almost a few hours or even until there closing time at 5pm. They have some pretty great walkways and lots to check out while there, this is also a great spot for folks with children to check out as well so it’s a great activity to do for the day and an alternative to going to the L.A. zoo.

I could go on and on about different places to check out but lately these have been a lot of the spots I have been going to for the past year or so during my free time.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
So for this question, I have a few different amounts of folks I always like to give recognition to, most of them being my mentors throughout the different years and stages of my career such as the 2 Full Sail Dub-Stage Re-Recording Mixers & Intern supervisors Michael Orlowski and Dave Chmela. They were the people whom I started with and who gave me my 1st few projects to work on, Dave was very kind, he went and walked me through a lot of the different aspects of Audio-Post and what to listen for he was very good about answering questions and explaining things for me while I took notes. While with Michael, he was very attentive, straightforward, and stern, he always kept us on our toes making sure we were doing things the right way and that we were following directions as well as keeping track of time to make sure we would be finishing things on the given deadlines. Little did I know that at the time but he was preparing us for how much harsher it would be once we got into the actual field because the deadlines we were given as interns were much more lenient compared to what I have experienced working on projects, especially for Audio-Post. Michael was giving us that real glimpse into what it is like working on big projects with both money and client’s time on the line and I thank him and Dave for the wisdom and knowledge they shared while I was with them.

The 2nd group of folks I have to thank for where I am today would have to be the entire NCIS: LA Audio-Post team as well as a lot of the folks who were over with me at what was once Larson Studios. Joshua Sieh & Yaelle Sieh for bringing me on as an intern and giving me the chance to step foot inside Larson Studios and see the day-to-day operations as well as learn as much as I can from all the folks in the facility. To Chris Unthank for being the strict and stern individual who gave me harsh criticism and tough teachings of both expectations and communication within an audio-post team as well as with clientele. Then from the NCIS: LA team it all starts with the man who became a big mentor to me Wilson Dyer, he taught me how to critically listen to a lot of stuff and showed me how a big team that has been working for years on hit shows, does things. He introduced me and gave me my 1st industry gig placing detailed backgrounds into NCIS: LA’s episodes. I was able to work alongside and learn from the show’s Sound Effects editor Kevin Fisher on key things to watch for and how to make a scene really stand out with just background editing for the series. From there I was able to grow and begin to work on Foley for the show and that was where I met the Foley mixer for the show Mr. Randy Singer and I was able to watch and see how he records and mixes the Foley for each of the episodes. Wilson really gave me my 1st opportunity in this field and I can not thank him enough for everything he has shown me.

Along with Wilson, I also have to give a huge thank you to both the Re-Recording Mixers for the series Alexey Mohr & Jamie Santos, both these guys really helped me in hearing how all the stuff that I cut in and placed for our episodes played back when mixed into the surround sounds. They gave me advice on what to look for and what to avoid in terms of frequency ranges in order to make sure that everything would play well together and nothing would be competing for space. The tips and tricks I learned from these 2 are some of the things I still use and incorporate in my mixes today. Then the last person who I really want to thank from the NCIS: LA team is Kimberly Gibson who is the Co-Sound Supervisor for the series she sat with me many of times to really make sure I was elevating and getting all those tiny details when working on the Backgrounds and Foley for the series and she was a great teacher through and through from it all.

Next, I would also like to give a huge thank you to the entire Zeus Network team for not only bringing me on and giving me the opportunity to work with them but for being the 1st Full-time line of work and employment that I had. I thought I would never get that in this field and I was always worried if I would have to remain freelance throughout my entire career because that is something that, for me is not ideal but with Zeus they were the 1st group of folks where I was able to rest easy and not have to wonder where my next job or gig was going to be coming from. It has been 6 years since I have been with the company and I have not only gotten the most experience on different stages of what it takes to create a project but I was also able to go from being the only Audio-Post Engineer to being the Sound Supervisor for the network and that is something I never saw myself getting to at such an early age in my life. I am forever grateful for all the knowledge as well as the position I am in with this place and to be able to now have a team that works alongside me with the projects we have going on.

Lastly and most importantly, I’d like to thank my mother, grandmother, and my family for all of their support throughout the years. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them and their constant pushing of me to go follow my dreams and get myself out there. I can never thank them enough for this and it is why I will forever give recognition to them for being my number 1 cheerleaders and holding me down when things got tough through it all.

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