Meet Frank Ruiz | Sound Supervisor/Audio-Post Engineer

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

Hi Frank, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
Drastically! Unfortunately, I don’t believe this is something that will stop changing for a while. When I first moved out here to California, for the first 3 years all I did was work, sleep & eat, having a social life or making friends wasn’t something I really had time for or even prioritized. Making enough money to cover all expenses for each month was all that I was worried about at the time. If I wasn’t making money off of doing audio-post work then instead I was out doing food delivery work such as Doordash & Ubereats for me there was no work-life balance when I began my career, it plain & simple was just work. Numerous times I would always contemplate in my head, “Is this worth it? Is this really all I am going to be doing for the rest of my life?” there were multiple times I kept thinking that this can’t be all there is to life. I was literally both working to live as well as living to only work, instead of working & being able to enjoy life. While I understand that working in the industry I am in requires a lot of time & effort put in to make a name for yourself, eventually we all get to a position where we become burnt out & start to lose that passion that drove us to jump into a field that is so demanding.

A lot of the jobs that I did when I 1st started out were freelance, so a big thing about when I wasn’t doing any work was that I was then looking for where to get my next line of work from. It’s a constant struggle I feel for folks who are not only freelance but new to the field & are trying to build a name up for themselves. The big shift in my life happened when I finally was able to land a full-time line of work with The Zeus Network. Once I had a stable income being brought in & a constant line of work it made for things to be more easily managed around my life & not have to go chasing for my next line of work/paycheck. Slowly, I started being able to begin meeting the friends I have today & having an actual life outside of my line of work. However, it is only then that you realize just how much time has not only passed you by but how much of an effect this kind of routine has on your body. I knew I needed to make a change & knew that I couldn’t go on like that for much longer.

I now have a proper work-life balance, I tend to make time for myself & do things that make me happy to be where I am today. I make time for those that are important to me, I make an effort to see & explore more of the city I am in & the one thing that I changed drastically in my life was my mindset/outlook on things. I used to believe that if I wasn’t working or putting effort & grinding to get where I wanted to be in life, then I wasn’t giving it my all or not deserving to be where I wanted to get with my goals & aspirations. We in this industry tend to work ourselves to the bitter end & miss out on so much of our lives because of how important our work is to us. While I understand that we all take pride in what we do & know there will always be times when we have to work longer hours & meet tight deadlines, that shouldn’t be the daily life of what we do, it is something that should happen less often instead of the latter.

We at the end of the day are people & not machines, we can not operate for 24 hours a day even though I know a couple of folks that get pretty close. While I am very aware that everyone’s situation is different, do realize that if you are only working to pay your expenses each month, eventually it is going to catch up with you. Make time for yourself & enjoy the fruits of your labor because we all only have so much time on this earth & we don’t get it back once it’s gone.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Well for me I now work full-time as the Head of Audio-Post at The Zeus Network which was not a position I saw myself getting to so early on in my career. Was it easy? Absolutely not, even when I first began working full-time with Zeus I was going through a difficult financial time as the previous facility I was working for had gone out of business & I needed to begin making a consistent income to be able to afford the expenses that were approaching their due dates. I tried to juggle a lot of different opportunities while still taking on odd jobs here & there. A lot of the time, I recall not being able to sleep because of the amount of stress that I had on my mind, constantly questioning “Is this all worth it? Why am I putting myself through all this? What if I fail & have to move back home?” these are the things that would keep me up at night & affect a lot of my own personal life.

I am very much a person who likes to be able to work to enjoy the fruits of their own labor & life. So it took a long time & a lot of dedication & late nights to get to a position I am now able to feel comfortable in & be able to have a life outside of my work. A big thing that I feel is only lately starting to become a topic of interest is setting boundaries in the workplace, it took a lot to be able to do but was something I felt necessary because it not only helped improve my performance in the workplace but also helped the workflow of getting things done & out on time.

One thing I want to warn people about is that unfortunately, in the beginning, you may have to work long days/hours to really prove yourself & build a name for yourself but what I want to say is be weary that it is not the only thing you are doing day in & day out for the rest of your career. Once you have shown the kind of person you are & the type of work you can do be confident & set reasonable boundaries within your workplace, communicate what you need & don’t be afraid to discuss things that may benefit both you & your employer. Everything in life is not so cut & dry, that’s the beauty of it all, things change & both life and technology are always evolving so we as people should follow along & not always be stuck in our ways & mindsets.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Shoot, there are so many places, probably to one of my favorite restaurants that is down the street from me. Salsa & beer great place with great food & the service is so over the top that I have never had a bad experience with them & I mean there’s a reason there is always a line out the door when it comes to this place. After the dining the possibilities are endless, the beach is a place you can never go wrong with especially on the boardwalk, the calm relaxing sounds of the ocean or the bustling noise of the city all of it is always playing depending on where you are at on the beach.

If you are looking for bars & want different options for drinks while on a night out in the town, either downtown Hollywood on the sunset strip or Little Tokyo in downtown LA both have great options/places for late-night drinking ventures. On the other hand, if a night out dancing at the club is more your scene then look no further than downtown West Hollywood where there are many different clubs next to each other all within a small walking distance that play great music, have a fantastic selection of drinks & a welcoming environment.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d have to say, definitely my family & friends because without my family I would never have been able to get to the position I am in today. They helped me out so much to have a great running start in my life & they kept pushing me in the direction of my goals & dreams. Not once did they ever try to hold me back or keep me from what I wanted to do, they were always supportive of my decisions & never made me feel like anything I did was a waste of time.

To my friends both in college & in my current life, they are the ones that helped make the experience a fun time to go through & they are the ones that keep pushing me to continue down my path. I love that we help each other out & that we still keep in touch regardless of how busy our own personal lives get. My current close friends are the ones who also make living out on in California by myself, not feel like I am all alone.

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