Meet Zhen Chen | Film Sound Designer

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

Hi Zhen, what do you attribute your success to?
I would say, paying attention to details would be the most important factor.

In my opinion, what distinguish a great sound designer and a normal one would be how detail can you go. Sometimes an extra layer of wood creaking or rumble could makes the whole scene different. Besides, not only you have to pay attention at work, you also need to pay attention to all the different kind of sound in your real life. For example, different type of cars sounds different, different type of wood sounds different. You need to pay attention to them and always have the ability to learn. So when you show the film to the audience that familiar with these stuff, they won’t be thrown off.

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’m a professional film sound designer. The most thing I’m excited about my job is I got the chance to help creating a whole new world. For me, watching film is about escaping the reality and making film is creating a whole new world. Each different film is a different world. By creating sound elements for them, It makes the world better and lively.

Overall, it wasn’t an easy job at all. Only when I start doing it professionally, then I realize there’s so much for me to learn for the world. There’s different culture, different history background behind the stories in the film and also the people who make them. So it’s also a big learning process for me along the way.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The place I want take them to the most is the chinese restaurant here(Since they are from China and so am I). So they can have an idea what it’s like here in the US. And of course, the Hollywood sign, Universal studio, Disney land, etc.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Besides my family who have always been so supportive, I would really like to thank my sound fellows, Lisa, Sam and Youning. We have been support each other’s work for years. There’s no way I could finish those projects and be where I am today without them. So I would really like to thank them from the bottom of my heart.

Website: https://www.zhenjensenchen.com