Self Titled Files Trailer
The album was dropping that same week. City Island Productions tapped me through Thomas Carmona and basically said they needed it in like a day or two. The video already had this quiet-to-chaotic energy to it; Molly alone in a bathroom, then spiraling outward into movement, light, and eventually the street. My job was to feel that descent and push it just a little further. What made it hit different was that I was already a real fan of her music. So it wasn’t just “doing the job” it was about doing right by the artist and the moment. When it dropped and people really locked in with it, that felt like a quiet win. Not a crazy flashy project, just one of those projects where the vibe lined up and everything clicked.
Client
Molly Santana
Year
2024
Services
Sound Design, Music Rollout Audio, Film Mix, Music Visual Mixing
Category
Music Rollout & Stage
The Situation & The Goal
Brought onto the project by City Island Productions via producer Thomas Carmona.
The team was producing the official album cover / cinematic trailer for Molly Santana’s self-titled album release.
Extremely tight turnaround: sound design needed within 24–48 hours to align with the album rollout happening that same week.
Video concept leaned heavily into psychological tension, instability, and surreal emotional descent.
Goal:
Deliver cinematic, psychologically charged sound design that elevated the visuals.
Amplify the artist’s emotional state and narrative arc.
Meet an aggressive deadline without sacrificing quality or cohesion.
Process & Key Actions
Analyzed the 1.5-minute cinematic video to map emotional beats and psychological escalation.
Designed custom soundscapes to heighten tension, disorientation, and instability as the narrative progressed.
Layered subtle psychological audio cues (texture, movement, ambience) to mirror the artist’s descent from controlled intimacy to public delirium.
Synced sound design tightly to visual transitions, including:
Bathroom mirror/lipstick scene
Movement into open space with spotlight choreography
Street sequence with cars and disoriented motion
Worked under extreme time pressure, completing full sound design within 1–2 days.
Collaborated remotely with production, delivering a final mix ready for immediate social and release deployment.
Balanced cinematic polish with underground aesthetic, aligning with the artist’s brand and audience expectations.
Results
Final video released on the artist’s page as part of the official album rollout.
Performance metrics:
~500,000 views and~22,000 likes on the cinematic video post
Follow-up album announcement post reached ~36,000 likes
Sound design directly supported:
Narrative clarity
Emotional intensity
Shareability and audience engagement
Successfully met a same-week release deadline with no revisions delaying rollout.
Personal Takeaways & Skills Gained
Strengthened ability to execute high-stakes creative work under extreme deadlines.
Deepened expertise in psychological sound design and narrative-driven audio.
Reinforced instincts for artist-aligned sonic storytelling, especially within underground music culture.
Demonstrated reliability as a go-to audio collaborator for fast-moving production teams.
Validated the power of audio to intensify visual storytelling without overpowering it.