Ed Cerrato
Ed Cerrato
Like so many it all began with a passion for music. I discovered the ability to record and produce mock ads with my first Realistic cassette recorder and a neighborhood cast around the age of 10. In Jr. high I took up the trumpet and played in the school's concert and jazz bands. By high school I had my first piano, a classic Wurlitzer electric, and played the garage circuit. Then I bought my first synth and along with that came the realization my true fascination was in the studio. I set-about piecing my first recording/mixing set-up together and became everyone's go to for demos and anything live.
I went onto college to earn a B.S. in Music Management. During this time I studied classical piano and played percussion in the college's concert band. As the band manager during junior and senior year I took on the added tasks of recording various concert performances and student recitals. By the time graduation came around I knew I wanted to pursue Audio Engineering.
I went out into the world thinking the music scene was the place to be. After many hard knocks and futile attempts I began considering other possibilities. Around this time Universal Studios opened it's back lot in Orlando, which got me thinking about doing film sound. I started with an internship at a post production house where I learned the art of syncing sound to picture. It came naturally and soon I was in the driver's seat editing sfx, dialog, and Foley for network TV and indy films. Many friendships were formed and with those more opportunity. Hungry to broaden the range of my experience and go freelance, I pursued television production and began as a field audio recordist with PBS doing documentary work. Soon I added on the role of videography but eventually made the move to doing audio post full time as an independent freelancer.
After eight years on the east coast I packed up and moved to L.A. where I immediately set up as an independent audio post engineer. For the first six years I floated about between TV and indy film, added radio, live theater and two years of teaching audio post at a film school. After all that, it was time once again to evolve to what I'm currently focused on which is 5.1 sound design for video games. Still operating independently. I've now been contracting with Electronic Arts for the past six years as their Cinematic Audio Post specialist. In this time I've done the cinematics audio for seven Real Time Strategy titles and one First Person Shooter.
I discovered the ability to record and produce mock ads with my first Realistic cassette recorder and a neighborhood cast around the age of 10. <Ed Cerrato>