Conversations with Kris Kovacs

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kris Kovacs.

Hi Kris, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Hi VoyageLA, I’m Kris Kovacs, originally from the UK. I’m an award-winning composer and producer working primarily in cinematic trailer and network promo music.
Most recently I just worked on The Sheep Detectives trailer for MGM/Prime, and also received a Bronze Clio Music Award, which was incredibly exciting.
Most of my work lives in the promotional space, used in film and TV trailers, video games, high-impact campaigns where music needs to tell a story quickly and emotionally.

My interest in music, and especially recorded sound, started early. We had a family Casiotone keyboard that fascinated me, and my dad had a few acoustic guitars around the house. Around age ten or elven, I asked for a Sharp cassette boombox for Christmas, specifically a Sharp X-Bass Back2Back, which I still have! What I loved about it was that it had a microphone input and a dubbing function. I would run the headphone output of the old CT-310 into the mic input, record drum and bass parts onto cassette, then bounce them to another tape as I played live guitar in, and build layers instinctively. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was essentially multi-track recording albeit in a very crude way.
Not long after that, around age fourteen, I watched a behind-the-scenes VHS for Alien 3. There was a short segment on score and sound design where someone was rubbing a massive gong with what I thought was a lollipop. I later learned it was a friction mallet, but it created these eerie groans and wails that just completely captured my imagination. It was the first time I had seen sound used so experimentally and physically, creating something unsettling and interesting, previously I would have just accepted that… sound was in the film somehow…without questioning it! But that short BTS really stayed with me and that curiosity never left. It just became more disciplined and intentional over the years.

By my late teens and twenties, I was fully invested. I was not just interested in writing songs, I was obsessed with how music, production, and sound design could all intertwine, creating tension, and emotion. I was growing up in the trip-hop era, when producers were artists and studios were instruments, which naturally pulled me toward sampling, texture, and cinematic sounds rather than a traditional band setup.
I was fortunate to find a like-minded collaborator in my longtime friend Tom, and with the addition of a singer, Ellie, we formed a project which, we felt, stood out in the Birmingham music scene at the time. While much of the local scene centered around post-Britpop guitar bands, we had a female vocalist (edgy!), an Akai S3000 sampler, backing tracks on MiniDisc, and Rhodes on stage. The project evolved constantly, with members coming and going and the sound shifting along with my production interests. That restless, exploratory approach to making music would later prove invaluable.
One of the tracks we uploaded to MySpace caught the attention of Rockstar Games music supervisor Ivan Pavlovich, who placed our music in Grand Theft Auto IV. That moment fundamentally shifted the trajectory of my career and opened the door to working professionally in music for media, which eventually led me into the cinematic and trailer space I work in today.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. There was a long period of trial and error, reinvention, and persistence. The imposter syndrome was very real. Early on, one of the biggest challenges was figuring out how to create the sounds I could hear in my head, and in other trailers, inside Cubase. I didn’t really know anyone I felt comfortable asking, and when I did reach out it often felt quite gatekept. So I figured it out my own way. These days I might have learned from YouTube or a trailer music course, but those resources were not as accessible back then.

Once I cracked the code of what I wanted to make, placements started to come more quickly, thanks to Jessica Cole at Lyric House, who saw the potential in me early on.

Now I’m lucky to have incredibly talented composer friends and colleagues who are always happy to nerd out over sounds and ideas, which still feels like a gift.
Working in music for media also comes with its own pressures. Deadlines are tight, tastes and ideas can shift quickly, sometimes even mid-project, and the bar is constantly moving. You have to learn how to deliver consistently at a high level without burning out or losing your creative identity.
Ultimately, those struggles sharpened my skills and built resilience, along with a much-needed thick skin, because feedback in this world can be blunt. I’ve been doing this professionally for over a decade now, contributing music to Xbox launches, UFC campaigns, Netflix shows, and major video game trailers. That experience has really cemented a long-term mindset. Longevity matters to me far more than short-term wins.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I usually describe myself as a media composer as a quick umbrella term. I create original music and remixes for film and video game trailers, network promos, and television, where the goal is to enhance storytelling and visual narrative in a very short amount of time. Most projects begin with a creative brief, working with music companies and sometimes directly with music supervisors to craft moods, themes, and emotional or story arcs that support what is happening on screen.

In this field you end up wearing a lot of hats, because modern trailer and promo workflows move fast and demand production-ready ideas from day one. On any given project I’ll be songwriter, producer, sound designer, and mixer all at once. A big part of the job is fluency with modern production, whether that means building custom sample-based sounds, designing signature synth sounds, programming drums, or shaping orchestral libraries into something that feels fresh. Your sonic fingerprint is what sets you apart, along with the ability to interpret a brief quickly and turn that first spark of inspiration into something usable under tight deadlines, and even tighter revision turn-around.

I naturally gravitate toward epic, hybrid orchestral, and somewhat sci-fi sounds. Sometimes that means remixing a well-known song and pushing it far beyond its original form for a trailer. Other times it means taking a genre like hip hop and expanding its scale so it has the weight, dynamics, and impact needed for trailer storytelling. That variety is one of my favorite parts of the job. One day I might be researching what makes something feel ‘spy’ or ’detective-esque’ and the next getting an era-specific guitar tone, then figuring out how to use those tropes in a way that feels modern rather than corny.

I’m known for working across a wide range, from dark horror cues to uplifting cinematic soundscapes, including work used by platforms like Apple TV and HBO. One project that really connected with audiences was a hip hop track I wrote and produced with Australian rapper Backchat, featured in Epic Games’ Chapter 6 launch of Fortnite. The campaign centered around their new character Big Dill, an anthropomorphized rapping pickle performing our track in a 90s-style rap video complete with fisheye lens. It was surreal and a lot of fun to see something we’d made showcased front and center like that, and it has since reached millions of plays and views across streaming and video platforms.
I am especially proud of the recognition that project received too. I was just honored with a Bronze Clio Music Award for ‘Use of Music Craft’ and a Music and Sound Award for ‘Best Sync in a Video Game Trailer’ for that work. I’m proud of reasonable longevity I’ve sustained in such a competitive space. Every placement matters to me, whether it is a brief moment in a TV show or a full-scale trailer campaign. When companies think of me for a project, or use existing material, I genuinely see it as a privilege to help shape how their stories are told, and try to quietly celebrate every win.

What’s next?
One of the things I appreciate most about this field is how diverse the work can be. It never feels like treading water. Each project brings a new creative problem to solve, and that constant variety keeps the work challenging in a good way. I feel like I am always learning and pushing myself, and that sense of momentum is important to me. I never want to feel like I have completely figured it out. Staying curious, solving puzzles, and experimenting with sound in my studio is genuinely one of the most enjoyable ways I can spend my time.

Looking ahead, I would love to spend more time scoring or co-scoring for film and television, or collaborating closely with established composers to help shape the sonic identity of a project. Trailer work has given me a strong foundation in storytelling, pacing, and impact, and I am excited to apply those instincts to longer-form narratives.
Something I’ve noticed over the years is how cinematic or trailer-style music has started to show up more and more beyond traditional uses. Score has always been central to shaping narrative, but the line between trailer music, score, and even sound design is becoming increasingly fluid across the industry. Audiences are now used to bold, cinematic sound worlds across all kinds of content, from prestige television to reality TV. In turn, that shift feels like it’s pushing trailer music itself to evolve, encouraging producers to be more daring and experimental, especially in genres like horror where there is room to be more avant-garde.

I’m excited to keep working at that intersection as those boundaries continue to blur. My goal is to keep growing creatively and contributing to projects where music plays a defining role in how stories connect with audiences.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kriskovacs.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krizkovacs/
• Other: https://s.disco.ac/tfclljiywdnz

Image Credits
Anna Azarov