BOGOTA, COLOMBIA― Music Supervisor, Composer, and Mixing Engineer Santiago Uribe has built a career around producing music for film and television, contributing to more than 40 projects for Netflix, Amazon, Disney, HBO, and other international and local productions throughout Latin America and Spain. Uribe develops music for film and television, from composition and production to final mixing, using KRK V Series Studio Monitors as a trusted secondary reference throughout the process.
Uribe’s path into music supervision began as streaming production expanded in Colombia and Latin America. After studying music production and engineering at Berklee College of Music in Boston, he returned to Colombia in 2010 to open Audiobit Studios, where he initially produced bands and composed music for television. In 2017, Netflix began producing more series in the region and local production companies started looking for music supervisors. Given his background, Uribe was among the few in the region who could jump into the role, and the opportunity quickly expanded to multiple platforms and countries. Today, he continues to balance music supervision with his composition, production, and mixing work, though his relationship with KRK predates that career evolution.
While at Berklee, Uribe worked with KRK ROKIT monitors, establishing an appreciation for the brand’s sound that has continued throughout his life. “I did most of my work in college on KRKs, so when Enrique [Ferrer, Gibson CI Consultant] sent me the KRK V Series, I was pretty happy; it was like going back to my roots,” says Uribe. “I’ve always liked the sound profile and the tuning of the brand, and I’m excited to see (and listen to) what’s coming next from KRK.”
Today, Uribe uses his KRK V Series monitors alongside a larger pair of boutique full-range speakers. The V Series provides an important perspective, helping him evaluate how his mixes translate to more typical listening environments. “The KRKs are amazing for reference,” he adds. “The monitors are great for when I want a second point of view on what I’m doing. They give me a different perspective on the mix, as well as how it would sound in a real-world application. They’re also great for checking how things will translate on smaller setups.”
That translation is particularly important in Uribe’s work for film and television, where productions might contain substantial low-frequency information. This includes deep bass, drones, and other low-frequency sound design elements that will not necessarily translate to the consumer systems on which most audiences typically hear the finished production, such as televisions, laptops, or other consumer playback systems. Since he uses the KRKs without a subwoofer, Uribe says his setup provides a useful reality check. “I’m always verifying on the KRKs,” he continues. “The speakers provide a more realistic reference of the ways people are going to listen with a typical home setup, which doesn’t have extended low end.”
Uribe also points to the midrange of the V Series monitors as a key advantage in his workflow. He notes that many speakers emphasize the extremes of the frequency spectrum, while the KRK V Series provides an important part of the spectrum for evaluating information through a mix. “Most speakers have this tuning range that’s sort of smiley face-shaped, with lots of bass and high-end, but the V-Series monitors have a flatter response and a detailed midrange, and that’s where most of the information is. It’s very important that we can hear those frequencies well.”
For Uribe, the ability to move between large full-range monitors and the V Series is ultimately about making confident creative and technical decisions. “My other speakers are full-range, so I can hear very low frequencies on those,” he explains. “But nobody’s going to listen to those frequencies when they’re watching their TV. So, I’ve got to make sure it translates well.”
As both a composer and mixing engineer, Uribe approaches those stages as a continuous process. Rather than separating composition from mixing, he develops the sonic character of a piece as he creates it. “When I’m recording or composing, I’m mixing,” he adds. “That way, when I finish the piece, it’s already mixed. I do it all at the same time.”
That approach has supported a diverse body of screen work. Uribe has served as music supervisor and composer on the Netflix series “La Primera Vez” (known in English as “Eva Lasting”), creating the show’s original theme and developing new versions with artists like Manuel Medrano, Juliana, and Colombian salsa legends Grupo Niche, as well as Canadian duo Chromeo. The show’s evolving theme song became part of the audience experience, with viewers following along to see which artist would appear in each season. He also served as music supervisor and composer on the Netflix series “Medusa,” which became a major international success, and composed music for Amazon Prime Video’s “Los Billis.”
Among Uribe’s current projects is a Spanish-language Netflix production, “En diciembre llegaban las brisas,” for which he is serving as music supervisor, composer, and music producer. Currently in production, the film’s music takes an ambitious creative approach inspired by its period setting and historical interpretations of more well-known modern songs. Uribe has also called on the KRK V Series for his work on this production.
Uribe’s work has earned recognition in Colombia, with five Catalina Awards nominations and two Nuestra Tierra Awards wins for his “La Primera Vez” theme songs. With the Latin GRAMMY Awards now incorporating a “Best Music for Audiovisual” category, he also plans to submit his tv/film work to the Recording Academy for consideration.