Carolina Ramos Fontoura
My journey into composing for film and games started about 2 years ago when I entered college at Berklee. Growing up, my parents are musicians and computer engineers, so I always had two loves - music and science. My parents were supportive of me doing music, but they wanted me to do science because doing music is hard to make a living. So I wanted to study astrophysics for a while before, but it wasn't my true passion. I decided to apply to Berklee College of Music out of nowhere, just hoping and seeing what would happen, and I got a scholarship. I went there and fell in love with composing, and I realized that they had a degree in composing for video games, which combines both of my loves for music and science. While still a student, I got my first job for a small indie company as a composer for an indie game, which was what I wanted to do in the future. In the next 5 years, I hope to either move to LA or move somewhere in Europe, like Vienna, and eventually have some games out and be recording my music with orchestras.I also work as a book author and do voiceovers for a company called mDecks, which is the company I co-founded with my dad, and I've been involved with since I was around 5 or 7 years old. I'm the only American citizen in my family - most of my family lives in South America in Uruguay - so it's nice to take the advantage and do as much as I can with what I have while still staying true to my roots!
My mission is simple: to keep scoring, keep exploring, and keep inspiring — creating worlds where music doesn’t just accompany the story, but becomes part of it.
• Associates in Science and Arts
• Berklee Bachelors in Film and Game Music
• Berklee College of Music Scholarship
• EA Women in Game Music Recepient
• Women in Film Initiative Club
• VGM Berklee
• XR Berklee
• Live mixing at church (2 years)
• Crohns and Colitis Foundation
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success 100% to my parents. Even when they didn't have the money, they asked for loans, and they didn't really care, they just helped me out with everything. Even though they wanted me to do science (because doing music is hard to make a living, haha) they were supportive of me doing music. When I decided to apply to Berklee out of nowhere, they supported me through it all. My mom and dad have been there for me through everything, including when I was in the hospital for an entire semester dealing with my Crohn's disease diagnosis. They are the reason I've been able to pursue my true passion. I love you guys!
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
It's really hard to find your own voice, I would say. But I think accumulating any experiences that you have and using it to create a teaching platform or to teach others, which is what I do - I decided to do a YouTube channel and to teach other people and to talk about it. I think it's not as if you were to work with someone and ask, what do you have to offer me? It's what can I offer you in this industry. If you have something to offer others, I think that that's what's really important. For me, I'm a student, and I was really scared going into it. I had no idea how to do anything with music, and everyone here is at the top of their game, so I just wanted to create a safe space for other people who didn't know what the heck was going on to be like, okay, I can maybe do this too.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Currently, the most important value is health, because this year I was recently diagnosed with Crohn's disease, and I had to stay in the hospital for an entire semester while going to school. It was very tough for me. Especially for women, unfortunately, we get it - Crohn's is mostly for women - and it's very hard to pinpoint what it is. I had life-threatening medications and things like that, it was difficult. So making sure that my health and my well-being is good is paramount. It really humbled me to explore things that I loved more, and not think about being competitive in such a competitive school, but how can I turn that into collaboration? Just spreading a positive message, and just being a kind person, and enjoying what I do, really. Being humble is so important to me now.
Locations
mDecks Music
Boston, MA