Chris Ketley
Date

30/05/24

Author

Rita Horta

Meet The Team

How long have you been at Molecular Sound?

Since the end of 2022.

Tell us more about what you do:

My main role is in-house composer and audio producer, so I spend most of my time writing, producing, editing, and creating music in all sorts of different styles and genres.

It can be a fast-paced, and high-pressured environment, especially when we have a lot of different projects to juggle, with each usually demanding a tight turnaround time.

I’ve also been working on the creative operations side of things within the composer team, to ensure the smooth running of our servers and file management system.


Tell us more about your journey in the industry:

I come from a musical family, and I started playing in bands at the age of 13, which eventually led to touring professionally as a multi-instrumentalist session musician by the age of 21.

During this time, I became known for working with artists such as Rita Ora, Amy Macdonald, Bryan Ferry, The Rakes, and Ellie Goulding amongst others in varying capacities.

I love playing live and some of the highlights have included Madison Square Garden, Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage, SNL, Jools Holland, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and playing at Kate and William’s Royal Wedding.

Before Molecular Sound, I freelanced as a composer/audio producer for various pop tracks, labels, ad campaigns, TV ads, podcasts, and projects requiring a bespoke soundtrack. This included writing the music for a short film that raised awareness for domestic abuse victims which won a Cannes Lion Silver award in 2017.

Other notable collaborations whilst freelancing have included clients such as the BBC, Sony Music, Abbey Road Masters, and 20th Century Fox.

Whilst I enjoyed being freelance, I also loved the idea of working within a team and when I saw the opportunity arise to become an in-house composer with Molecular at the end of 2022, I was extremely excited to be in an environment where I could interact with a larger team daily and work together to win amazing projects.

Since then, I have been extremely happy working as part of our small but mighty team here at Molecular and I can’t wait to continue to work with some of the amazing clients we get to work with daily.

What’s your most favourite part of your job?

I love it when I’ve gone into total flow on a piece of music and three or more hours have flown by without me realising it. I also love seeing and hearing something I’ve worked on being used in its final location. For example, a TV advert is a cool thing to see out in the wild!

Is there one project which you have most enjoyed working on, or that you are particularly proud of?

I loved making the Foxy Bingo ad, as it was such a fun brief, plus it was the first project I won for Molecular Sound. But I think the one I am most proud of is delivering a suite of sonic branding logos for Universal Music. It was quite a big project, and I loved successfully delivering it.

Foxy Bingo

Tell us something that most people wouldn’t know about you:

I have a shotgun license, and I love clay shooting.

If someone is reading this, and they would like to do what you do, do you have any advice?

Perseverance!! I often find the hardest part of any project is getting started. No matter how average something sounds right at the start, you’ve got to keep going no matter how crap that first version might be, as eventually it will take shape. I know what I want the final product to sound like, but I’ve just got to get over that first hump on starting it. I might do four or five versions of something before I first share it.

That can also be applied to your career – just keep going and pushing yourself. You’ll be amazed at how far you’ll get!

Who is your inspiration and why?


Jimi Hendrix was the reason I started playing guitar when I was a kid. When I first heard Voodoo Child (Slight Return) it was like a switch got flipped and I needed to work out how to play it.

Jimi Hendrix Canva image copyright free