Student Experience
Porter alum Cuauhtemoc Martinez and a life in sound
From East Los Angeles to UC Santa Cruz to leading sound production at Warner Bros., Porter alum Cuauhtemoc Martinez has built a life in sound.
Cuauhtemoc Martinez (Porter ’95, theater arts). Photo by Carolyn Lagattuta.
Cuauhtemoc Martinez (Porter ’95, theater arts) was raised on the sights and sounds of Boyle Heights, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, in the eighties.
“At every bus stop, there was a mural,” he said. “The neighborhood was like an art gallery for the masses. It showed me what creativity could look like in public space.”
His parents took him to the movies every weekend, and he was captivated by the production, storytelling, and sound design of films like David Lynch’s The Elephant Man. Punk rock music filled local clubs like The Vex, and backyard bands played nearly every night. “Everyone was a musician, everyone was an artist,” he said. “Creating was simply part of daily life.”
Martinez’s mother was a craftsperson and glassblower, and his father a skilled automotive painter who mixed his own custom colors. He once repainted the family car a metallic pink and called it Pink Panther. “My brother and I took the bus all over the city to find record stores and comic shops,” Martinez said. “Sometimes an address turned out to be a P.O. box and we’d just head home. But that was the fun–getting lost, discovering new places, figuring things out on our own. That’s what made L.A. magical to me.”
When the time came to decide what to study, Martinez first dreamed of becoming a music producer, until a high school advisor told him he’d need to read music. “My backup was always film,” he said. “So I pivoted. The first of many.”
He initially planned to stay in Los Angeles for college, but a campus tour changed his mind. “When we got to Santa Cruz, I went, wow, this is where I want to be,” he said. “Instead of skyscrapers, there were redwoods. It was the opposite of L.A., and it was time to explore something else. So with skateboard in hand, I moved to Santa Cruz.”
“Instead of skyscrapers, there were redwoods. It was the opposite of L.A., and it was time to explore something else. So with skateboard in hand, I moved to Santa Cruz.”
CuauhtEmoc MartInez
At Porter College, Martinez found his creative community and a constant source of support and inspiration. One independent-minded film professor, Gustavo Vázquez, became a lifelong mentor and friend. “For the next thirty years, when he was in L.A., I’d visit him, Martinez said. “When he was showcasing a film, I’d go see him. It was always great reconnecting and remembering all the advice he gave.”
As a student, Martinez founded Cuauhtli Productions, an organization he created to curate the 6th Annual Chicano Latino Film Festival. The festival featured screenings on campus, in downtown Santa Cruz, and in Watsonville, extending beyond the university. “The idea was to take the festival to the community, specifically the farmworkers,” he said. “We had screenings at Kresge Town Hall, at the London Nelson Center, and at a community center in Watsonville–it was incredible.”
Porter recognized his creativity and leadership with the Charles M. Gilbert Award for Excellence in the Arts and the Porter College Service Award.
“The only class I failed at UC Santa Cruz was surfing,” Martinez said. “Waking up at dawn and getting into ten-degree water without booties was tough. But I learned that surfing wasn’t for me.”
After graduation, Martinez returned to Los Angeles ready to work. “Every summer I would go back to L.A. and work on some film production,” he said. Then the industry changed. “When I graduated, film died and everything became digital,” he said. “So I started thinking, what am I going to do? I went back into music, started playing again, and got into sound.”
That pivot led him to PBS SoCal, Paramount Studios, and eventually Warner Bros., where he has spent twenty years and now serves as Director of Production Sound and Video Services.
At Warner Bros., he helped establish what became known as the “Warner Bros. Sitcom Sound” and supported productions such as The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, Two and a Half Men, Shameless, and Gilmore Girls. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he led a team that built a secure, encrypted streaming system to keep more than thirty Warner Bros. Television shows running safely. “It proved that if it’s not there, we can invent it,” he said.
Returning to Porter
Martinez lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. As his kids have grown, he’s found more space to reconnect with Porter, with peers, and with the next generation of artists and storytellers. “This year’s been the year to kind of reach out,” he said. “It feels like the right time to repay what I was given.”
He’s also thinking about what it means for students to have mentors the way he did. “If I can give students that same kind of encouragement that Gustavo gave me—to make something, to take risks, to figure it out—that’s what I want to do.”
When Martinez returned for this year’s Porter College Plenary, he invited students to slow down and really experience the place that shaped him.
“Look, remember, smell, take a deep breath of these surroundings. Explore the actual physical space, beyond the screen.
Cuauhtemoc Martinez
“That mixture of damp earth with redwood trees. The way the sun comes out after a rain,” he said. “Look, remember, smell, take a deep breath of these surroundings. Explore the actual physical space, beyond the screen. It’s part of the experience. You’re going to want to remember that.”
For Martinez, it’s the same lesson that guided him from his childhood in East L.A. to Santa Cruz and throughout his career: stay curious and awake to the world around you. Listen to its rhythms, and learn to play along with its song.