Carlos studied with Vladimir Ussachevsky, a pioneer in electronic music, as well as Otto Luening and Jack Beeson, working in the famed Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center.
Znana je tudi kot avtorica in izvajalka filmske glasbe, med drugim za dva filma Stanleya Kubricka, "Peklenska pomaranča" (1971) ter "Izžarevanje" (1980), kot tudi za film "Tron" (1982, Walt Disney Productions).