During his early years in New York City, Pitts worked as a freelance sound engineer for a range of companies, including recording radio programs and commercials for Cinema Sound, Ltd. And museum and historical site tours for the Acoustiguide Corporation. He performed location dialog recording for various film projects, including the movies Greetings (1968), The Projectionist (1970), and Love and Kisses (1971). He also attended the Woodstock Festival in August 1969, where he worked as a sound engineer with a film crew documenting the performances. Their work would be released in the 1970 documentary film Woodstock; in addition to winning an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, the film also received a nomination for Best Sound. Charles appears briefly at 13:40 in the later Woodstock Diary feature, recording the film sound.