Find Yaiza Varona @
Official website
SoundCloud
Tell us a little about yourself and what you do for a living?
I´m a Spanish media composer based in London. I divide my time between writing for the media (tv, film, library, ads) and writing my own personal projects, which I call my Malformed Creatures.I´m also a musicologist and a Logic 9 Master Pro, which basically means I love Early Music and cool toys with many wires and leds, and I write articles on both subjects. And I´m very honoured that talented Pasi kept me in mind for this – thank you for this initiative!
What is your niche or speciality, that makes you stand out from rest of the audio professionals?
There is too much talent out there for me to think that I stand out in any way, haha!As for the niche, I tend to do much fussion with world music and Early music, I guess because of my own background. Basically, if set free, I write quirky stuff. That´s why I shouldn´t be set free often.
Can you give us a brief summary of the equipment you use regularly?
I can; what I couldn´t do is give a long summary of it because it´s really simple, haha!I work in a MacBook Pro, external firewire 1 Tb drive for the libraries, this allows me to work while travelling, which is quite important for me. Then, depending on the studio I´m working in, I have different speakers and keyboards.
What are your go-to plug-ins and software? (virtual instruments, audio processing etc.)
The basics would be Logic 9 and QL Spaces. As for libraries, I adore Albion, Symphobia, Omnisphere, Forest Kingdom, Rojin, Epic Toms, Emotional Piano, Cineorch…I could go on. You don´t want me to go on!
When do you find you are most creative?
Whenever I´m not physically tired.
What is your usual process for creating audio content for games, films etc.?
I tend to panic, then run screaming in the middle of the street waving my arms in the air, then I come back home, listen to music similar to the one asked and just let it invade me fully. Then I take notes, then I open a blank template and begin getting the pieces together until it all makes sense. I try to use both instinct and logic (and Logic too).
Are there any particular secrets to your creativity?
Yes, there are (ha!)
Do you have any audio creation techniques that resulted in something interesting?
I love trying different order in plugins and reversing audio files just for the fun of hearing how the sound morphes. We are the most fortunate creatures in the musical universe, it´s a great moment in the history of music – not only can we record sound and play it back but we can also manipulate it – until little more than a century ago, only gods could dream of that!
Any specific “lessons learned” on a project that you could share?
Health comes first. Do eat. Do sleep. Do disconnect. Laugh. Fully enjoy it. Make it tenable in the long term.
Any tips, hints or motivational speeches for the readers?
Nothing I can say shall ever be more motivational than music itself. It´s all there, in the music. :)