Meet Talaya. | Audio Engineer/Artist/Vocalist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Talaya. and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Talaya., we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
To give context, I was working at a fast food chain called Taco Time Northwest. I struggled to find a job after battling depression post-highschool. So I worked there and became a shift leader, Then during that time I attempted to take some college courses (and ultimately failed). I was feeling extremely frustrated in both environments. But I took the opportunity to learn how delegate and practice working with others at taco time. I was also saving up and writing down everything I needed to learn how to record myself at home since I kept having bad studio sessions and couldn’t afford then anyways. One thing led to another and slowly friends started asking if I could record them. That formed into my passion for engineering and is what I’ve been doing full time since 2019. I have this belief that I go where God calls me. And I use y discernment to decide when and where I need to be, what to say yes to, and what to go for. And I have thankfully been able to monetize and transfer a lot of my learned-skills to my business.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
At my core I am a vocalist, but I use that skill to perform various facets of art, audio being my main medium. I perform and creative music by ear, making beats, songwriting, arranging, vocal producing mixing, and mastering. I do these things for others for a living, but also within my own artistry. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but my childhood definitely prepared me for this life and gave me the foundations of practice/discipline, committing music and rhythms to my memory quickly, and my ability to learn new skills like operating software and technologies to achieve different outcomes. I grew up a pre-professional rhythm tap dancers as well as practicing all major forms of dance. The intensity of the dance world made it easy to will myself into this new career path. I was so used to being pushed past my limits it made it thrilling to pursue something at my own pace. It’s also ancestral as my late father was a well-accomplished musician. I want to continue his legacy as well in my music. I love the process encouraging people as we create, and by the end they are left with a piece of music that is more beautiful than they could imagine. It’s a grueling industry, and many people are not built to withstand it. I often say I want to quit once a month. But I couldn’t imagine doing or loving anything more than music.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Okay so I’m from south Seattle, Washington so first for breakfast we’re going to Geraldines which is the cutest little diner in Columbia City. Then for lunch we’re going down the street to Twilight Rainier which is a little bar that has insanely good burgers, sandwiches and the BEST honey mustard you’ll ever have in your entire life. Then for dinner since you want to spend money (obviously you came to Seattle LOL) we’re going to a new lovely restaurant called 84 Yesler for a beautiful clean dinner service and amazing experience! Then we’re going to the studio Ruby Room Recordings to make some tunes.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to shout out a dear friend of mine, Hanan who goes by @1dsrtflwr on social media, her Artist name on streaming platforms is “dsrt flwr”. She has been such a boundless source of kindness in my life. We are collaborators and friends, but to me she is a representation of the love of God. Our friendship has healed so many wounds for me. Many of my relationships have been toxic or unbalanced, but our friendship is a testament to what sisterhood should be like. Trustworthy, fun, absent of stress or drama. We even wrote a song about it. I hope the world gets to hear it soon.

Website: https://www.talayamusic.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talaya.music

Youtube: https://youtu.be/nFOK80086mM

Other: https://songwhip.com/talaya/see-it streaming platforms

Image Credits
Mahs – @mynamisshamdinho__ , Raul Alaris @acidegarage