Meet Soya Soo | Music Engineer

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

Hi Soya, we’d love to hear what makes you happy.
There are a few things that can make me happy.

First thing first, exercise – either go for a run or play badminton with friends. I totally agreed that endorphins really make human feel happy haha!

Secondly, as long as i managed to have good food (either i cook for friends, or we do potluck, or go to a good restaurant) and catch up with friends’ stories/life experiences, then i’m happy.

Please tell us more about your career. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
Hi, I’m Soya Soo, a music engineer.

With current technologies, successfully helping composers to enhance their story-telling with their music and bring the film/scenes to life really excites me greatly, no matter organic or hybrid scores.

Regardless the complexity, I honed my skills and gained my musicality, and became a more detailed oriented person from the projects that I had worked with the engineers, composers and musicians.

In stead of describing it as ‘easy’ or ‘hard’, to be frank, ’challenging’ is the best word, yet it is ‘fun’ and ‘interesting’ to learn each composers’ interpretations, vocabularies, musicalities on different genres of film, series, documentaries and video games.

Undeniable, the old clichés ‘think outside the box’ and ‘push the limit’ are the lessons. It’s my professional habit to keep myself up-to-date with technologies, so that I have more options to apply on a more complex project to simplify the workflow, to become more efficient & productive, and even to make things possible (such as recording or sampling sound), but I always remind myself that we are crafting an art with the assistance of technologies, so, obtaining Yin-Yang balance is always the assignment – it’s just like cooking! Air fryer does help to speed up the process, but we know that tempura is more than a dish; it is an art form and a testament of precision. Same with music engineering, and I’m still learning new thing(s) everyday.

Hi, I’m Soya Soo, a music engineer who is specializing in film & video game scores and orchestral recording, mixing and editing. And, we can always talk about latte, red wine, food, badminton and running.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When we talk about food and trip, we have to be serious and detailed!

For sure, i will bring my friend around LA, but let’s add some stops for good food on top of those mainstream tourist spots in LA!

We will start the day with a cup of Spanish latte with chicken & waffle from Bru’s Wiffle, Santa Monica, i will insist my friend to add a sunny-side up fried egg too. Then our next stop will be walking along the Santa Monica-Vanice beach to burn some calories before our lunch. Or, we can walk around Santa Monica 3rd street Promenade if the beach is too challenging.

Then, we will head to Sawtelle to grab the Tsukemen or Ramen from Tsujita which is approved by my Japanese friends as lunch. It isn’t a bad idea to grab a honey milk shake from Honeymee or a taiyaki ice-cream from Somi-Somi before we continue the trip.

Next, we definitely have couple options – LACMA, Oscar Museum, Beverly Hills, Garden Grove, Griffith Observatory, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Little Tokyo and etc. If you want to catch the LA sunset with a considered easy hiking trail, then we will do Griffith Observatory, Hollywood Walk of Fame and Hollywood sign. If we chose this route, then we must go to my favorite Hainanese chicken rice from Heng Heng Chicken Rice, Thai town.

Else, i will drive my friend to Koreatown and explore the local coffee shops, but i strongly recommended Tiramisu Latte from one of my favorite coffee shops, Alchemist Coffee Project. While waiting for LACMA to lid up their famous pillars, why don’t we enjoy some authentic Korean food since we’re in Koreatown?

Instead of Korean BBQ, we should try something special – Yupdduk’s tteokbokki (spicy rice cake), Master Ha’s ganjang gejang (soy marinated crab), JangChoongDong’s bossam (boiled pork wrap), Jinsol’s dwaeji gukbap (Busan pork soup & rice), Hangari’s clam kalguksu (clam noodle soup, NOT plain noodle soup) or DaeBuDo Korean seafood BBQ. You will regret if you insisted to have K-BBQ haha! Lastly, we will end the night with a bowl of Oakobing bingsu (Korean shaved ice).

Besides those stops that i mentioned earlier, i will bring my bestie to Disneyland, Six Flags, downtown Pasadena, Malibu, Silver Lake, Porto’s bakery, Salt & Straw ice-cream, Wanderlust creamery and even Little Saigon & Irvine since it’s a week long trip.

But if my friend is desperately craving for Asian food, the golden triangle Monterey Park-San Gabriel-Alhambra is our best option for HongKong dim sum, Szechuan hotpot, Hong Kong BBQ, Taiwanese noodle soup and more!

It’s really hard to list out all my favorite restaurants, but i promise that i won’t let my bestie’s tummy stays empty!

And if my bestie is bored of LA, then let’s do a road trip to Joshua Tree, Yosemite National Park, Sequoia National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Death Valley or Las Vegas haha!

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?
Wow, there are tons of people/group that i’d love to make a shoutout!

Firstly, the 55 Burbank So-Hais – Nic, Melissa, Khalil and Corliss, i’m grateful to be surrounded with such supportive besties since the college days. It did strengthen my confidence when i decided to pursue my career in LA, and guess what, we’re still supporting each other nowadays when we’re needed. And, we always share lame and goofy jokes.

Next, Victor Kong and Blenda Lau, who were my housemates in the good old days. The support, sharing and friendship are priceless and unforgettable because we started our career in LA around the same time and we are always by each others’ side since the good old struggling days until now.

Last but not least, my family and friends back in Malaysia, i’m thankful for their long term and continued support on my music journey through all of the ups and downs.

Website: Www.soyasoo.com

Linkedin: Soya Soo

Facebook: Soya Soo

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@soyabeansoo

Image Credits
the studio headshot and photo with Steve Chiu was taken by Tomorrow Mingtian