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

Hi David, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
After discovering music, it became apparent to me that this is what I wanted to explore. I enjoyed practicing and playing music for long hours, but I also resonated with musical theory and the mathematical relationships that exist within this art form. This was reinforced later on once I began to learn music production, especially deep diving into the tools and the technical intricacies of the devices used to record music. This led me to explore electronics and computer science from a creative perspective. I continuously find myself learning about the technical foundations that enable creative mediums to exist, especially in the fields of music, video game development, and digital media.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My journey as an artist has taken many twists and turns. I have played a variety of roles, including guitar performer, sound designer, audio engineer, entrepreneur, app developer, installation and instrument designer, and educator.

Being the only musician in my family, my first challenge was to convince my family that this was the path for me. They supported me in my decision to go to Berklee, with the intention to become a guitar performer. At Berklee, I learned about the many paths that exist in music and art, and took a liking to the music studio and synthesizers. I then went on to do live sound, create sound design for music and film, and mix records. Little by little, I continued to immerse myself in the world of technology, development, and interactive media.

Some years ago, I found myself at the Vivid lights and interactive art festival, in Sydney. I decided installation design and interactive media was something I wanted to learn in detail, and decided to give it a go for the next five years, knowing that worst case scenario, I could go back to my professional audio practice. I started a master’s degree in digital media, where I grew as a technologist and programmer. I focused on video game development, installation design, and programming. These mediums bring together interactivity, graphics, music, technology, and more importantly, people.

What I did not expect, was to enjoy instructional design, which once again readjusted my path. I became an educator, and in a full-circle moment, I found myself teaching both music production and new technologies at Berklee.

If I were to highlight something from my experience, is that I was never terribly clear on what way to go. It has always been easier for me to identify what I do not like than what I like, which means that my best course of action is simply to try things. Something else I learned is to allow myself to be bad at something while picking it up. Without this, it would have been far too easy to get frustrated and give up every time I tried to learn something new.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I have always visited LA as a tourist, so I’m usually the person being brought places.

However, in Boston, I would make sure to bring people to the Museum of Fine Arts followed by Trillium for a good East Coast IPA. As a day trip, I would take them to the beautiful tiny town of Rockport, followed by Newburyport, and Plum Island. Finally, no Massachusetts trip is complete without going down to the Cape, getting Victorian sandwiches and sweets at Dunbar House in the town of Sandwich, and going all the way to Provincetown to see some sand dunes.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
This shoutout goes out to my partner, Elif. Her never-ending support has been fundamental in the process of reinventing myself and learning new things. Her encouragement is always there to lift me when I need a boost, and I wouldn’t trade this partnership for anything in the world.

Website: https://sound-architect.com

Instagram: soundarchitect_dcb

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