We were lucky to catch up with Flaviya Kaklyugina recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Flaviya, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

We always have to take a risk if we want to grow. I have taken many risks in my life, sometimes I did not have much choice though, other times I was following my heart. The first risk I took when I left my parents’ home with only $126 in my pocket. I moved to a different country with those money and luckily I found a job within the first 3 weeks. Some mornings I would wake up crying, but I always knew that those challenges were temporary and that my life would be different in 5 years from there. And it was true. Five years later I was studying in the UK and performing my original songs live in London. Then I went all of a sudden to Los Angeles, when I did not know how to drive a car and had no idea where I would stay. But I believed it would be the right next step for my music career, and everything fell into place for me. I also thought I was too brave to come as a songwriter to the number one city in the world in the entertainment industry as a non-native English speaker. And in Los Angeles, I learnt that hearing lyrics as a melody is more important than speaking English as the first language. I have had some amazing achievements and have seen places I could never even dream about.

At the moment I am taking a new risk by developing a brand of goods for dogs and dog lovers A Pup Full Of Love, that was inspired by my Australian Shepherd puppy. I don’t know where it is going to take me, but I have a strong desire inside me to bring my ideas to life and so I am just following my heart again,

Flaviya, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a music producer, DJ, songwriter and Dolby Atmos professional. I got into music when I was 6 years old. My parents noticed that I liked playing piano and enrolled me into a classical music school, where I studied for 12 years. I loved studying operas, and it was the operas that inspired me to start writing Pop songs. I noticed that people know only the famous arias from operas, and there are some hits operas, like Carmen, where every single theme is memorable and recognizable. But many themes in other operas sound like random melodies just to put lyrics on, and so the general public doesn’t know those themes, as they are not memorable. And so I decided to write only memorable catchy music.

I was already writing songs abroad for artists on a record label, when I decided to visit Los Angeles to become a better songwriter. I felt like Los Angeles was the right place for me to be as it is challenging and you always have to learn and update your skills, which is a comfortable place for me to be. It is the only place where I feel like I can explore my full potential. Although I learnt music production by myself when I was 16, I had no mentors, and so my production did not sound commercial. And when I came to LA I made my dream come true – I studied music production, mixing and mastering. When my production got to the releasable level I started making music for clients – artists and songwriters. Being a singer myself really helps me provide a broader service to musicians, as I can actually explain them how to improve singing in the studio, which most of the engineers lack. And as an active DJ, I stay up-to-date with music trends, which many music producers lack as well. Every genre has a sound selection, which you start noticing when you listen to a lot of music within the same genre. And DJing helps a lot to be aware of those sounds.

In 2023, I started also Dolby Atmos mixing. This surround sound technology has been used in the last 10 years in movies, and lately it has been used a lot in music as well. Dolby Atmos is my new passion. I love mixing in Atmos. Once you hear Atmos you don’t want to go back to stereo anymore. Switching from Atmos to stereo is like switching from stereo to mono. Many professionals do not like it, but they just haven’t explored it is full potential.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

There are many disappointments and struggles on a creative journey, but at the same time it can bring the most exciting experiences in your life. I have truly had the best days in my life in music. I think it is a natural cycle of the industry – when you have low downs, you have very high ups, in contrast to some regular jobs that can be seen as more linear.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

People outside the creative industries tend to follow a common path – getting education, working, buying a house and building a family. They want stability. I have heard an opinion that stability is a degradation. I personally do not believe in stability. We all learnt our lessons with the pandemic. I recently run into one of my journals where I had my goals for 2020 written down. That made me laugh. None of those dreams came true of course. That’s why I do not believe in this popular question – “where do you see yourself in 5 years?”. We have seen many examples worldwide when people would just wake up one day in a brand new country due to some unexpected crisis. And even if the economy is stable, you may feel like a different person with different values in 5 years. And maybe none of your previous goals matter any more. People should be more flexible in my opinion. In comparison, I have heard many stories of creative people that would get tremendous success all of a sudden and would buy a house in the best area of LA. At the end a life of a creative can be even more rewarding than a stable path. You never know.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.duckthebass.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flaviyake/
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0uVxZNJ0gMakbsViHJRq40?si=_8KYxB_xQ_qzGAaEDbdTaQ