We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Larry Chang a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Larry thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

Taking vacations is absolutely necessary for me as it provides nutrition and opportunities that allow me not only to reflect on thoughts and to recharge our energy but also to be inspired. So that when I come back to work, I can have a much better mind space and performance to my craft.

Working in the creative field, life can be quite intense from time to time as we constantly deal with tight deadlines and long working hours. When getting more exhausted, I find myself hitting the creative block more often. And when that happenes, taking a vacation is definitely I will do to recover to my full strength.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a composer and a sound designer. My main focus has been on writing music pieces and creating sonic branding for stories of all sorts. I value working on my personal concept album projects that tell stories based on my own narratives and background as well as collaborating with clients and other creative souls to develop collective stories that are larger than myself. So far, I have accomplished and released several projects that I am really proud of.

I worked with Construct Studio, an SF-based VR studio, to create immersive music and sound experience for their interactive VR narrative experience, The Price of Freedom, and a Tower Defense-inspired VR shooter, Home A Drone. Both are released on major game distribution platforms like Steam with very positive reviews.

I also collaborated with Pittsburgh-based Orta Interactive Studio to score and design interactive audio for Sweet Sorrow: Romeo and Juliet, a VR theatrical experience that brings the words of Shakespeare to life using immersive technology. As well as their heavier location-based immersive VR documentary projects, Auschwitz VR and Kristallnacht VR, which are installed in the Mania Nudel Holocaust Learning Center in Miami.

My most recent personal concept album project, The Legends of Altair and Vega, is based on a well-known story in Chinese Mythology. It is a love story about the forbidden love between Altair, a mortal man, and Vega, the Goddess of Weaving. In the story, Altair is set on a journey to reunite with Vega who was taken away by the authorities in the Heavenly Palace. Altair encountered various characters along the way that became his teammates to help him achieve his mission. Each music piece in the album is a chapter of the story.

Having a background as an Asian immigrant blessed with the understanding of both western and eastern musical culture, I try my best to advocate Asian representation and invite people to listen, appreciate, and gain more knowledge about the voice, stories, and perspectives of the Asian community in this country.

I feel strongly to keep telling stories with music that touches people. I believe those stories have the potential to not only heal wounded souls but also inspire them to make positive changes in their lives.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, being able to see my work being displayed or presented to the audience is the most rewarding moment of the work. Whether it’s personal projects or client collaboration, there is always a message we want to express to the audience. Art is like a conversation between artists and the audience, it’s always exciting to see how the message is received and what response we will get back from the other side.

We all like our work to be well-received by the audience. But even if the audience doesn’t like what they experience, it will still be good feedback for us as we can reflect on what we can do better to deliver our message the next time.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

It’s important to make sincere and authentic connections with clients. Check-in with them from time to time and ask how they are doing and the projects they have been working on lately and actually be curious about their lives and listen to what they said. Don’t approach clients just because you want a job from them. People can sense desperation pretty easily and no one like it. Think about how I want to be treated if I were in their position. I aspire to be empathetic, kind, and thoughtful knowing that it’s another human being with feelings and emotions that we are talking with.

And when working on projects with clients, always make sure to deliver the best quality of work we can that meets their needs. If clients had a good experience working with you, it is very likely that they will reach out to you again when they have needs in the future.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.larry-chang.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/larrisim/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LarrisimStudio/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larry-yucheng-chang-36442180/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/larrisim
• Other: Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/larrisimchang