Today we’d like to introduce you to Yi-hsuan Liu
Hi Yi-Hsuan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
The album “Zero Landmine” , composed by Sakamoto Ryuichi, represents how I experienced and transformed the music in my life. Music is sound, it has the ability to be as a language we can speak through, but it can also just be beautiful sounds.
I grew up in a family of movie lovers. It never occurred to me that I would be interested in becoming a film composer. I studied hard for over a decade to be a violist following the Asian education system to reach the highest level of my profession. Pursuing perfection is what I learned from being a performer, it helped me to bear and deal with stress. However, what classical music also brought to me is how I learned to interpret music. It guided me to have a more sensitive taste of music and speak my own voice through performing.
After enrolling into Shih Chien University, I noticed that I felt incomplete to the idea of being a performer. I pushed myself to explore more possibilities of what music can mean to me. I played in live concerts, recording sessions, and tried to participate in sound engineering, music business and jazz improvisation classes. One day, due to a sound engineering assignment, I went to the movie theater. At a point in a particular scene with source music, I found that the music in the score was so touching to me. It brought me into the scene, and as an audience I also could feel the character’s from the story. In that moment, I felt the power of music, helping the story to deliver the emotion to the audience. And I found that this is the art I wanna pursue in my work.
I was fortunate to have the experience of living in Japan and studying at Tokyo College of Music for one year. The experience of learning Japanese gave me a new way to rethink music. It showed me how we can use a different language to express ourselves and how we can use the music as a language to deliver the emotion. Since I enrolled at Berklee College of Music, I fell in love with the sound of jazz and learned how to create emotion through composition.
The concept of “music as sound” popped up in my life when I worked in Alibaba Group as a sound designer in China. I was studying with my colleagues at that time and shared ideas about what sound effects are, and what is the difference between them and music. When I got the opportunity to have an internship with Nick South, he trained me to become more detailed and sensitive to deal with sound, and how to get the balance between music, sound effects and dialogue. What we could do more for the film from the music part to make the sound of the film more accomplished. I started to notice music can be sound, and sound can be music.
After moving back to Taiwan, I pushed myself more and got into the film industry. I scored some short films, and in the past years as a film composer, I noticed I am looking for my voice. All the past experiences have affected and supported me until today and are all showing up in my music. My recent works include “The Uniform” (music arranger) and “A Place Called Silence” (music assistant, score preparation), both were selected for the Busan International Film Festival. Additionally, the feature film ” Chaotic Justice” (Original Music) won the Best Original Score at the Fox International Film Festival.
Besides composing and assistant roles, I’ve worked as an music editor on projects like HBO Asia’s ” Trinity of Shadows” (where I also wrote additional music), ” Psychologist” and “The Summer Temple Faire”. I also worked as a game audio supervisor and audio lead at Gamania, one of the most important Taiwanese video game companies and has been involved with many developing projects including the recently released Chibi Maruko-Chan Match Puzzle.
I was fortunate to enroll into the USC Screen Scoring Program 2024 as a recipient of both the Nordstrom Family Scholarship and the Taiwan Government Scholarship. The program’s intensive training has already elevated my skills and abilities for the next chapter in my career. I am excited to explore new opportunities and continue advancing my journey here.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As a film or media scoring professional, one of the biggest challenges I’ve encountered is finding a way to break into the industry. After completing my studies at Berklee and my first internship in Los Angeles, I had to make the difficult decision to leave the city and return to my hone country due to the impact of COVID-19.
Without having any resources in Taiwan, I began reaching out to people through social media and connecting with others at industry events. At the start of my career, I had to rely on teaching violin as my main income while working on numerous student short films. For nearly a year, I couldn’t make a living solely from scoring gigs. Many of my peers from that time gave up pursuing careers in film scoring. However, I was fortunate to find an opportunity to work with Sing Wu, a female composer from Taiwan. I began working with her as a music editor and assistant.
Since then, I began earning credits on commercial projects, which opened up more opportunities for scoring work. In addition, I kept searching for composer positions at various video game companies in Taiwan and was fortunate to secure one. This was a turning point in my career, allowing me to establish a steady income after two years after returning to Taiwan.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
It has been two years since I started working as a music consultant at Gamania, a video game company from Taiwan. My main duties involve managing all audio aspects within my department, including supervising the music style, sound design, and the implementation of music and sound in games. I am also responsible for creating briefs and guidelines for hired composers to use when scoring the companys’ games, as well as recruiting new composers and sound designers for upcoming projects.
The most interesting of this work is the opportunity to interact with professionals from various fields and define the sound style for the game. I enjoy collaborating with others, and teamwork in the video game industry is always fun and friendly.
In addition to my role as a music consultant in game company, I also assist a Taiwanese female composer, Sing Wu. My work with her includes score preparation, booth reading during recording session, composing or arranging additional music, and music editing.
We have collaborated on several projects, including The Uniform and A Place Called Silence, which were selected for screening at the Busan International Film Festival. Additionally, I worked as a music editor on HBO Asia’s TV series Trinity of Shadows and the TV drama Psychologist (a 48-episode series on Youku and Netflix).
The most challenging part of working with Sing Wu is managing tight deadlines and handling projects efficiently under pressure. She has trained me to be more professional in my work and to develop a strong work ethic, which has greatly helped me establish my career in the film industry in Taiwan.
Furthermore, I have been composing for several projects as a composer. I was fortunate to be selected as part of the main creative team by J&C Film Studio from Taiwan and composed the score for their first feature film, Chaotic Justice, which was released in Taiwanese theaters in 2022. The score also won the Best Original Score award at the Fox International Film Festival.
I am always interested in exploring different types of projects. In 2023, I participated in a competition organized by the Taiwanese government to design music for a metro station as part of the Taichung MRT Soundscape Project and was selected. I also composed the score for a student fashion film, which earned a nomination for Best Music Design at the Youth Innovation Design Festival.
I believe that what has truly helped me develop my career in the industry is my professionalism in handling various roles. It is challenging to succeed in the industry with just one skill. Taiwan’s film industry has taught me that, due to the small market, limited budgets, and tight deadlines, every composer needs to be able to handle all aspects of the job independently and work efficiently.
Another important factor is my passion for collaborating with others. I enjoy following directions, listening to feedback, and working as part of a team, All of these experiences have shaped me into the professional I am today.
How do you define success?
To me, success is about continuous growth and learning. It’s not just achieving goals but also feeling fulfilled and proud of the effort I put into my work and personal life. When I worked with the Taiwanese composer SingWu in the film A Place Called Silence, there were a lot of challenges involving the production of the film. However, the film released in the Busan International Film Festival, which is one of the most important film festivals in Asia. That was a success not only because of the festival, but for everyone involved in waited several years to be able to watch the film in its complete form.
Success can come in many forms and sizes. It is often said to enjoy the process no matter the result, and that’s true. Sometimes, we focus to much in achieving something that we only look up to that final moment where things are done and we end up forgetting about the small successes that we had along the way. I believe it is important to be able to look back and see the small successes we had so far.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://play.reelcrafter.com/bcomusic/yhl
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yihsuanliu_music/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nemo.liu
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@yihsuanliu/videos
