music
.about
My fascination with music began at age five, with a drum set and a television. Parked in front of MTV, I taught myself to play along to Billy Idol. Guitar and piano followed at seven, and by grade school I was cycling through every concert and orchestra instrument I could get my hands on, a restless musical education that became the foundation of everything to come.
By middle school I was fronting Loomis, a band of schoolyard friends whose demos caught the ear of Grammy-winning producer John Rollo (The Kinks, Joe Cocker, Southside Johnny). High school brought a sharp left turn with The Honeybee Boys, a nine-piece swing and hot jazz outfit that recorded the EP Struthio's Flight and debuted at the 1998 JVC Jazz Festival in Manhattan, the festival's first-ever live-streamed performance. A few years later, with a more guitar-forward sensibility, I formed Astrophel, early Coldplay meets U2, and worked the NYC rock circuit hard, playing CBGB's, The Pyramid, The Continental, The Lion's Den and Elbow Room before cutting The Air I Breathe EP in 2003.
What came next moved in two directions at once.
.georgevala
The reinvention as George Vala came in Boston, 2005. My debut EP Gringo Brass, produced with long-time collaborator Audioprophecy, landed on Grande Buffo and signalled a clean break into electronic territory. Our partnership hit its high-water mark with "Provokateur," a track that landed on Buddha Bar's legendary compilation series twice and has since racked up more than half a billion YouTube plays. Releases followed in rapid succession across Terminal M, Suara, Stereo, Upon You Records, EMI, King Street Sounds, Lovemonk and a long list of others.
Before moving back home to New York, I held down multiple residencies at Bijou Boston, Splash, and Om Lounge. As co-founder of Boston's cult Sunday Groove party under Publiq Promotions, alongside Tamer Malki (Bedouin) and Mazda Jalali (Audioprophecy), I quickly became one of the city's most sought-after DJs.
A run on Kaiserdisco's KD Music, including "Autonomous" (played at Sensation Europe), "And Then I Met You" and 2016 summer anthem "Let Me Tell You," set the stage for my biggest breakout. That same year, "11:41" dropped on Get Physical Music, hitting Beatport's Top 10 in its first week and going on to be re-released four times, most recently on Phillip Jung's (M.A.N.D.Y.) 2026 best-of Get Physical compilation. The track now soundtracks Starbucks cafes worldwide.
2016 also saw me headline Electric Zoo, with international touring and regular Winter Music Conference appearances in Miami to follow. My music has been supported by Luciano, Marco Carola, Booka Shade, Kaiserdisco, DJ Sneak, Joseph Capriati, Monika Kruse, Stacey Pullen, Chus & Ceballos and Riva Starr, among others.
.label affiliations
.releases
.live sets & mixes
.sound design & composition
The other direction has been quieter, but no less serious. For more than a decade, I've scored film and television, and built interactive sonic worlds for AAA games.
.film & television
My composition career began on the freelance circuit, writing for graphics hardware maker ATI Research and for Heavy Melody Music, a New York based music house. In 2011, Heavy Melody brought me on full-time as in-house composer, opening the door to blockbuster film work and the chance to score and sound-design for some of the biggest properties in cinema.
I wrote extensively for tentpole movie trailers, from Star Wars to Mad Max to Godzilla. Working shoulder to shoulder with some of the most accomplished composers in the industry sharpened my instincts for sound design and taught me how to use music to heighten a compelling narrative.
.game music
I've spent more than a decade building interactive sonic experiences for AAA video game developers. I've served as Audio Director for Blue Fang Games, Tencent Interactive, Large Animal Games and others, becoming the youngest Audio Director in the industry while working with top studios to bring their worlds to life.
My work has pushed into new territory in dynamic music and adaptive sound effects, developed in close collaboration with Audiokinetic, the team behind the Wwise sound engine. To date I've shipped nine titles across PC, Wii and iOS, most notably the Zoo Tycoon franchise for Microsoft.