Meet Valeria Krachunova-Popova, MPSE

Film sound designer, composer, music editor, assoc. prof. at  National Academy for Theatre & Film Arts (NATFA) “Krustyo Sarafov”, Head of Sound Department

Valeria and Aslı Yalçın (Field recordist and co-founder at Vadi Sound) had a written conversation around the diverse drivers that shaped Valeria’s professional journey and the countless projects she has undertaken and delivered successfully.

Valeria is a versatile, hardworking sound designer and composer who has worked with most of the significant directors in Bulgaria over the past 25 years. Her love and dedication to her work, along with her desire to keep experimenting and share her knowledge with others, is truly inspiring.

Here we go!

How did you become a film sound designer? What are some of the experiences as well as people that helped you build this career and the professional you are today?

By chance:) I am a musician. I have been playing the piano since I was 4, and when I was accepted  to study at  the National Academy of Music in 1997, I thought the most interesting B.A. was Sound Engineering (without being quite sure what it was). Over the years I  was lucky to have  great people in the field of sound engineering and cinema as my mentors. In 1999 I started working in the sound studio of the Academy – recording and editing of classical music. From 2002 to 2007 I worked at Doli Media Studio – the largest post-production studio at the time. There I worked on commercials, trailers, TV series, animations, documentaries and feature films – everything! For years I worked on the Bulgarian ADR versions of many Disney movies (e.g. “Finding Nemo”, “Cars”, “The Incredibles”). Also tons of content for HBO, etc. In 2002 I began working with the famous Bulgarian director Svetoslav Ovcharov on a series of historical documentaries. He is one of the most awarded Bulgarian directors and screenwriters. From Svetoslav I learned a lot about cinema, dramaturgy and sound design in our practical work, which continues to this day. Following that I was really lucky to work with many of the most talented Bulgarian directors, actors, animators, editors, film music composers, sound designers, cinematographers: Yuli Stoyanov, Svetla Tsotsorkova, Bojidar Petkov, Andrey Altaparmakov, Nina Altaparmakova, Veselin Hristov and many more. 

The fact that I am a musician helps me a lot in my work, I accept the soundtrack of a given film as a musical composition – the sound has a dramaturgy which, of course, is directly dependent on the dramaturgy of the film; there is a development in sound, culminations, leitmotifs: synergy between picture and sound should be perfect!

What type of projects do you take on now and what services do you provide?

I’m currently working on the sound design of two documentaries and one feature film,  then I’ll be mixing the sound – they have to be ready by July. I am mainly involved in post-production and mixing for films, but sometimes I am invited to write original music for films and theater performances, or to make musical arrangements; although, rarely I happen to be on a filming location during the shooting process…

What’s some of the good and not so good aspects of your job?

I honestly believe that my job is the most interesting in the cinema. I wouldn’t change it for any other :))) When you work on the sound design of a film, you create a new world in a unique way. No two projects are the same, each individual film requires (in addition to purely technical skills) many creative solutions that help enhance its emotional impact.

I know you’ve worked with some of the greatest directors in Bulgaria. As a sound designer, when and how do you get involved with films?

In some of the projects I work on, the directors contact me at the pre-production stage. It is rare that I myself am a sound mixer on a filming location (but it does happen); at the beginning we always discuss the script with the directors, we decide whether there is a need to prepare any sound material in advance. For example, the singback of the musical performances had to be prepared for the filming of Svetoslav Ovcharov’s film “The Bet” \2021\.

Another director I love working with is Svetla Tsotsorkova – she pays great attention to the phonogram. For her film “Sister” she asked me to be the sound mixer on the set and we had a chance to record over 20 hours of wild sounds across multiple locations, including different machines, cars, trucks, etc. We had prepared a kind of sound map of each location – a small library of wild sounds from anywhere that the shooting process was going on; this fact helped a lot in the post-production process to build a full-blooded and impactful soundtrack. Recording a lot of wild sound effects and atmospheres is a practice in my work with Svetla – we also apply it in all her documentaries(which is not a common practice).

Do directors you work with usually have ideas for sound design? Were there any movies where the director brought some creative ideas and how did you two co-create film’s sound?

In some cases, the directors know exactly how they want their film to sound and come up with specific ideas that we realize together. In others, they leave it to me to propose sound solutions and then together, depending on the specifics of the film we are working on, we make decisions about what makes an emotional impact in the movie and what doesn’t.

Subtle sounds can be just as effective for supporting and/or telling the story. What advice would you share on using subtle sounds as effective tools of storytelling? Can you share examples of that in your work?

The use of different sounds depends on the film’s genre and scale. Of course, in an intimate movie that tells the personal story of two people, it is difficult to find a place for any spectacular design effects of… spaceships for example :))))

Often through the sounds characteristic of the film environment, I try to convey the tension and emotionality of the story. For example, in the movie Thirst, a title that simultaneously points to the characters’ specific need for water, but also to their thirst for love, all the sounds of the water drilling machine are exaggerated, further processed and enhanced with others to heighten the episodes sense of tension.

Can you talk about your approach to adding pre-recorded sound effects vs on-set on Foley recording? How do you use dialogue and sound effects? And what’s your approach to silence and ambiences, metaphoric sounds too as you prefer to name it.

Again, it depends on the project I’m working on, the time I have for post-production and, of course, the budget. In feature and documentary productions I prefer to use high quality recorded wild sound effects from the locations, those are complemented with high quality libraries, and of course I use Foley effects recordings when necessary. Dialogue is of the utmost importance in movies when it is present. Often on set, the attention of my peers is on the best possible sound recording of the dialogue, and some of the production effects are practically unusable. This necessitates post-production re-recording of much of the sound effects and atmospheres, use of sound effect libraries, Foley fx recording, inventing and creating design effects. Also I often use virtual instruments in my work – the approach depends entirely on the nature and genre of the film.

In the animated film Cornucopia (by Ani Ivanova and Dimitar Ovcharov), my responsibility was the sound design and the music: all sound aspects in general. And since the film is highly stylized – telling the story of our world like paintings on a vase, the sound also needed to be highly stylized, with lots of sound metaphors. For example, the main percussion instrument I have used in the music is the Udu – a clay Persian instrument that resembles a clay vase, in an episode recreating drawings on Aztec ceramics a modulated Aztec death whistle is used; in the Tower of Babel episode – I used a sampled, virtual instrument – women chanting, whispering: a direct reference to the story of the collapse of the tower…

How much is your time is in post and what is your preferred approach there? What about designed sound effects and use of synth?

Most of my time is spent in post-production. Depends a lot on the projects. For example, a week ago I finished work on a new animated film by Simeon Sokerov: a cyberpunk animation. In this project it was natural to have a heavy use of design effects – synthesized, modulated, superimposed – the specificity of the film required it.

How is your sound design evolved and expanded throughout the years?

I work a lot. A 10-12 hour work day is typical. Over the years I worked on tons of varying types of content – each bringing its own learning curves. Beyond sound design, I am also engaged in music composition for both cinema and theater. I watch a lot of movies, play games, and very important to me – I work with my students and, I must admit, this keeps me constantly on my toes: up to date, exploring…

What’s your experience of being a woman in audio? Based on these and as an avid supporter of women in audio, can you share some recommendations with both the young and seasoned women that are working in audio?

I don’t think it was easy to get into the business in my day, but it’s not easy now either. Although the opportunities are greater, the world is more open, the competition is also serious and you have to be persistent, not give up, and constantly improve yourself. Proficiency and hard work always get rewarded at the end of the day.

Valeria was amongst the speakers at the recent Sounding Off 2023 workshop that- for the first time in Türkiye-  brought 15 young women in audio together to support their careers and empower them along the way. You can watch Valeria’s presentation here; 2:55:37 – 4:00:10