Soul Orbit, a.k.a David Waldez, was born and raised in West Covina. The 20-year-old commutes everyday to Fullerton College to have the opportunity to gain all the knowledge and skills he needs to succeed in the music industry.

At the age of 13, Waldez began his journey as a musician. It first started off when downloading an app called Auxy on his phone, where he would make music using techniques called loops and faders.

“It was really simple, but I managed to make stuff on that and I even made two albums through that app. They’re not great and are amateur for when I was making music through the age of seventeen,” said Waldez.

He believes that this app was instrumental in helping him develop his current sound. What started off as a hobby to do for fun became a passion he would end up falling for and dedicating himself to.

Waldez had attended Cal State University, Fullerton for two years while only working on his GEDs and remaining undecided in what his major would be. When he came to the decision of taking his music career seriously, he knew he needed resources that could help him along the way.

Once investigating and finding out about Fullerton College’s music department, he made the decision to transfer. This is currently his first year and he has declared himself a music production major.

Waldez often reminices back to a childhood memory, in which he and his mother visited a flower shop where they would offer piano lessons at the back of the building.

“I just really liked to go there to just be taught by this one old guy how to play piano,” said Waldez.

He describes the man’s tiny hands struggling to reach the C and A key and how kind the man was when teaching him. Waldez describes it as a memory that brings him a feeling of warmth when he looks back on it.

Another wholesome moment of his was during grade school. A class of his had a piano that was placed in the room. Waldez’s friends would automatically cheer him on and ask him to play for the class.

“I would go over and everyone would just kind of gather around and I would play whatever I knew. And something just felt really great about that,” said Waldez.

Of course, the journey into exploring and growing skills or passions can always come with obstacles along the way. For musicians, like Waldez, a lot comes into play during the creative process of making new music. Waldez describes it as his least favorite part about being a musician.

“I hate when I can’t make anything, when I have no ideas, or I have a good idea and I don’t feel I can come up with something to support that idea,” said Waldez on the writer’s block that he gets. “It becomes a small disappointment when I can’t follow it up with another good idea.”

When asked about how he tends to overcome these types of struggles and if he’s ever been successful at it, Waldez said, “I’m not successful in that. You do have to be mindful of your failures because those are the stepping stones to what eventually becomes a full song.”

From his recent album released in 2023 entitled “The Way Out,” his song “AnchorS” was one of those projects. When working on his album, Waldez was scrolling through his unfinished projects and came across the song. He worked on it five years prior and didn’t fully finish the piece until last year.

“That guitar line that I made on ‘AnchorS’ was really cool, it was really captivating. It’s a nice refresher from the first two songs on the album which are a little heavier to digest,” said Waldez.

His first solo album “Reflective,” released officially on Spotify in 2020, was one of the albums he created using the app Auxy. “Reflective” is an album highlighting Waldez’s reflection on the significant moments in his life.

His creative process towards making music takes place at night. Where the world is silent and peaceful, Waldez’s inspiration is the loudest. He starts off with finding a rhythm in his head. From there, the baseline is formed along with the use of other instruments, like the guitar, to form it until, eventually, a tune is made up in his head.

“There have been times where it’s like 3 a.m. and I’m in my bed on a school night but I come up with a song and I tell myself this is too good to keep in my head,” said Waldez.

As for what’s to come in the future, Waldez is currently working on a new song titled “Horizons” which will be the opener for his new, upcoming album that has yet to be named. The album plans to be released around late December of this year or early January of 2025.

“I think what people can expect from this new album is more nuance in the music and better quality sound. It’s the next logical step for me to take, looking back from ‘Reflective’ and ‘The Way Out.’”

When asked what he would do if he wasn’t making music. Waldez makes it clear how this path towards the music industry can define the rest of his life from here on. The passion to pursue the art has marked him from the very moment he felt a connection with the music.

“It’s like this or bust for me. I just want to keep doing what I love throughout my life, no matter how much money it makes or doesn’t make,” said Waldez.