“There is no failure in creativity”—LNA Does Audio Stuff on fearless music-making
“Creativity thrives when you stop waiting for permission.”
LNA Does Audio Stuff is on a mission to redefine how we approach creativity. Liina Turtonen, the force behind it, is an artist, producer, educator, and author who takes her classical roots and turns them into to electronic innovation. Through her music, YouTube channel, and interactive sound design, she’s making music production more inclusive, dismantling barriers, and proving that creativity thrives when we embrace imperfection. This International Women’s Day, she shares how taking action—without waiting for permission—has shaped her artistry, empowered others, and fueled a career that refuses to fit into boxes.
Who is LNA Does Audio Stuff? What inspired you to pursue a music career, and how has your musical style changed over time?
I’m Liina, also known as LNA, and I’m an artist, producer, author, sound designer, and educator. I started out playing classical violin and piano as a child, then fell in love with electronic music when I realized I could create entire things on my own terms, without the rules of classical music I grew up knowing. As my whole family are musicians and artists, it was the kind of life I knew growing up, but I never thought I would become a musician. My aim was to become an actress. However, after traveling and moving to Glasgow, Scotland, I rediscovered music from a different perspective. That discovery led me into music production, sound design, and eventually, even writing a book about creative confidence and music production. And as a musician and YouTuber performing still stayed a big part of my life.
A couple of years ago I started to systematically find my own artistic sound as a musician, which I felt had been lost for so many years. My style has evolved into this blend of chill and progressive house, combining ethereal vocals and classical elements with electronic sound, with a touch of Nordic melancholy. It’s music that feels good to make but also connects with people on an emotional level.
The theme for International Women’s Day 2025 is “Accelerate Action” — What does this mean to you, and how do you embody this theme in your work and career?
For me, “Accelerate Action” means removing unnecessary barriers and just going for it, especially in creative spaces where we’re often made to feel like we need permission to belong. So many people, especially women and underrepresented artists, wait until they feel “ready” before putting themselves out there. But the truth is, you’ll never feel 100% ready. The best way to learn, grow, and build confidence is by doing.
I try to embody this in everything I do, whether it's releasing a track every month, performing live even when it feels terrifying, creating educational content that makes music production more accessible, or designing interactive sound for dancers with disabilities. It’s all about making things happen instead of waiting for the "right" moment. My book “Creative Confidence and Music Production: Overcome Your Insecurities” is very much exactly about this topic.
Your YouTube channel, "LNA Does Audio Stuff," features tutorials, reviews, and audio challenges. How does engaging with a broad audience through educational content influence your own artistic growth and creativity?
Honestly, teaching forces me to be a better artist. Explaining something makes you understand it on a deeper level, so every time I break down a technique for a tutorial, I find myself applying it in my own productions in new ways. It also keeps me open to experimenting, because when you’re making content regularly, you can’t just stick to the same workflow over and over again.
Beyond that, my audience constantly challenges me. People ask questions I never even thought about, and that curiosity pushes me to learn more, try new approaches, and stay connected to different perspectives in music production. Plus, there’s something about seeing someone get excited about a concept that reminds me why I love this work in the first place.
In your music, you blend electronic elements with influences from your Nordic heritage. Can you share your creative process for integrating these cultural aspects into your compositions?
It’s not something I consciously set out to do, it just happens naturally. I am an immigrant from Finland, who’s now lived in the UK for 12 years. My Finnish culture is a big part of who I am and how I identify and it really shows in my music. Finnish music often has this way of feeling both melancholic and hopeful at the same time, and that duality really resonates with me. I think a lot of it comes through in the way I use spacious, atmospheric sounds, organic textures, and minimal yet emotive melodies.
What is your usual production setup like, and what are your favorite or essential pieces of gear needed for live performances or in the studio? How do these instruments impact your creativity?
My setup is always evolving, but the core stays the same. I produce in Ableton Live and use Push 3, which has become a huge part of my workflow, especially for live performance. It’s great for hands-on control and improvisation, which keeps my sets feeling organic rather than rigidly programmed. I think I need physical buttons to press and play to make my tracks feel like they are telling a story. That’s why I am not building my first Eurorack system as well, to give me that external hardware chance to explore electronic sounds in a more tactile way. But as my background is in classical music I will always go back to violin and piano as well. So for example my ROLI Seaboard is a big part of my workflow as it gives me a way to interact with keys in the way I would with a violin.
You've addressed the "macho" culture in audio and its impact on creativity. How do you cultivate an inclusive environment in your projects, and how has this focus shaped your artistic vision?
A lot of audio culture still operates on this intimidation factor, where knowledge is gatekept, and people are made to feel like they need years of experience before they even try something. That mindset kills creativity for everyone.
For me, inclusivity starts with making people feel like they belong, no matter where they are in their creative journey. Whether it’s in my YouTube tutorials, live workshops, or collaborations, I try to create a space where experimentation is encouraged, mistakes are just part of the process, and learning is something to be excited about, not ashamed of. My Patreon community is a big testament to that. We do not celebrate outcomes there, as much as we do just simple creativity. I organize monthly production challenges where the “best” track is not going to win, but we see people's efforts towards nurturing their own creativity. If someone did 15 minutes of music-making during a really tough month, we see and encourage that. There is no right or wrong and my motto is “There is no failure in creativity”.
Again, this is what my book is about. The idea is that in these industries we are so obsessed with being “better” constantly, and then we punish ourselves and our creativity when we can’t create what we want or we don’t like the outcome. That’s why it has become a big mission for me to talk openly about the insecurities we all feel as creatives to show how universal these feelings are and how we are not alone in this.
Writing my book and being part of my Patreon community has changed the way I create. I am kinder to myself, I love my creativity more, and through that, I have made (and released) more art that I actually love so much.
Your work includes interactive sound design projects, such as collaborations with dancers with disabilities. How do these interdisciplinary collaborations influence your creative process and artistic expression? How can artists further work to make the industry more inclusive in this way?
These collaborations have completely changed the way I think about sound. When you’re designing interactive audio for movement, you’re not just thinking about music, you’re thinking about how sound feels, responds, and interacts in real time. It’s no longer about creating a track for yourself, but it becomes about the person and their art.
One of the biggest lessons has been letting go of control. In traditional music production, you’re sculpting every detail of a track. In interactive sound design, you create systems and rules, but the final expression is shaped by the person interacting with it. That’s really exciting to me because it makes music more personal and responsive.
To make the industry more inclusive, we need more projects that invite different perspectives into the creative process. That means collaborating across disciplines, designing tools that are accessible, and questioning traditional ideas of how music should be created or performed—and who should be the one creating the art.
With a book on creative confidence set to be published, how does writing about creativity impact your own artistic journey, and what insights have you gained through this process?
Writing this book, 'Creative Confidence and Music Production', has been a wild process because it's something I never thought I would have been able to do as a neurodiverse individual who struggled in school. I grew up thinking and truly believing that I could not be a technical or academic person due to the box society put me in from a young age. But after I learned music production, I started to question everything I believed about myself and why I would limit my dreams and passions with fears that came from others, not me. This made me realize that we all feel these insecurities and limitations in our own ways.
Creativity is such a personal and unpredictable thing, but when you break it down, there are clear patterns in the struggles we all face: fear of failure, perfectionism, self-doubt, and imposter syndrome. And as an educator in music production, I have seen how many of these fears people have. But the world mostly focuses on teaching shortcuts, tricks, and tools to fix creative blocks and other obstacles, without ever addressing where these issues really start. After realizing how much it helped me to understand where my insecurities toward my art came from, I could take actual practical steps toward solving them. This is what my book is: me sharing all that I have learned about this topic, analyzing it through my own experiences (plus with expert help), and sharing my techniques to help others overcome their creative confidence-related blocks as well.
Writing this book has fully changed my relationship with my art, in a really positive way. Now I want to help others to do the same.
Looking ahead, are there any new musical directions or projects you’re excited to explore?
Absolutely. This year, I’m really focusing on performing more and getting my music out into the world in a live setting. I’ve been building a setup that lets me perform my tracks in a way that feels fluid and expressive, rather than just playing back arranged songs. So, expect more gigs, live performances, and new music releases.
At the same time, I’m continuing my work in interactive sound design, especially developing new sound tools for dancers with disabilities. That’s been such an exciting space to explore because it pushes me to think about music beyond just sound—how it moves, reacts, and connects with people in real-time. I want to refine these tools even further and see how they can be used in different performance settings, or even in music/art therapy.
Beyond music, I’m also expanding into creative coaching and launching a podcast on creativity. I’ve spent years helping producers gain confidence in their work, and now I want to take that further by helping artists, musicians, and creators of all kinds break through self-doubt and make more of the work they love.
Learn more about LNA Does Audio Stuff on her YouTube channel, Instagram, and her official website.
