Eric Holsten

Music Production & Composition

Eric Holsten on SoundBetter

Former lo-fi junkie gone hi-fi

Good music is more important than expensive gear. Music breathes, music waits. There are mistakes. Listen very carefully and you can tell the difference between ordinary musicians and those who are truly extraordinary. The song comes before the instruments, before the microphone, before the preamp--it must be captured as honestly as possible. From lo-fi to mid-fi to fi-hi, everything is alright---

Since a young age I've been drawn to sound--the texture of the rain falling on a metal roof in upstate NY, the sound of wind rustling through red autumn leaves, the low call of morning doves outside my window, or the ambient drone of living close to an airport. This fascination with sound led to me making field recordings as a teenager and sampling them to create music played entirely by the world around me. I went on to study the art of recording in college and have worked with a variety of bands in different settings.

What I look to capture in a recording is not perfection, but personality. A picture of an artist at a specific time in their life--how they felt, what they cared about, who they were: a record of their mood and their character. Less like a portrait and more like a candid photo. Close your eyes and you're almost there, you hear a chair squeak and the sound of the rain outside. Time travel through music, flooding your memory with thought.

Send me an email through 'Contact' button above and I'll get back to you asap.

Interview with Eric Holsten

  1. Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

  2. A: 'Fidelity' as solely being frequency based. Be faithful to the song first, before anything.

  3. Q: Can you share one music production tip?

  4. A: Don't be afraid of mono!

  5. Q: Analog or digital and why?

  6. A: Yes, and yes. Though I've been going through a digital kick lately, there's nothing like repitching things on tape - or recording half a project to tape and finishing up overdubs digitally. Using tape as a palette to be sampled and rearranged in a collage.

  7. Q: What are you working on at the moment?

  8. A: An ambient techno album made only from 808 samples.

Gear Highlights
  • Ears
  • Instruments
  • Microphones
  • Computers
  • Analog Tape
More Photos
More Samples