In the studio with Eric Maltz
We recently invited ourselves to the studio of Eric Maltz, a music producer from New York City based in Berlin - and a friend, just to be clear. This yank is a multi-instrumentalist, trained pianist and synthesist who intrigued us with his 8-hour experimental sets (no breaks). Eric releases his own work, performs live and develops soundscapes for new media installations and immersive audio environments for XR applications. By day, he is an all-round legend and at night he broadcasts his own radio show called Embraceable Silence / Disappearing Mirror for Cashmere Radio, exploring the arts, music, technology and philosophy.
Monsieur Maltz is wearing the Tender 410 Shirt, made in England and hand-dyed in Kojima, Japan using the Achilles Heel technique. This shirt has officially got the seal of approval for all things mixing, composing, synthesising, dancing and pianist-ing. Eric also made a little ditty during our studio time, for which we will be seeking 50% of the royalties.
“I spend a lot of time thinking about sculpture, it’s an apt metaphor.
You’re always chipping away looking for that thing…”
So Eric, what is your process when you start out, do you have something in mind? Do you start with a particular instrument?
I mean this was just totally spontaneous, like no preconceived ideas (referring to the spontaneous composition he just performed for us). Usually the keyboard, like this synthesiser is great. For me I have a small amount of free time to be working on my own music. This is a luxury for me - to be able to make music like this.
What sort of feeling does it give you? Like a flow?
Yeah I guess it's like a flow. It's more of listening to your own imagination. It's like an adventure or a dare. It's really nice. You disappear.
Does it differ according to weather and mood?
No, for me it's more a matter of space. If I have the time, then I write, but I don't try to cultivate too much. There were other parts of this piano piece I just recorded for you that could maybe be more of a b-section that I could spend more time on re-recording and getting the edits correct but with you guys here there's more of an entertainment value, so that's not so cool if I sit here for half an hour editing. You don't need this traditional songwriting thing, in terms of chord changes, you just need texture.
In terms of composing music, do you believe the melodies are in the ether? I’ve heard people like Paul McCartney or Bob Dylan saying the songs aren’t theirs, they just tapped into them.
I am thinking a lot about mythology, archetypes and these kinds of ideas about what’s passed down, what's foundational, what’s woven into our DNAs as a culture, to kind of base our imagery and ideas off of because it’s really important to think about and how to situate yourself in that, in some sort of a cultural context. And it's exciting to participate in a conversation in that way too, because if you're actively using mythology like John Steinbeck and Cain and Abel in East Eden, you’re taking these things that are fundamental to the culture you’re in and you’re having a conversation with it and you become part of it by engaging in it. I think that’s really interesting.
Are there melodies across cultures?
Yes there's a great Bobby McFerrin clip where he does the pentatonic scale and the audience automatically sings the next note without any prompting. You'll notice there's a lot of hit songs using pentatonic scales - but I cant think of one of them haha.
So did you study music?
Yeah, I went to a conservatory in New York. It was called studio composition so it was composing and studio techniques in terms of writing and production techniques. I knew I loved music but I wasn't so interested in going to university but it would've been very strange for my parents if I didn't go, so I did one year of music business as I was afraid to just study music - and that was a disaster. So I changed and got into the conservatory. After that I was writing drum and bass, jungle, djing, playing jams with friends and doing a lot of sample-based hip hop but it was directionless. I was 22, floating around.
You told us you then worked for an agency creating music for advertising. How do you feel about the craft of music for movies and advertising today?
There's such an oversaturation of people creating music in general, which I mean is wonderful to be creating. I don't have anything against democratisation of the tools and all that stuff and the knowledge. But there's no jobs for that now. I feel between the massive libraries that exist, these pre-made track libraries that are out there and the artificial intelligence thing, that this job that I had back then is gone. I don't see why an advertising agency, unless they have a huge budget, would pay that much money. You know what I mean? Because it's not just money for the composing, then you have to pay residuals on the performance.
Do you think it's diluting the end product?
Oh, totally. Yeah. I mean not to totally go off the rails and just talk about advertising, but, just the end product in general, when it comes to music and image, you know, this combination in films and stuff, you have these movies where the whole soundtrack is licensed songs. But then what happens is that, I feel like for me personally, when I watch a movie, I'm taken out of the world of the movie. It's foreign to the world of the film and then it's also so pedantic; the lyrics are, like, “my heart is broken” while the guy's heart is broken. So literal and unintelligent. It totally defeats the purpose of this idea of world-building in a film, you know. But then on the flip side of that, maybe you don’t really notice it when it's done well.
Have you scored a film?
Yeah. I've done that. I don't now, I stopped because I could never get enough money. I ended up in this thing where it's like it's always like, “oh, can you score my film? I have 1k” and after a while, it's so much work. I really hate the sound of fake strings, like sample libraries and fake orchestras and all of this stuff. Plus, I think it's really stupid to have the sound of a $100,000 orchestra when the budget for your film is like $5,000 - there's no coherence. It should be a 1:1 ratio. And then all of a sudden, you're making something that's special. If I have a violinist and a synthesiser in the room, then that's what we're gonna do the whole soundtrack with, but no filmmaker would ever do that. I scored a student film once and I spent all the money for a bass clarinet player and we did the whole soundtrack with that, which was cool.
I like what you're saying about having original film scores because I'm so frustrated with TV advertising at the minute because they're using commercial music.
Yeah. I think it should be more original music. I mean, the whole point is that you make a hook that people remember and when they remember it, they associate it with your product. Right? But what they're trying to do is be cool. Like “we're gonna be considered cool, if we have a Daft Punk song” - they're trying to buy something that you can't buy.
What do you make of AI music?
I don't know. The last things that I heard were not quite there yet. I think the way that AI is getting used now is that you have these giant record labels that feed their publishing into an AI, and then they have it generate songs based on the publishing catalogues, and pass those on to producers, or so and so, to say, “okay, take this idea that we got from the AI and make it better”. Then I suppose I think that the one thing that AI will miss is what you were talking about is the archetypes because yeah, AI will never have that DNA or be able to tap into that, but some people will listen to something and if it sounds familiar, they'll be happy enough with it. But I think that can only go so far.
I feel the same about painting as well. Like, AI art. The whole point of art is that it hits you somewhere. I would hate to listen to an AI song and it give me goosebumps.
It'll happen, but the problem is who fucking cares? With all of this AI shit, I get it if you're trying to find a cure to cancer and you just need to iterate through test results, like, banging - that's awesome. You know how to compress 50 years of testing down to 6 months because you can, but the the whole point of art, it's like, I don't give a fuck about an AI painter.
Why are people using it to create? You're applying it to the wrong thing. I was thinking about that in terms of when people are trying to change a neighbourhood, the first thing you do is buy up the lofts and then you give it to artists for cheap. And then once the artists are there, a coffee shop opens up. They're like the missionaries, and I think we were being sold AI the same way.
It's like an idea of people that have no artistic ability and want to make their own shitty clip art for their fucking work presentation. It's just, like, gentrification of human ability, in this kind of weird flip. Because, honestly, do we need self-driving cars? No. We could just take buses. If you don't wanna drive, take a bus.
You have said then that you lived in Brooklyn, freelancing for another 10 years or so and then moved to Lima for 2 years before moving to Berlin. Why Berlin?
This is actually where I met my partner and it was a place that she always wanted to live, and we were kinda looking at all the places that we could have a family that were sort of realistic, in terms of an artistic quality of life. Something that would be cool, like, a city that had a cutting edge art scene going on.
How would you describe what you do or your genres? Would you say you're a musician, or is it, like, a synthesist?
I'm a singer/composer. I'm not a synthesist, I am a synth. No! I feel like the synthesiser was an extension of me. It's really crazy. I was doing these durational performances, these 8 hour things, and I would get towards the end and know exactly where everything was and what the sound was gonna be before my fingers even hit the keys. But, no, I feel like I'm just a musician. I feel like my whole life, I've just been in and around music.
What's your favourite colour?
I feel like I'm a purple kind of person right now. It's always changing. I say green a lot, but I think that’s because when I was a kid, I asked my dad what his favourite colour was, and he said it was green. So I feel like I sort of adopted that colour as my favourite colour. You know? And I love being in the forest. But there's something about purple that I also really like.
I hate purple.
Really?
I actually do, well, certain shades of purple but in saying that, there are certain shades of purple that are incredible - those lilac flowers in the trees in Mexico.
I can hear you. Fair enough.
I used to hate autumn as well but I have been loving it lately. I mean, it's beautiful. I hated it because it was sad.
I have this radio show on Cashmere Radio and I was playing Wendy Carlos. She did this suite called Sonic Seasonings, and one side of the record is spring and summer.
Like Vivaldi?
Exactly. It was interesting because there was this, like, ocean; sounds of the seashore. You know? And I was like, that's an interesting choice for the fall. But then I went for the weekend up north, and both days, I drove to the Baltic Sea, and I went for walks along the beach. And then afterwards, I was like, fucking Wendy Carlos, she predicted my weekend totally unintentionally. There is something especially melancholic about going for a walk on the beach in the fall or the winter, especially some of these places up north of Germany.
When you're composing and stuff or doing your thing, what do you wear?
Honestly, around the house, I really like wearing basketball shorts and tank tops or something that's off the street, but straight up, like, Wesley Snipes or Woody Harrelson in White Men Can’t Jump.
It'd be interesting to see if the music changed depending on what you're wearing. I imagine if you were wearing a suit surely, it feels different and more rigid. Are you comfortable naked?
If I’m on my own yeah but I never really just walk around the house naked. It's tough to do because I, you know, there's always somebody around. Yeah and now I have rabbits, and they always look at me funny when I'm naked.
Perverted rabbits. Do you believe in God?
I totally believe in God. Of course. Well, not “of course”. I mean, that's kind of obnoxious to say but yeah. I'm a deeply spiritual person. So I think you know, it's not only this big man in the sky but this idea of, like, some sort of greater thing.
You're in for a surprise come judgement day. Do you have any rituals?
Just making a cup of coffee, that kind of stuff, but I don't light incense or do some sort of esoteric ritualistic practice before I write. I meditate a lot, which I think feeds into creativity, like rhythm and music. And sometimes I'll intentionally sit and meditate before writing if I have enough time. But it's not all the time.
Do you have a favourite instrument?
I love the Vibraphone, which I don't know how to play. That's something that I think is really nice in terms of writing music too. It's just having these instruments even if you don’t know how to play them but - it doesn't matter. You just set up the microphone and you do something until you have something that you think is cool. You know? I think it's so much cooler, like oh, man, I've had so many revelations, sorry, guys. What's more interesting, is it buying a sample library or new software or synthesiser that everyone has, or is it, buying some fucking weird ass instrument and putting a microphone in front of it and fucking around. You know? You just need a shitty microphone and 30 minutes. And then you can fucking do something. That's my philosophy.
What's your karaoke song?
I always go for Country Roads. Nobody likes when I sing it. But okay.
Do you sing the harmonies?
No. I mean, I'm just one guy.
What do clouds mean to you?
We actually have a wonderful southern facing view. So we'll get really beautiful clouds, and then the sun is setting there to the west and rising to the east. That's a really nice view of the sky. I think clouds are a magical sort of procession. Clouds have certain magic to them, and they're a vehicle for imagination in many ways. I can sit and stare at the sky and watch clouds for an unusual amount of time. They sort of mimic the process of our lives, not to get too fucking weird and poetic, but it's sort of like watching a sunset. You know? And it's all of a sudden, you're watching it, and it's not changing, but then suddenly, the sun has set. Watching clouds is the same. It's like they're totally static within somehow, but shift right under your gaze. You know? It's like us also - we're totally static, but suddenly, I'm a fucking father, and I have no idea how that just happened.