A DAY IN THE LIFE OF COMPOSER, ERWIN STEIJLEN
RadioSparx sat down on our virtual yellow-orange sofa with Dutch Mega-Composer, ERWIN STEIJLEN to get under the hood of what makes him one of the AudioSparx/RadioSparx most successful composers; a musician who attracts producers and music supervisors like moths to a light-bulb, and who, on top of that, is a family man and a super-nice guy. We were inspired by everything he had to say. Read on to find out more.
Erwin Steijlen is without question the #1 Product Launch music composer in the world. He has written music in all styles for hundreds and hundreds of the biggest brands worldwide, including BMW, Nike, VW, LG, Liberty Global, Bentley, Shell, Ford, and many more. Erwin’s music has been performed in 40+ countries and he has worked with acts such as Cirque du Soleil, Fedde LeGrand, Shakira, and even Pink! In 2014 over 30 TV commercials in the US used his music, and TV series like The Mentalist, Pretty Little Liars, and Parenthood built their scenes to his songs.
RADIOSPARX: Tell us about your day composing; from waking up to going to sleep and how your composing day pans out.
ERWIN: My work always starts one day before I actually start composing. I dive deep into the reasons for composing for this particular project. I try to find the best fitting words that define the client, the product, the event or the goal of the song. Usually I have a conversation with my client and try to get as much information as possible. Sometimes I speak with other people who work at the business to get a feel of who they are.
Then I narrow all these words and ideas down to a couple of strong keywords; I trust my own descriptive power and only ever use the words that I select for that particular project, words that — to me — truly reflect the project in hand, and not descriptions given to me by the project managers. I define the musical criteria of the project myself, digging deep within my own experience. Searching online for keywords helps, but nothing beats a real conversation with a project manager.
Once, I’ve done this, I start collecting ideas and make a folder on my laptop. My words move me forward to different sounds; the sound of a kick drum or a synth part, the mix of vocals, really anything that inspires me and intuitively feels like it has something to do with this project. I don’t just think, I make sure I respond emotionally and add these thoughts to my folder; this will be my inspiration folder for the next day, which is composing day.
The day of composing I start early, about six in the morning because I’m always very creative in the morning. Starting early also gives me about six hours of freedom before producers start calling me and disturb my creativity.
I go to bed early the night before and I really believe my mind works on another plane — a super-creative level — during the night. I prepare my mind for writing music and help it focus on being creative.
I deliberately don’t have email in my studio and I don’t look at my phone, so I’m not distracted. At six in the morning, I go to the studio (with some coffee) and really every single time, the first thing I play (on piano or guitar) is the right thing. It’s spot on! The chords are the right ones and immediately a theme idea comes up in my brain. This is almost certainly because my mind has been deep in the project the day before, and during my sleeping hours.
The reason for this is I am in a ‘State of Flow’. And in this Flow State your inner critic is turned off and all your neurons and hormones work with you, helping you create. It’s a happy feeling and a powerful feeling of being ‘in the now’.
After that, it’s hard work since my clients are businesspeople and not musicians. This means I can’t send over a demo that they wouldn’t understand, so even my first idea needs to sound high quality, like a finished album. This is the less creative stuff, and more artisanship; making my ideas sound as good and beautiful as I can. At the end of the day, I will send my composition over with an accompanying text explaining my choices and some detail about the track, so my creative vision is understood by others who are not musicians.
RADIOSPARX: Thanks Erwin, that was incredibly fascinating and is really thought-provoking. We’ll ask you more about this later, but for now tell us, where do you live and what languages do you speak?
ERWIN: I live in Tilburg in the Netherlands, a European country full of musicians and even more DJs. I speak Dutch, English, German and a bit of French.
RADIOSPARX: Amazing. How enlightening! How did you get into composing? Tell us about your early life as a boy and your relationship with music back then.
ERWIN: When I was about 11-years-old I saw Brian May (guitarist with the mega-group QUEEN), play his guitar on television. I felt deeply moved by what I was seeing, and I knew immediately that I wanted to be a guitar player and a musician. I am self-taught and started playing in bands way back then, at the age of 11. Then as I grew up, my band landed some record deals but nothing big came out of that. I lived from the money I earned at gigs for about 10 years of my life, living in and out of the studio.
Music was and still is the major force of my life. My love of music has evolved now to include poetry, but music is a life-force and a way of connecting people. Being part of that process is what I’m here on this earth to do.
RADIOSPARX: What lovely memories Erwin, and such history of a life in music. Thanks for sharing that with us. What technology and software do you use?
ERWIN: I’m a Pro Tools and UAD fan and user. I only use a couple of plugins since I believe your ‘own sound’ will come from audio and not plugins. The ones I use are: Spitfire, Spectrasonics, UAD, Vengeance sound, Waves, Izotope.
RADIOSPARX: Thanks. It’s always great to know what other composers are using in their toolkits, so we can compare and contrast with our fellow musicians. What’s your favorite musical style/genre?
ERWIN: The nickname my friends gave my long ago is “50Styles”. This means I can do whatever I like in pretty much every style. I love music in general, but being a guitar player, I will always love rock music! I love to play hybrid styles where I mix up Electronica with Orchestral and whatever feels good. The last two years I’ve been writing poems and adding music and Sound FX. I call these Audio Poems and I’m pretty successful with these. I actually started doing poetry live on stage. With my DJ gear, guitars and just my spoken words I hope to inspire people with my poems and vision of life. It has turned out to be a really great way for communicating for me, and making me a stronger, more creative person than I was before.
RADIOSPARX: That’s passion at work, isn’t it — bringing poetry to people with live performances and putting music to it. We love it. Now, tell us about how you approach the business side of your composing life.
ERWIN: I’ll talk about the part we all hate which is SALES. Sales people always think they know better. They think they know what art is and what will sell or not. I think they’re wrong most of the time. That’s why I do everything myself and only do non-exclusive deals. I want to be as free as possible and give as much meaning to my life as I can.
I keep changing and growing by reading, learning and talking to people outside my social group. This keeps me way ahead of treads and what people need in terms of music, which helps massively with the selling. This way I keep inspired and keep getting new ideas and new dreams to follow.
I do a lot of keynote speaking about the power of music and I love talking about art and how music connects people. These talks turn out to be great sales pitches without doing actual sales. I share a lot on social platforms and I also share every contact and knowledge I have. I believe in being open and that helping each other is what it’s all about.
I don’t do contracts, I never sign anything. It’s all about trust and collaborating. People pay me for my creativity and ideas. I give them all I have got and never hold back. We need more art and outspoken artists. We all have a responsibility for each other and our planet. I use my talent to make this world a little bit better. Only creative people will change the world. We must all use that beautiful power!
RADIOSPARX: Wow, your words are so moving Erwin, and we can feel your passion, your mission and your devotion to creativity, poetry and music. It’s an absolute pleasure talking to you. Thank you.
And lastly, please give us a list of the musical equipment you use.
ERWIN: I love my kit, it’s my treasure trove and every piece of this kit is special to me. My list is below:-
· Well, lots of guitars. From Schecter to G&L, Amps all tubes called Kool&Elfring (a Dutch company)
· I have a nice collection of mics. Some from the sixties.
· I mostly use my handmade Gonzo Mics. These are beautiful, handcrafted tube mics by a one-person Dutch company. You actually need to do an audition before he ‘allows’ you to buy and use them. https://www.gonzoaudio.nl/
· I work with many musicians and all are really good.
· I love trumpet, real drums, bass, vocals and most of the time I hire real-life human vocalists to add the vocal dimension to my tracks.
RADIOSPARX:Thanks Erwin for such an awesome chat. We know that you’ll help to inspire other composers and creatives. Thanks for being such a much-loved part of the AUDIOSPARX-RADIOSPARX artists’ team. We celebrate you! Meryana.
Here’s ERWIN in his own words: “Erwin Steijlen is an award-winning composer, performing artist, poet, Keynote Speaker and entrepreneur. With his “Music First” method he teaches organizations how to use music to communicate, with fans, with clients, with personnel. He believes music is identity and a powerful tool to communicate who you are.
“Music = Communication. We all have a musical brain and every company really has its own sound,” he said. “Music First means we always start with music, on every project! Music based on the DNA of artist, client, brand, product or event.”
During his inspiring stage performances Erwin tells a story about following dreams based on passion and perseverance. Daring to change and finding your own ‘super power’ brings success, leads to growth and inspires people.
Erwin works with many global brands and artists such as VW, BMW, Netflix, Nike, Verizon, LG, Bentley, Pink!, Shakira, DJ Fedde LeGrand, Cirque du Soleil, Tour the France, Olympics Beijing, Glow and the United Nations.
With his latest project; his foundation De Droom (the Dream) Erwin shares the stage with scientists, spreading a positive message for change with tools for a better future for the world and our children. Knowledge and Art will build a new future for Earth and everything that lives on this beautiful place in space.
Take a look at ERWIN STEIJLEN’S massive folio of tracks on RadioSparx here: https://www.radiosparx.com/ErwinSteijlen
License him for your media production needs at AudioSparx: https://www.audiosparx.com/ErwinSteijlen
AudioSparx, and its sister company RadioSparx, loves composers, singer-songwriters, producers, bands and solo artists, and we’ve built a global network comprising nearly 8000 of these talented artists, across 134 countries. We would love to know all our artists individually, find out what makes them tick, but due to our massive global coverage, it’s a work in progress!
Right now, we’re focusing on our rising stars at AudioSparx and RadioSparx, asking them questions about their daily lives as composers. We think you’ll find their answers as fascinating as we do. Follow me — Meryana Tamera — to read our interviews with our composers, those talented souls who create stellar tracks that our clients adore. We’re planning on one composer interview each week, plus all whole lot more fascinating music industry inside info, so don’t miss out. Meryana — RadioSparx
