Eric Persing is an American
sound design
Sound design is the art and practice of creating auditory elements of media. It involves specifying, acquiring and creating audio using production techniques and equipment or software. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including filmmaking ...
er, professional synthesist, keyboardist, recording artist and music producer based in Los Angeles, California. He is best known as the Founder and Creative Director of the music software and
virtual instrument company Spectrasonics®. Recognized as one of the world’s most preeminent synth sound designers,
Persing has created over a million sounds that inspire music makers around the world. He has been the producer and primary contributor to all of Spectrasonics' products, including the award-winning Omnisphere®, Keyscape®, Trilian®, and Stylus RMX. Earlier work includes other notable Spectrasonics products like Atmosphere, Trilogy, and Distorted Reality.
Persing started working for the
Roland Corporation
is a Japanese multinational manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment, and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on 18 April 1972. In 2005, its headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefect ...
as Chief Sound Designer from 1984 to 2004, where he worked on many influential synthesizers and music-related products such as the
Roland D-50
The Roland D-50 is a synthesizer produced by Roland and released in April of 1987. Its features include digital sample-based subtractive synthesis, on-board effects, a joystick for data manipulation, and an analog synthesis-styled layout desig ...
, the
JD-800, the Roland JX, JV, JP, XP series synthesizers and many others. Even today, his sounds can be heard in many productions and Eric has worked with numerous artists such as Luther Vandross, Quincy Jones, Danny Elfman, Marcus Miller, Herbie Hancock, James Newton‑Howard, Eddie Jobson, Michel Colombier, Diana Ross, Arif Mardin, Chaka Khan, Larry Carlton, Hans Zimmer, Leonard Cohen, Michael Jackson, Randy Newman and Celine Dion.
At the 2011
NAMM Show
The NAMM Show is an annual trade show in the United States organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), which describes it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...
, as part of a joint promotion with the
Bob Moog Foundation
The Bob Moog Memorial Foundation is a non-profit organization created after the death of Dr. Robert Moog in 2005, and officially launched in August 2006. His family established the foundation as "a reflection of Bob Moog's legacy: To educate and ...
, Persing exhibited the OMG-1 synthesizer, a unique synthesizer of his own design that integrated a Moog Little Phatty with an Apple Mac Mini and two iPads running virtual instruments, all housed in a custom curly maple cabinet.
Important influences for Persing are
Vangelis
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (, ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; , ), was a Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He composed ...
,
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...
,
Jan Hammer
Jan Hammer () (born 17 April 1948) is a Czech-American musician, composer, and record producer. He rose to prominence while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra during the early 1970s, as well as with his film scores for television an ...
,
Yes
Yes or YES may refer to:
* An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no
Education
* YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US
* Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US
* Young Ep ...
,
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Religion
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...
and
Thomas Dolby
Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher.
Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including "She Blinded Me ...
.
Awards
In 2011, Persing and his team accepted the
TEC Award for "Best Musical Instrument Software" for Omnisphere version 1.5.
References
Further reading
*
External links
MusicRadar interview2011 Interview on kvraudio.comOfficial bio on spectrasonics.netEric Persing Roland contributions2009 Interview on TraxMusic.org2011 Interview for NAMM Oral History Program
{{DEFAULTSORT:Persing, Eric
1963 births
Living people
American sound designers