Name: Erik Buschmann
Nationality: Dutch
Occupation: Producer
Recent Release: Erik Buschmann's A Bitter Mess is out via Reflektor.

If you enjoyed these thoughts by Erik Buschmann and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit him on Instagram, and tiktok.
 


When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

It depends on the environment I’m in. When I’m outside, for instance with headphones on, I love to just stare at stuff and feel how it mingles with the music and what kind of vibe it creates. Especially organic ambient music feels like an enhancer for your environment. I really enjoy that.

Seeing shapes is less common for me. But when I listen to music with my eyes closed I usually want to escape from this moment and feel immersed in a kind of fantasy world.

Colours do tend to appear and sometimes also a kind of texture that matches with the sound.

How does listening with headphones and listening through a stereo system change your experience of sound and music?

Headphones usually feel more immersive and precise to me. So I love to listen on headphones but when creating music I definitely prefer using speakers. They give a way much more honest representation of depth and which elements are the most urgent and upfront in a mix for example.

They also give me a bit less of that wow effect that you can feel with bass on headphones for instance. That can really trick me with thinking stuff is finished … But switching to speakers I most of the time notice that it was just some epic bass haha.

Tell me about some of the albums or artists that you love specifically for their sound, please.

I really enjoy listening to Grouper. The tape sounds that she uses are a new sonic world for me to explore - but I really enjoy creating music with tape and listening to it.



I also really like Rival Consoles' latest album. Wow, that album sounds so huge.



[Read our Rival Consoles interview]

And I am a big fan of Floating Points as well. I’m always amazed with how he can combine heavy electronic sounds with classical and more organic sounds.



And one artist I should mention because I’m listening to him a lot is Tetsu Inoue with his album Yolo. An ambient artist with such a unique way of using real world field recordings and textures. Such an epic trip …



Do you experience strong emotional responses towards certain sounds? If so, what kind of sounds are these and do you have an explanation about the reasons for these responses?

Yes! For me it can be anything … Sometimes it’s a chord progression, or a specific tonal timbre that resonates with me or a voice that expresses a certain emotion that touches me.

I don’t know … maybe the most important ingredient that feels always present in these sonic observations is that another human captured something sincere and unfiltered from their inner world and was able to express these emotions in such a way that a listener is able to decipher that into a similar feeling from their perspective.

There can be sounds which feel highly irritating to us and then there are others we could gladly listen to for hours. Do you have examples for either one or both of these?

Highly irritating sounds for me … hmm well definitely loud construction sounds. So uncontrolled bombastic sounds with a lot of dissonance and sawtooth ish sounds are the worst haha.

And very soothing sounds are those theta wave tracks on Spotify. Massive trippings!!

Are there everyday places, spaces, or devices which intrigue you by the way they sound? Which are these?

I instantly was thinking of the acoustic sound of the church I went to when I was young. Such a warm sound and huge sustain. It feels like a sound bath when you’re sitting there and the choir sings. You’re surrounded by sound. Love that.

I also went to the Teldex studio in Berlin once. That was the most insane acoustic sound I think I’ve ever perceived … So beautifully balanced.
 
Have you ever been in spaces with extreme sonic characteristics, such as anechoic chambers or caves? What was the experience like?

I’ve been to a cave once in Belgium that was very big and had a very weird decay. Since there was so much diffusion from all the shaped rocks it had a super bright but clean decay that just sounded otherworldly.

What are among your favourite spaces to record and play your music?

I think home always has a unique feel when recording anything. The safe space makes room for all kinds of expressions that I cannot capture elsewhere.

When listening back to my own music or other music I love to do that in stmpd studios where I’m currently located. The rooms are treated very nicely and the speakers and gear there are just supreme.

Do music and sound feel “material” to you? Does working with sound feel like you're sculpting or shaping something?

Sometimes I reference to sculpting when making music! It helps to visualise the process.

So yes I guess it does, but in an elusive way if that makes sense.
 
How important is sound for our overall well-being and in how far do you feel the "acoustic health" of a society or environment is reflective of its overall health?

I think it differs from person to person. More highly sensitive and sharp tuned ears that are very connected to their senses experience the most impact from acoustic environments I think. I have noticed people that got distracted in a crowdy and chaotic environment and people that don’t seem to be bothered at all in the same situation.

But I think it does give you a hint into a persons mind and how they are wired when you for instance are in someone else’s house and the acoustics are very well treated with stuff like curtains and a rug and lots of absorbing materials versus a very empty and hollow sounding house.

I really believe it reflects how you perceive and register incoming stimuli and how you prioritise all these incoming signals.
 
Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds?

Oddly enough one moment pops up where I was sitting in the dunes on the dutch island Vlieland and it was just deadly silent which was so sick.

Ocean waves sound so soothing and can make me feel so relaxed and make me feel like such a small creature.

Many animals communicate through sound. Based either on experience or intuition, do you feel as though interspecies communication is possible and important? Is there a creative element to it, would you say?  

I definitely think it’s possible. But I doubt if we ever truly understand what happens on the other side when communicating with an animal for instance. I don’t know if it is important but I think it can be inspiring.

Tinnitus and developing hyperacusis are very real risks for anyone working with sound. Do you take precautions in this regard and if you're suffering from these or similar issues – how do you cope with them?

I sometimes suffer from Tinnitus but I learned that stress is a major influence for that, so that really helped learning that. I now perceive It as a signal from my body that says I need to take a break. And it really does help.

I always use hearing protection when drumming and performing.

We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?

Silence is our canvas. I need it to create perspective. How I feel helps me define what I need.

When I’m very tired for instance it is a better choice for me to not listen to music but relax in silence and connect more with my body. It feels way more real and immersive when im listening to music in a relaxed state.

Seth S. Horowitz called hearing the “universal sense” and emphasised that it was more precise and faster than any of our other senses, including vision. How would our world be different if we paid less attention to looks and listened more instead?

Wow. I don’t know! I don’t think it would be nicer to be honest … I love that input from our senses can mangle and connect. And if visual input is limited by closing our eyes for instance we tend to fill in the gap by creating our own visual input with the incoming sound.

I do think listening more focussed is good for a human being but in a more broader sense it applies to all the senses. The meditative state. It’s the best but such a challenge to get there in this world full of noise.