We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eric Rice a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Eric, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Learning music and how to produce is very fulfilling to me but it’s certainly taken me a long time to acquire and hone my skills. I think the most important thing to have is the want and desire to learn more. I was able to learn a lot just from YouTube videos, comparing notes with my peers and a lot of freaking practice. No one makes bad music in their head but the difference is who is comfortable enough with their medium.

Eric, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Eric Rice and I’ve been doing music for a while now. I started my music journey playing saxophone and started producing initially in high school. In college I started to get better as a producer and eventually after college I started releasing my own music and learning how to engineer myself as well. I mostly make hip hop or jazz influenced music but I let each session take me where it wants to go. I’m proud to have developed this skill and my taste in music because it is something that forever serves me. Who can make a song you like better than yourself?

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

This is tough but the best thing would be to actually value the time and effort people put into creating quality art. This is difficult in music due to streaming and the sheer volume of music that releases now but finding ways to carve a community out of what you do is the best way to get support. Find the people who value you the most.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Everyone has their own preferences. This is difficult to learn in music and it can be easy to judge what you make but everyone has what they like. You can spend hours on finely crafting the greatest thing you’ve ever made and chances are a lot of people aren’t going to like it, while you can haphazardly throw something together and people will craze over it. No one is the same and not everyone is going to like what you create. The important thing is whether you like it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hoo.be/eoneasel
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/eoneasel
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/eoneasel
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@eoneasel
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/eoneasel

Image Credits

Please credit Ari Bonner on all photos