Luc van Hoek

Born and raised in The Netherlands, Eurovision enthusiast with the hopes of becoming a full-fledged Producer & Sound engineer. Luc Van Hoek is this month SoundGym Hero!

Who are you? 

My name is Luc van Hoek, and I'm born and raised in The Netherlands. After finishing high school I went on studying Multimedia design. During my first year of college, my passion for music became stronger and stronger. Which made me decide to drop out and follow my passion for music.

Right now I'm taking a gap year for self-exploration and next year I'm planning to study 'Music composition and Production' at the University of Arts in Utrecht.

Tell us one interesting fact about yourself.

One of the reasons I love music so much is because of the European phenomenon Eurovision. Growing up I have always been so fascinated by it. In my eyes, it's the Olympics of music.

The contest is all about finding the best original song instead of just the best voice or performer. Politics and some of the middle of the road music aside, there are always some unique pearls of songs. Eurovision started careers of legends like ABBA and Celine Dion and even in recent years had some surprisingly good indie songs. I'm also super proud my little country won the last edition for the first time in 44 years. I'd love to be involved in one of our future submissions.

What is your favourite SoundGym feature?

What got me hooked to SoundGym is the levelling system. Trying to improve your SPI a little bit every day is really rewarding. It makes ear training feel like a game, which is addicting in a good way.

I also love the community. As I don't have many friends in the industry I love that the community is very supportive and helpful. Before joining SoundGym I had difficulty finding people who could give me constructive criticism, as friends and family usually like what you make nevertheless (or at least, say they do…)

One music piece that inspired you to be a music maker?

My absolute favourite song of all time is 'Glitter and Gloss' by Skott. I don't think there was a single day in 2017 I didn't listen to this song. From the creative sound design to Skott's amazing vocals, the whole production is on another level. I first learned how to play the song on the piano. It inspired me to purchase my first DAW and experiment with sound design.

Trying to recreate it myself by recording my piano with my phone while putting all kinds of random sounds on top of it, making every mistake a beginner could make, which not surprisingly, resulted in a pretty bad remake. Not getting the results I wanted to give me the drive to get better and learn and practice as the pros do. Which got me to where I am today.

Who is your biggest musical influence?

My biggest musical influence is Clean Bandit. I love the way they make classical music work well together with dance-pop. I'm a big fan of mashing two opposite genres together to make something new and original but still contemporary. Growing up with parents who love classical music made me appreciate it a lot more than most people my age.

Clean bandit made me realise your music doesn't always have to be one specific genre. This made my vision of what I want to create borderless and makes it so much more easy and fun to be creative with sound. It made me understand I have to make whatever I like making, rather than following trends.

Any habits that help you stay Inspired and Creative?

Whenever I feel uninspired I tend to watch live streams of my favourite producers. Seeing the pros do their thing resets my brain in away. It gives me the 'what you can do I can do too' mindset and makes me want to become just as good as them. The best way to become a pro is to learn from a pro! Lately, I've been really loving Ian Kirkpartrick's live streams.

He often just starts messing around with a few sounds and gets completely carried away in the craft. I don't think I've seen someone with such passion for producing as Ian and it inspires me to explore my passion as well. 

Tell us a bit about your workflow when making music?

Most of the time I just start a project and do whatever I feel like doing. Sometimes I'm doing hours and hours of sound design and end up disliking it and starting over. Other times I get it completely right after the first try. Sometimes I produce all day and sometimes I don't produce at all and take a break of a few days. I feel like forcing yourself to schedules and deadlines too much can hurt your creative thinking a lot.

I feel like in this day and time being creative with music is more important than anything else. You can be amazing at producing but if you sound like everyone else it will still read as generic.

Any habits you have before starting a session?

I don't really have a daily ritual before starting a session but I always make sure I am hydrated and have a clear mind. Lately, I've been loving to exercise before starting a session but the best ideas come from a good morning walk.

The best habit I created is whenever I continue on a song I worked on the day before, I close my eyes and listen carefully and write down everything I feel needs improvement. Then I'll try to fix everything step by step until I'm satisfied.

Piece of gear in your studio that you have special feelings for?

I am in love with my KRK Rokit's, before purchasing them a few months ago I had to do everything on low end headphones, which was okay when I started out but got really frustrating after a while. I enjoy making music on monitors much more than headphones and I also feel like I improved much faster since I got my monitors.

The quality is surprisingly good for the price I paid and with the stands, it really gives my room a studio feeling compared to the 'laptop with headphones' combo. 

What does the future hold for Luc van Hoek in the music industry?

To not get too far ahead of myself the first thing I want to do is bring out my first fully realised song. Lately, I've been really excited to work with some awesome singers and songwriters who are helping me out in the studio and there are definitely some exciting songs we're working on. Even though I have been working on a lot of music, I'm very conscious about when I exactly want to start releasing my music as I want it to be as good as possible. 

I also can't wait to start studying next year and meet all these people with the same passion as me. My long term goal is to make a living out of producing and be able to be a full time creative. I would like to build myself a portfolio that I'm proud of,  and then expand my studio over time.

I'd also love to get a little more into mixing as I'm following the mixing course on SoundGym right now and I've really been enjoying it! I'm sure having some basic mixing knowledge is very beneficial as a producer. 

I'm really excited for the big journey that is ahead and I can't wait to see where I am in 5 years. As of right now, I'll keep being focused on getting better and better.