Sound Advice: San Holo

The Dutch DJ/producer offers an in-depth glimpse into his creative approach, from using SoundCloud to connect with fellow artists to experimenting with new, innovative sounds.

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Welcome to Sound Advice, the series spotlighting artists’ creative process and their SoundCloud journey. We’ll get the inside knowledge straight from the source on how musicians, producers and creatives are leaning into everything Next Pro offers to elevate their sound, reach the right audience and catapult their careers. Sound Advice is now available in audio format on the SoundCloud Stories profile. 

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Our guest on this episode is future bass pioneer and deep thinker San Holo. Born Sander van Dijck in the Western Netherlands, he grew up playing guitar and listening to indie bands like Explosions In the Sky and Sigur Rós before falling in love with electronic music production. In 2013, San Holo started uploading works in progress to SoundCloud and became swept up in the rush of the emerging future bass sound, where artists were layering trap and dubstep drums with candy-coated synths and upbeat chords.

Alongside artists like HudMo and Rustie, Flume, Point Point and TroyBoi, San Holo put his signature stamp on the genre but has continued to innovate from there, from his new EP ‘what is life?’ to his latest project, where he’s putting a lush, uplifting twist on the often heavy and metallic riddim dubstep sound. Additionally, he’s brought a positive outlook and a self-aware spin to dance music, from his ‘Stay Vibrant’ mental health campaign to his ‘Existential Dance Music’ album – EDM, get it?!

We caught up with San Holo mid-tour to talk about how he thinks about music, how he’s used SoundCloud over the years, and how he curates his projects and his bitbird label. We also got the exclusive scoop on some special things he’s got coming up for his 10-year anniversary tour. And if you enjoy all this, make sure you check out Voice Notes where San Holo talks about some of his biggest tracks. And now, welcome to Sound Advice.

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LISTEN TO THE AUDIO EPISODE OF SOUND ADVICE, FEATURING SAN HOLO

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LISTEN TO “WHAT IS LIFE?” EP BY SAN HOLO

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LISTEN TO VOICE NOTES WITH SAN HOLO

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THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE OF SOUND ADVICE

• San Holo joins from the road in the middle of his latest tour run,  kicking off our conversation with the backstory behind his buzzing set at Lost Lands 2024, where he greeted the festival crowd — compromised of fellow heavy bass enthusiasts — to a sound he’s aptly dubbed “wholesome riddim.”
• Explaining what wholesome riddim is and what led him to explore this colorful, melodic offshoot of the heavier, darker side of the bass music spectrum, San Holo opens up with exclusive insight into how the festival set doubled as a sneak peak of his upcoming EP, announcing his wholesome riddim project will drop in 2025.
• Going back to the beginning, San Holo details how coming up on SoundCloud in the early 2010s shaped his career, discussing his roots in the future bass scene. He talks about how, fast-forward to today, he views his music as San Holo as more of a feeling than a specific BPM or genre.
• Growing up inspired by punk and alt rock, he talks about some of the challenges he faced when he first started incorporating guitar into his live sets within the electronic dance music scene, and why it’s important to him to push past those challenges to stay motivated and push boundaries as an artist.
• San Holo reflects on the producers he met through SoundCloud, and how the platform has played an important role, both in the early days of his career through and in the present day. He shares more about the impact future bass has had on contemporary music at large since first bubbling on SoundCloud, and how he’s been inspired to explore different sonic directions over the years.
• As an artist, San Holo sheds light on the multifaceted nature of his personality and creative spirit, talking about how he balances being an introvert with being an entertainer and extrovert on stage. He opens up about how music helps him find where he fits in, as well as going a bit deeper and reflecting on his purpose in life.
• Ahead of his 10-year anniversary tour, San Holo explains what he has in store to commemorate the milestone, and how he plans to incorporate an acoustic set, a throwback DJ set and his live show, as well as what he’s thinking about when he reflects on the places the last decade has taken him, both as a person and a musician.
• San Holo shares another exclusive, planting a seed for his SoundCloud followers to keep an eye on his page for information about an upcoming remix content he is planning around the 10-year anniversary of his track, “We Rise.” https://soundcloud.com/sanholobeats/san-holo-we-rise
• We get the details on how he’s used SoundCloud over the years, and how he grew a strong community one upload at a time. He shares more about how he uses the platform to discover emerging producers, and how he uses the related tracks feature as a tool. 
• San Holo walks us through what inspired his new EP, ‘what is life?’ and the themes that he explored throughout the project, as well as what informed his decision to make an EP over a full-length album.
• He shares what advice he’d give his younger self, and the importance of limiting distractions and not letting what’s trending sway your creative process.
• San Holo explains what led him to start his bitbird label, which originally began as a SoundCloud page designed to uplift artists he wanted to help amplify, and how his curation efforts grew into an actual record label. 
• Thoughtfully and with care, San Holo shares some of the most beautiful pieces of music that have stuck with him over the years, offering insight into the sounds that have inspired his own dedication to his craft and self-expression.
  
  

LINKS AND EXTRAS

Follow San Holo’s journey on SoundCloud.

Listen to Voice Notes with San Holo to learn more about the making of his tracks.

Check out San Holo’s debut album, 2018’s ‘album1.’

Tap in with Duskus, one of the first fellow producers San Holo met through using SoundCloud.

Explore some of San Holo’s disparate influences, including Sigur Rós, Nine Inch Nails, Claude Debussy, Deftones and This Will Destroy You, to name a few.

Hit play on the Buzzing: Electronic playlist on SoundCloud.

Never miss an episode and follow the official Sound Advice playlist on SoundCloud.

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GETTING THE MOST OUT OF SOUNDCLOUD:

1. Learn more about using DMs to connect with fellow artists and potential collaborators.
2. Learn more about searching your own Likes on SoundCloud.
3. Learn more about using private tracks on SoundCloud.
4. Learn more about getting started with Insights on SoundCloud.
5. Learn more about Advanced Insights, available to Artist Pro subscribers.
6. Learn more about unlimited uploads, available with a Artist Pro subscription.
7. Learn more unlocking access to unlimited distribution, available with Artist Pro.

‍To discover additional features a SoundCloud Artist Pro subscription offers, visit here. To catch up on past installments of Sound Advice and make sure you don’t miss out on future episodes, visit here.

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_{Credits: Host: Vivian Host, Executive Producer: Mike Spinella, Producer: KC Orcutt, Audio Engineer: David “DibS” Shackney, Coordinator: Trevor McGee}

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