Doris Veldman

Doris Veldman graduated from the Art of Sound programme at the Royal Conservatoire in 2018. Combining her background as a cellist with a passion for recording, sound design and sonic storytelling, she has built a career as a producer, recording engineer, teacher and technical producer. Working across pop, classical and interdisciplinary projects, she is particularly interested in translating artistic ideas into compelling listening experiences. Alongside running her own studio, she is part of the production team at Rewire Festival and teaches the next generation of makers. In this interview, she reflects on her time at the Royal Conservatoire, freelance life, and her enduring fascination with albums as complete artistic worlds.

You mainly work as a producer. How did you choose that direction, and why? Do you still do recording and live sound as well?

I mainly do production, and I also do live recordings. I don’t do live sound as I don’t really enjoy that. I think producing developed gradually for me. At first, I thought I would go more into classical recording because I play cello myself and that’s my background. But quite quickly I realised I couldn’t be as creative there as I wanted to be. Of course, you can become incredibly skilled at recording classical music, and there’s so much depth to it, but I also wanted to create new sounds myself. Creating spaces that don’texist really excites me. In pop production, for example, you often create your own spaces. I especially love pop productions with acoustic instruments. Meaning drums, guitar and bass, but with strings or brass added in. That’s what I enjoy most. My classical background plays a big part in that as well. My parents are both musicians and I played in orchestras from a very young age. That sound world is just deeply rooted in me.

Which parts of your studies have turned out to be the most relevant now?

We used to record each other a lot during my studies. The experience of being a performer that is recorded is really insightful. I now spend a lot of time in the studio recording people, and it’s essential to understand what it feels like to be the person on the other side. A musician will only perform well if they feel completely comfortable. So, you need to think very carefully about how to put someone at ease. For example, you shouldn’t immediately start with the most difficult material. People need time to adjust to a new room, the acoustics, the situation. It’s like entering a new practice room, it always feels a bit uneasy at first. Communication is absolutely everything. You can be an amazing engineer, but if you can’t communicate with musicians properly, things will never improve. It’s a lot about psychology. You need to understand what someone needs in order to perform better. Sometimes it’s technical, sometimes it’s the room, sometimes someone is simply hungry or stressed. One thing I always try to do is say something positive immediately after a take. If you stay silent for five minutes, people instantly start thinking everything was terrible. Especially in music, there’s quite a strong culture of fear around always needing to improve.

You did a minor in recording, composition and cello. Do you still use those skills in your practice today?

I still use that recording knowledge all the time, especially because I work a lot with acoustic instruments. Playing cello helps enormously. I work with string players a lot, and that’s simply my language. I understand how they think and how to communicate with them. The composition minor was also very important. Quite often, someone comes to me with a song that isn’t fully finished yet, and then I essentially help complete it. I build arrangements around it or sometimes completely take a track apart and rebuild it. I also think being able to read music is a real advantage. A lot of producers work purely from software and MIDI, but if you’re working with string players, you need sheet music. You can’t just sing their parts to them. My work is about translating one thing to another. Scores to midi, acoustic sound to digital, artistic vision to auditive sound. It’s something that keeps driving me.

You work freelance. How do you deal with that? Were there things you had to teach yourself?

The transition after graduating was difficult. At the time, I combined lots of different things. Alongside producing, I also did technical production work for Rewire Festival. That’s obviously a completely different side of the industry, but you learn a lot from it too. I think you simply need a lot of patience in the beginning. You should almost assume that your first five years won’t be financially amazing. And you just have to do things. Just try things out, even if you’re not sure. I think a lot of perfectionism is actually fear. You shouldn’t get stuck in that too much. I’m still learning how to schedule off days properly. During the first years I basically accepted everything that came my way. Now I’m lucky enough to have a lot of work, but that creates different challenges.

Starting my own studio was also complicated. You need to take care of so many things. Basic things like finding a space that is large enough, properly soundproofed, affordable… is already quite difficult. But as a freelancer you need to adapt and be flexible. I also interned at a studio in Haarlem and I still work there now. That experience helped enormously. Choosing an internship that really suits you is very important. Together with my work for Rewire and teaching, I have formed a job tailor made to me and my interests. That’s also the power of freelancing.

One more thing. Getting an accountant is something I would absolutely recommend. It saves so much time and stress. And of course, things like pensions and administration are all your own responsibility as well. That’s definitely still a learning process. In the end, you have to put a huge amount of time into it yourself. Things don’t just happen automatically.

You also teach. Has teaching given you any new insights or experiences?

Yes, absolutely. The funny thing about teaching is that suddenly you have to explain why you do things that have become completely natural to you. Normally, I do many things automatically. But when you explain them to students, you suddenly have to return to the basics. That’s actually very educational for me too. It makes you rethink your own process. It’s like explaining your morning routine to someone, until you need to explain it, you don’t really know what it entails. Now I see too how different the education is at KC then in other places. What’s special here is that we’re not only trained technically, but also musically. We study many of the same subjects as the principal study music students. That makes a huge difference. You don’t only learn how equipment works, you also learn how music works. At some other institutions the focus is much more technical. Here, you’rereally trained to stand between technology and musicianship.

Are there any projects you’re particularly looking forward to?

I mainly hope we can continue expanding my own studio. My dream would be to keep expanding that, to keep making more things possible. And I always look forward to album projects. Making albums is honestly my favourite thing. We live very much in a time of singles now, but I still love albums as complete works of art. Something that tells a story from beginning to end. A great example of that, for me, is The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. It really takes you on a journey from start to finish.

My advice to anyone would be take a moment to yourself, disable the shuffle function, and listen to an album from start to finish. That’s the only way of truly experiencing the artistic vision behind an album. What work follows the other is a true science. While you are at it. You could listen to my album Why Don't We Give It A Try? which I made together with Roos Meijer. I am really proud of it, and it is an example of one artistic idea from start to finish. Enjoy!

Listen to the album on Tidal or Spotify.