What does it really mean to build a production music catalog today?
@danielholter , founder of @thelicenselab , shares his perspective on creativity, structure, and long-term thinking.
Read more – link in bio. 🔗
🌿 New music, new milestone. Dropping this week for #EarthDay, Botanica from Eyeballs & Eardrums is the first US-produced album included in @universalproductionmusic ‘s Green Production Music initiative.
We made it outdoors. Battery power, portable instruments, open air. On a felled oak in Wisconsin. Among moss-covered pines in the Pacific Northwest. In city parks in New York. The sounds of those places aren’t mere samples, they’re the raw material, processed and woven into every cue.
Eight electroacoustic tracks.
Made in nature.
Made of nature.
Available worldwide now through Universal Production Music.
🔗 Full story at Lab Notes, link in bio.
#botanica #greenmusic #productionmusic #librarymusic
“Den største arven du gir, er hvordan du lever.”
The greatest legacy you leave is how you live.
My dad took a bad spill while on a walk at Mauthe Lake on Sunday. He was flown by Flight For Life to Froedert Hospital in Milwaukee, but his injuries were too severe and he passed away shortly after arriving there.
Thank you to all of you who heard and reached out to our family to offer your thoughts, prayers, support and love. Thank you to the medical professionals who did what they could to try and help and, eventually, comfort him in his final moments.
My brother Mark and sister Joy and I worked on an obituary while shedding a bunch of tears yesterday and today, I’ll post that when it’s live later this week.
Incredibly, the three of us all made the trek back to Wisconsin just last weekend and spent a few days with him… being with him and laughing with him and loving him up as much as we could as we helped organize his things for a move into Diane’s place, prepping for some longterm care.
My Dad was the best any kid could possibly hope for. I consider myself exceptionally fortunate to have had him as a father, mentor, guide, believer, supporter, example, friend, confidant, father-in-law to Kate and incredible Grandpa to our 3 kiddos for so many good good good years. We were so blessed, so fortunate… gratitude is my overwhelming emotion right now.
I thought he would outlive all of us. He certainly deserved every good thing and a hundred more years.
Hug the ones you love! I was never ashamed to love him in public, always saying goodbye with “I love you” and a kiss. I will miss him immensely. 💔
❤️🫡🇳🇴❤️⚙️🤓❤️🧩😇❤️
One cleaned me up after I got jumped walking to her house. The other handed me a video camera at school board meetings and changed my life forever.
Two women. International Women’s Day. Full story at my site. 🔗
New free interview from HC 005: Daniel Holter on Making Production Music With Soul (link in bio)
Daniel's story is wild. After being fired via FedEX by the sketchy voiceover guy he worked for, he dove headfirst into the world of production music and treated every library release with the same care and artistry as any other record he produced. 30 years and several catalogs later, his business @thelicenselab is thriving and he's got ten different labels distributed by @universalproductionmusic . He's also humble as fuck and just a hardcore music nerd. If you're interested in production music, this is a must-read!
#productionmusic #librarymusic #stockmusic #synclicensing #thelicenselab #universalproductionmusic #recordproducer #musicproducer #musicproduction #audioengineering #songwriting #patreon #zine #interview #harmoniccontent
Harmonic Content 005 is now shipping. While it doesn't feel good to promote things right now*, I'd be doing a disservice to this issue's amazing contributors if I didn't put this out there.
In this issue:
-Introduction: “Fine, I’ll Write About AI”
-Daniel Holter on Making Production Music With Soul
-Matthew Marteinsson on Serving the Game With Sound
-“So, You Think You Hate Jazz? I Did, Too.” by Russell Spera
-“Redesigns: The Sound Designer’s Sketchbook” by DJ Meadows
(Cover art by @dhugdahl as always)
*Swipe to the end for propaganda.
#productionmusic #librarymusic #stockmusic #musiclicensing #musicpublishing #synclicensing #AImusic #musicproduction #audioengineering #gameaudio #dontstarve #oxygennotincluded #invisibleinc #sounddesign #redesign #soundredesign #jazz #jazzappreciation #horacesilver #patreon #zine #diy #interview #smallpress #harmoniccontent
2025 is nearly over. Good riddance, many would say.
I am trying to stay positive, grateful, hopeful. It’s a daily challenge.
Here are some photos from this past year in my life.
I am a human who is impossibly wealthy when it comes to friends. Grateful for all the good people in my life… three of whom I wanted to include here but they don’t exist on socials intentionally (however, I am including you in my heart Greg, Yason, Marcus!). 😉
While 2025 has been one of the most trying and difficult years for so many, I remain hopeful that 2026 will find us all trending back to light and love.
If your life crossed paths with mine this year, please know that I am thankful… photos or no. Most of my best moments this year passed without us stopping to grab a pic. The last frame here from our home represents that space we shared… as it should be, in real life, full of air and breath and memory and possibility. 🙏❤️
Some 2025 Favorites of mine, I wrote a bit about it at my site (danielholter dot com) or click the link in my IG story here.
What a time for creativity and music. Enjoy! ❤️
New for 2026: Weekly curated playlists from The License Lab.
With our distribution renewed at @universalpm_us (and across the globe through Universal Production Music offices everywhere), we’re opening up a clearer, faster way to discover our music and peek into our laboratory.
We are 10 boutique labels made of 7,000+ unique tracks… now curated into playlists that are :
✅ All brief-driven
✅ All editor-friendly
✅ All built for picture
✅ All 100% human-made
Every playlist is hosted on @disco.ac and licensed exclusively through UPM.
Start exploring here 👉 licenselab.com/playlists
More dropping every week in 2026.
#ProductionMusic
#SyncLicensing
#MusicForPicture
#MusicSupervision
#EditorsLife
In this episode of Working Class Audio, Matt welcomes back producer, mixer, composer, and songwriter Daniel Holter (WCA #179). Daniel has mixed music for Nick Lowe, Amos Lee, Blitzen Trapper, Crowded House, and many others, and has composed music cues used by Apple, Nike, HBO, ESPN, NBC, video games, films, and more.
Links in BIO to watch or listen!
Thank you to our sponsors
@adkmicrophone@gracedesignproaudio@audioscapeaudio@kaliaudio@Gearspace@distrokid
