{{Short description|Sound designer}} {{Infobox artist | name = Eric Persing | image = | image_size = | caption = Eric Persing in the studio | birth_name = Eric Armand Persing | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1963|07|21}} | birth_place = Landstuhl, West Germany | spouse = Lorey Persing | children = Jazmine Persing, Soren Persing, Sage Persing | known_for = Spectrasonics, Sound design, Synthesizer Development, Music Production, Roland, LA Session Musician, Sound Libraries | notable_works = Omnisphere, Keyscape, Roland D50, Roland JD800, Michael Jackson "Bad" album, Distorted Reality | awards = <!-- {{awd|award|year|title|role|name}} (optional) --> | website = https://www.spectrasonics.net }} thumb | right | alt=A man stands in front of an electric keyboard | Eric Persing showing his synthesizer '''Eric Persing''' is an American sound designer, professional synthesist, keyboardist, recording artist and music producer based in Los Angeles, California.<ref name="SOSJul2000">{{cite web|title=Eric Persing: Creating Spectrasonics|url=https://www.soundonsound.com/people/eric-persing-creating-spectrasonics|website=Sound On Sound|date=July 2000|access-date=24 October 2025}}</ref> One of the world's leading sound designers,<ref name="SOSJul2000"/> he is best known as the founder and Creative Director of the music software and virtual instrument company Spectrasonics.
==Career== Persing started playing piano in the sixth grade before playing a Minimoog in 1975 and finding inspiration in synthesizers. In the early 1980s he moved to Los Angeles and began working as a session musician and arranger.<ref name="CCDec2013">{{cite web|title=Interview: Spectrasonics Founder Eric Persing|url=https://thechurchcollective.com/interview/interview-spectrasonics-founder-eric-persing/|website=The Church Collective|date=17 December 2013|access-date=24 October 2025}}</ref> This work, which continued for years, led to his working with such notable artists as Luther Vandross, Quincy Jones, Danny Elfman, Marcus Miller, Herbie Hancock, James Newton Howard, Eddie Jobson, Michel Colombier, Diana Ross, Arif Mardin, Chaka Khan, Larry Carlton, Hans Zimmer, Leonard Cohen, Michael Jackson, Randy Newman and Celine Dion.<ref name="SOSJul2000"/>
In 1982 he began working at Goodman Music, a music store in Orange, California and became more proficient with synthesizers and the possibilities of new MIDI technology. Eventually he was recruited by Tom Beckman, the President of Roland US, to demo the company's products at the 1984 NAMM Show in Chicago.<ref name="KVR">{{cite web|last=Halaby|first=Chris|title=Eric Persing Interview|url=https://www.kvraudio.com/interviews/eric-persing-interview-16992|website=KVR|date=30 July 2011|access-date=24 October 2025}}</ref> Roland made Persing the company's Chief Sound Designer, a position he held from 1984 to 2004,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Battino |first1=David |last2=Richards |first2=Kelli |title=The Art of Digital Music |date=2005 |publisher=Backbeat Books |isbn=0-87930-830-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/artofdigitalmusi00davi/page/76 76] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/artofdigitalmusi00davi/page/76 }}</ref> during which time he worked on many influential synthesizers and music-related products such as the Roland D-50,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vail |first1=Mark |title=The Synthesizer |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-019-539481-8 |page=54}}</ref> JD-800,<ref name="McCabe">{{cite web|last=McCabe|first=Paul|title=Digital Dreams: Eric Persing and the JD-800|url=https://articles.roland.com/digital-dreams-eric-persing-and-the-jd-800/|website=Roland|date=26 October 2021 |access-date=24 October 2025}}</ref> the Roland JX, JV, JP, XP series synthesizers, and many others.
In 1994, inspired by his work with sample libraries for Roland, Persing co-founded Spectrasonics with his wife Lorey,<ref name="CCDec2013"/> releasing the company's first library, ''Bass Legends'', featuring bass guitar samples played by Marcus Miller, John Patitucci, and Abraham Laboriel. Another library, ''Distorted Reality'' (1995), became one of the best-selling professional sample libraries of all time.<ref name="SOSJul2000"/> In 2002, Spectrasonics shifted from sample libraries to virtual instruments, releasing Atmosphere and later Trilogy.
Since founding Spectrasonics, Persing has been the producer and primary contributor to all of the company's products, including the award-winning Omnisphere, Keyscape,<ref>{{cite web |title=SOS Awards 2018: And The Winners Are...|url=https://www.soundonsound.com/music-business/sos-awards-2018-and-winners-are |website=Sound On Sound |date=February 2018 |access-date=24 October 2025}}</ref> Trilian, and Stylus RMX.<ref>{{cite web|last=White|first=Paul|title=Spectrasonics Stylus RMX|url=https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/spectrasonics-stylus-rmx|website=Sound On Sound|access-date=24 October 2025}}</ref>
At the 2011 NAMM Show, as part of a joint promotion with the Bob Moog Foundation, Persing exhibited the OMG-1 synthesizer, a unique synthesizer of his own design that integrated a Moog Little Phatty with an Apple Mac Mini and two iPads running virtual instruments, all housed in a custom curly maple cabinet.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vail |first1=Mark |title=The Synthesizer |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-019-539481-8 |page=221}}</ref> In 2011 Persing's company released the Bob Moog Tribute Library for Omnisphere, with all proceeds going to the Bob Moog Foundation. Ten years later, the company released the Bob Moog Tribute Library 2, again donating all proceeds from the library's sale to the Bob Moog Foundation.<ref>{{cite web|title=Spectrasonics release Moog Tribute Library 2|url=https://www.soundonsound.com/news/spectrasonics-release-moog-tribute-library-2|website=Sound On Sound|date=26 March 2021|access-date=24 October 2025}}</ref>
Persing has cited important musical influences of Vangelis, Kraftwerk, Jan Hammer, Yes, Genesis and Thomas Dolby.<ref name="KVR"/>
==Awards== In 2011, Persing and his team accepted the TEC Award for "Best Musical Instrument Software" for Omnisphere version 1.5.<ref>{{cite web |title=27th Annual TEC Awards Winners|url=http://legacy.tecawards.org/tec/11winners.html|website=TEC Awards|publisher=Tecfoundation.com |date=20 January 2012 |access-date=26 August 2012}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book|date=January 22, 2014|title=The Synthesizer – A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding, Programming, Playing, and Recording the Ultimate Electronic Music Instrument|author=Mark Vail|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8EOeAgAAQBAJ|isbn=9780199334865}}
==External links== *[https://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/spectrasonics-eric-persing-talks-omnisphere-2-sound-design-and-more-616236 MusicRadar interview (2015)] * [http://www.kvraudio.com/interviews/eric-persing-interview-16992?id=9 KVR interview (2011)] * [http://www.spectrasonics.net/company/artists/artist.php?id=9 Official bio at Spectrasonics] * [http://www.spectrasonics.net/company/other/ep-roland.php?id=9 Eric Persing Roland credits at Spectrasonics] *[https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/eric-persing Eric Persing interview] at NAMM Oral History Library (2011)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Persing, Eric}} Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:American sound designers