Norwegian duo Dag Holtan-Hartwig and Halvor Folstad have written and/or produced several hit songs for artists such as Jonas Blue, Alan Walker, Seeb, CLMD and Julie Bergan. While they mainly focus on songwriting and top lining, their combined talents enable them to both write and produce across various genres (pop, EDM & RnB). Their brand of flexible creativity resulted in the duo having five different songs in the Norwegian Top 50 chart at the same time in 2019.
Which of your tracks are you most happy with the production for and why?
Perhaps “Not Gonna Cry” by Emma Steinbakken. I mean half the reason why the production sounds great is because Emma is such an amazing singer, but it’s a record we’re super proud of nonetheless. We managed to reference a little bit of Coldplay, keep the drums dirty and the guitars gritty and at the same time make it sound like a huge pop tune. Also, Jamie Snell’s mix certainly pushed it to the next level.
Do you have a production tip to share that can make your fellow creators’ lives easier?
We should be better at this ourselves, but make sure you have all the good stuff – the sounds you love the most – handy at all times. Don’t spend your time looking for your most used sounds!
What should up and coming producers focus on to get more exposure?
This is the impossible question for all artists, musicians and producers. The one thing we can say is that you shouldn’t spend too much time on stuff. Pretend it’s finished, send it to someone and move on.
What is your biggest challenge when it comes to mastering your music?
Mastering is such a dark arts exercise. It’s so subtle and so existentially important to your music at the same time. The biggest challenge for us is to trust our own ears. I mean, your hearing differs all the time, depending on the hour of the day, how tired you are, how many beers you’ve had. But you just sort of have to believe that what you hear is real and go from there. Haha, we hope that made sense.
What drives you to use Masterchannel?
The fact that it’s super fast, super easy to use and that it produces really good results.
