WPCR Spotlight: Eric Halin

By Jared Gendron; For the Clock

On October 6, 2016

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DJ Van Halin has been fascinated with music since high school. He found his footing while he wrote music as a teenager and matured a solid understanding of music theory: the principles or patterns to what sounds “good”.

“There's something really interesting about learning the backbones of why we like to listen to certain types of music, and then seeing that in your own work” said Halin.

Now a junior at PSU, DJ Van Halin (known as Eric Halin off the air), runs two radio shows at WPCR, PSU’s student radio station: Funkin' Ya Ish and Morning Chips.

Funkin' Ya Ish is Halin's Thursday night feature, consisting of a variety of genre types including indie music, and sometimes a mix of hip-hop. This year, Halin has been using this show to train new members of WPCR. Callers and guests are welcome to buzz in during these two hours with music suggestions or questions.

“There's a fair amount of responsibility involved. You're not just playing for your friends,” said Halin. “Anybody with a radio listens in, so you do need to be professional. Other than that, you get your own two hour slice of time, where you set the mood and do whatever you want.”

Morning Chips is Halin's Sunday show. Listen in for a display of 8-bit orchestration or synthesized sound bites.

Halin, an active member of the chiptune critic community, aims to share his fondness for chiptune composition. For those not aware, a chiptune is a term given to music tracks synthesized using old hardware and PSG sound chips. Composers utilize the sounds of these short clips to pattern up, and construct new and original music pieces.

“I made Morning Chips originally, because I wanted to bring more awareness to chiptunes in this area, because nobody really knows about it,” said Halin.

As a music tech major, Halin spends a good chunk of his time developing music through the use of hardware synthesizing. In light of his passion for the chiptune style of composition, Halin is interested in pursuing a career composing scores for video games and movies. He expressed skepticism about this reality however, citing today's competitive market as a hurdle to making a break through.

“You have to be really on the ball about everything if you want to make money selling music,” said Halin.“It's more about business than music almost, because you can be a great composer but terrible at business, and not sell anything.”

Halin said he is confident that he'll find a path involving music. Whether he's in the recording studio behind the scenes or in a radio station, Halin said he wants to make a living being involved in the music production process.

Halin has been able to apply his broadcasting experience to everyday life. He said that on-air commentary has conditioned him to speak more thoughtfully and carefully about what he says. He also attributes the professional environment of radio broadcasting to weighing his options, and thinking about what's important.

Halin said the people he works with are all accepting of one another, and create a positive sense of community.

“It's helped me appreciate the people I work around, and it's helped me work in a team. Being part of a bigger community, you start to think more of what's really important,” he said.

WPCR is a student-driven organization which aims to deliver a wide variety of musical expression and commentary pieces. For students interested in joining WPCR, meetings are held every Wednesday night at 9 p.m. in Memorial 103.

Tune in to Eric's Thursday feature Funkin' Ya Ish, from 11 p.m.-1 a.m., and also his Sunday special Morn- ing Chips, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Past interviews from Morning Chips can be found at soundcloud.com/ morning-chips. Both shows can be listened to live at 91.7 FM.

CLOCK PHOTO/JUSTIN SIEWIERSKI