KRIS HALO PIERCE (AKA DJ Halo/Haunted Echo) is a multi-award winning, genre-crossing producer and author with placements at MTV, Interscope, ViacomCBS, Sony Creative, Cleopatra Records, Distortion Productions, and TagWizz (Music Mash: Alexa Skills); just to name a few. His sound is often referred to as Balearic Beat and Cinematic Ambient, but he’s best known for his work with the Electro-Pop artist, Kim Cameron, which has been recognized by the Global Music Awards, Latitude Film Awards, the European Independent Film Award, and the Orlando Film Festival, in addition to being remixed by the Grammy Award winning, Bimbo Jones Duo. He stars as Steve the Starfish (in addition to writing original music) in the upcoming children’s animated film, Seaper Powers, and there was also that time he performed on America’s Got Talent (8 million viewers). He’s even worked on Broadway (Gettin’ The Band Back Together). He owns and operates Halo Askew Entertainment (BMI) – a multi-platform, boutique publishing company based in New Jersey.
DJ Halo released numerous albums under the name Haunted Echo. Most notably, singles ShapeTracer and Runaway which received promotional sponsorship and publication by ViacomCBS.
- What drew you to the music industry?
Kris: My parents acquired a piano when I was 5 or 6, and to hear them tell it, I spent a lot of time making up my own melodies on it. So, they got me piano lessons. Fast forward to Junior High, I borrowed some music composition workbooks from my orchestra class teacher and taught myself how to score. At the end of the year, at our final recital, the orchestra performed my piece to a standing ovation. It was at that point that I decided I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.
- Who are you inspired by?
Kris: I’d say Hans Zimmer, Mozart, and Rhys Fulber. I often refer to them as the Trinity.
- Please explain your creative process
Kris: A lot of what I do can be summed up as – make a click of some sort, something rhythmic, and I’ll improvise some string or piano line. Once I’ve got at least two phrases, I go back and start filling in ideas, with a focus on unconventional sounds. I’ll do this until I’ve got about 6 to 8 phrases going, then go into arrangement mode. That’s where I’ll slide a couple phrases together and let that be a verse, then pull some other phrases together to create a chorus, and usually, a third phrase that can act as a bridge. Unless it’s a cover song, I very rarely write a song linearly.
- What’s an average day like for you?
Kris: I’m typically up by 6:30am and brief over emails and make a plan for what needs to be accomplished. I’ll stop here and there to get my kids up for school, or make lunches, but I tend to get about 7-8 hours of studio time in every day. And because I start so early, I get to spend the evenings with my family, which is super important to me. That gives me the freedom to take my daughter to girl scouts or my son to hockey. You know, bust butt on work for 7 hours, then bust butt being a good dad in the other times.
- Is there a hidden meaning in any of your music?
Kris: Sometimes. I made a rule a long time ago that I would stear clear of writing songs about people because, in a long-term sense, I wanted to be able to be free of having to revisit bad memories. “Faking” was probably an exception. I wrote that after a band left me hanging with a $8,000 studio bill. They said I deserved it because I was a fake (referring to my willingness to write pop music). So I wrote a song about it that I don’t listen to that much anymore. “MMM That Girl’s Got Rhythm” is another one I wrote about my best friend’s all female DJ collective of the same name. I purposefully didn’t sing words in the verses because I didn’t want anything other than their collective to get a spotlight.
- Do you collaborate with others? What is that process?
Kris: I do a ton of collaborating. Sometimes it’s someone sending me a vocal line or an idea and I’ll go make an arrangement for it. Then we swap files back and forth until it’s done. Most of the people I work with have their own recording equipment, so going into a studio all together really isn’t necessary. Fun? Yes. Necessary? Not anymore.
- Please discuss how you interact with and respond to fans
Kris: You know, sometimes the idea of a “fan” seems to mean “a stranger who is motivated to be engaged.” While those types of people may exist in my world, I treat them as friends and acquaintances, so they quickly fall out of that definition for me. I try to connect with people on a personal level and engage in a way that says, “I like you for more than just you liking my art.” My social media is not based on fans; it’s based on relationships, professional and personal, that I’ve developed. If my music brought us together, then fine. But it’s not why we stayed friends.
- What is your favourite part about this line of work? Your least favourite? Why?
Kris: I really love the technical aspects of creativity and audio system design. It’s a really great feeling to build a great sounding system then go mix someone like SHAED on it. I love the little nit-picky automation points of mixing. My anal-retentive sense of detail comes in real handy when it comes to balancing audio, whether it’s live or in the studio.
- Have you ever dealt with performance anxiety? not a cheeky question hahaa
Kris: I get anxiety about the equipment working right. Most of the time, I’m ok with how I’m going to perform. It’s the, “what do I do if my interface goes out during a song?” Which happened while performing live at iHeart headquarters in NYC. Hiding that setback and doing a solid sounding show created more anxiety than wondering if I was going to hit a sour note.
- Tell me what you miss about performing live
Kris: I miss seeing that in-real-time reaction to what’s happening on stage. For 40 minutes, I’m looking forward to seeing people be happy, engaged, dancing, drinking, laughing it up. You just don’t get that over Zoom.
- What advice would you have for someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?
Kris: Do every single job there is in the industry. Also, remember it’s all about the audience. If no one is engaged in a deeply personal piece, then I’m failing at job numero uno. If you’re making music for yourself, then you don’t need fans, or bandcamp, or shows, or any of that, right? It’s just for you! Or, you do what the audience wants to hear and show you’re more than just your own, personal style.