Smelly Feet Records Is A Music Platform Which Showcases Both Established And Up & Coming Artists.
No Specific Genre, Just Real Underground Music.
Smelly Feet Records Is A Music Platform Which Showcases Both Established And Up & Coming Artists.
No Specific Genre, Just Real Underground Music.
Exclusive Mix & Interview
May 5th, 2019
Argo
City: Paris
Country: France
Genre: Beats
Welcome - Introduce yourself to our audience. Anything special you would like them to know?
Yo thank you, well I make beats and I'm from Paris. My style is very much sample based and I'm inspired by lots of music and many different things I can't start listing.
Thank you to everyone checking this and to the ones feeling the sound.
We know that you are a very devoted producer. How and where did you learn your production skills?
Like a lot of people I learned everything I know on the job and on my own. I really just watched a couple of youtube videos to get the basics (no more than 2 or 3 because it's very boring) and just heard loads of beats. I think that listening and being really sensible to some pieces of music has taught me a lot.
I've been developing a real passion for instrumental beats for a while now. I think that finding some artists and tunes I'm really sensible to and that I truly enjoy helps me grasp the sounds and the things I like. And then it is just about trying to do what you like. When you spend entire days banging the same beats over and over because they fascinate you, I think you automatically learn how to make your music. But it takes its time.
Take us through your production process. Are there any strategies that you have which help in achieving your particular sound?
I basically make beats only based on what feels good for me to hear. I don't really have rules and I'm still a very disorganized guy, but it usually starts by finding a first sample that will get me going. I use everything on the internet to dig sounds and samples. I also like to sample records from my dads collection he gave me recently.
What you possibly mean by 'particular sound' must come from the fact that I don't really pay attention to the technical side. I'm like the opposite of an audio & production geek so when it comes to mixdowns and everything technical, I just do it so it sounds good to me on the device I use on that moment. It's usually shit bluetooth speakers or weird sounding home systems haha. I've never had a pair of monitors.
I like organic & dirty-sounding music. I'm into dirty sounding beats, dusty and crispy stuff like Madlib's tapes or Burial's music. I don't really like when music sounds to official, if you know what I mean.
What is your favorite piece of equipment - hardware/software/other?
My ears or my mouse, haha. I don't really need anything else than Fruity Loops & somewhere to find samples. The DAW allows me to manipulate the sounds as I want and to program drums. That's pretty much all I need. I use a soft synth from time to time but yeah. I like the mouse because I program everything by clicking, and I'm very used to it now. Apart from that I own zero hardware, except a field recorder I've just started to use to have more personal sounds for my beats.
Have you ever sold anything that you still wish you owned?
I can't think of something I recently sold man. I feel like I'm always buying stuff all day because I have no choice and it's annoying, so yeah, I'm not a seller type of person. I don't have much to sell anyway.
How do you feel the new technology being released today affects the community of professional producers? Is it positive? Negative? Both?
I don't really know what professional producers are. If you mean easy access to music making and internet (only for western countries though) versus the old ways, I just don't think about it. I'm not into anything related to the industry so I have 0 problems with seeing things change. And I'm happy to participate in encroaching with my beats made in a few clicks on a laptop in my bed.
What steps do you take to ensure that you remain unique in such a competitive field?
I don't think about those things. I just make my stuff, otherwise I'm not feeling good. I'm not really following any current scene as intensely as I used to. I spend a lot of time digging for (mostly old) beats I would love but haven't heard yet. I still regularly listen to what's hot from my friends who also make beats and some shows from DJs I like. I also like to discover genres I don't know well and to randomly listen to mixes of music I'm not familiar with.
I'm not sure being unique is something you need to focus on, to me it just happens when you make music for you.
Is there anything that you are working on at the moment that you would like the public to know about?
April was a busy month in terms of releases. I've recently started "argobeats" as my self release platform. "argobeats. 1" is out now and contains 4 beats from the past months/years. I'm planning to do many more. I think self releases are sick because labels are cool but they take forever to do anything and sometimes I just want to put out the beats and get paid if any money is made.
We've made a collaborative record with my friend Samba on his and Victoria's new label, 26RAIN, which you should give a look at. I also released an instrumental beats EP on Yellow Flower, and I remixed a track for Rakjay which is out on his EP on NSX records. All of this is out now on vinyl.
Argo, in a few sentences. Tell us about this mix you made for us. Where did you get your inspiration. Is there anything special you want the audience to know?
Nothing too complex, just been playing my own beats. I hope you head bang and find it interesting. I always have loads of beats I'm sitting on, so check me out if you like it, I'm always planning more releases. Respect
