Interview with Black Bell Beats

We held our very first Producer Showcase in September 2016 at the gorgeous Bird of Smithfield in London. We were very blessed to have the legend Focus...(producer for Dr Dre, Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Lil Wayne, Kendrick Lamar and the list goes on and on), J Hatch (co-founder of iStandard) and Flukes from pioneers of Funky House music, Crazy Cousinz, judging some amazingly talented producers from all over the UK and Europe.
Footage can be found on Inspirels Magazine (our official Press for the event) Youtube from the night, and our Instagram.

I caught up with Black Bell Beats who came all the way over from France for the competition, and placed an impressive 3rd on the evening... AND got a standing ovation from Focus...
​I'm pretty sure that alone was worth the trip over for!

Denise: How and when did you get into music? 
Black Bell Beats: My parents were not lucky enough to be able to learn music so they forced my sister and I to do it!
They took us to a music school at the age of 6 but we were already surrounded by music at home everyday. 
Speaking about music production, my cousin (Malos, a french hiphop producer/rapper) is the one that showed me for the first time what an MPC was, what sampling was etc...

Denise: Who are your biggest musical influences (production-wise and in general)?
Black Bell Beats: Production-wise I'd say Dr Dre (and pretty much all the aftermath team), J Dilla for sure, Rick Rubin, Lil Jon, Bangladesh, !llmind, Timbaland, Pete Rock, 9th Wonder and the list goes on. I'm also a big fan of what the LA based collective Soulection is bringing to the table right now!
In general, anything that has emotions in it, it can be Soul, Rock, Techno, Classical Music, Reggae, Dancehall... the last 3 albums that really smacked me in the face were Anderson .Paak "Malibu", Alabama Shakes "Sound & Colour" and The Internet "Ego Death".

Denise: What software/hardware do you use to make music?
Black Bell Beats: Started on the MPC 2500, now working with both Maschine and Logic and a couple gigabytes of sounds from everywhere. I'm actually trying to figure out a way to incorporate Ableton Live in the process because you can do a lot of cool stuff with it.
I mostly work in the box but sometimes I use a Nord Stage keyboard, a Blue microphone and an old turntable when I'm a in a "vinyle mood". Everything is running thru a Universal Audio interface.

Denise: What artists have you worked with/are currently working with?
Black Bell Beats: Not a lot actually, I did something with an artist from Toronto called "Kavale" and "Crescendo" who is a rapper from my city.
The biggest act would be "Ol' Kainry" a french rapper who was really huge in the early 2000's but he is coming back right now, I have a song on his last mixtape and we'll be working on his next project soon.
The main focus right now is my band, "Dirty South Crew" (from the north of France tho...) we are working on our 3rd album which will be released in 2017.

Denise: Do you actively attend music workshops/industry events? If so, what benefit do you think they bring, if any?
Black Bell Beats: I wanted to be good enough to attend events like these, the Instros Only Producer Showcase was the 2nd time I showcased my tracks in front of industry heads.
What benefit they bring? I can speak about my setup in an interview lol. I think the main thing is relationships, I've met  lot of great people that I'll see again to make music and it also pushes me to be more creative and to improve myself, so Big up Instros Only!

Denise: Where can people hear your music?
Black Bell Beats: www.soundcloud.com/blackbellbeats

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Here is one of the tracks Black Bell Beats submitted for the Instros Only competition...