Lenstrumental Interview

What inspired you to start creating music and how long have you been making music?

I've been creating music for the past 11 years. It all started because back in the day pen tapping was a really popular thing that everybody started doing. So just hearing it in the school cafeterias and people doing it in the classrooms every day, really inspired me to start creating music too. Over the years I've been discovering more sounds. Everyone's favorite sound is the raindrop noise, the popping noise that I do with my mouth, so over the years it's been getting more complex. I started this out just for fun and then as time went on I saw that people enjoyed it and I started taking it very seriously.

What was the recording process that you went through to make your sample pack?

I already had a lot of samples in mind before I went to the studio. I had a lot of one-hit shots. I combined the snare sound with the raindrop and the popping noise. The process of recording it was really easy because it came naturally to improvise. John Escobar, the sound engineer, gave me a lot of suggestions of the beats I should do because I just kept doing a lot of freestyles so I just rolled with it. I was improvising a lot but at the same time, I already had different sounds in mind like different loops that I've done before. I went off my old videos and picked my best rhythms to put into the sample pack; trap triplet rhythms with high-ass snares, drill, and just a lot of different sounds and rhythms.

Have you had any placements with anyone yet? If so, who have you had placements with

I haven't had any placements but I plan to submit beats through the Beatclub Opportunities Portal. I don't produce, so every beat I'm going to submit will be a collab with somebody. I'm hoping to get a lot of placements here so I'm gonna try to submit as many beats as possible. I have done a collab in person with JMB Juvie, he went viral with “Wicked”. While we didn't put out a song out the live collab was fun.

When you're collaborating with people and making beats, what samples do you use?

I just do my own stuff, I create my own patterns with my mouth and us sounds like the raindrop sounds. I don't specifically use samples that already exist. I just do my own stuff.

What type of vibe were you trying to achieve with this soundpack?

I wanted to create a lot of different vibes, especially Latin rhythms, I want a song with Bad Bunny. I did a lot of different rhythms though, drill rhythms, trap stuff, but mainly Latin because I'm Hispanic so Latin rhythms are one of my favorite rhythms. Reggaeton songs and Latin songs are the main vibe I'm trying to create but I'm trying to create a lot of different vibes.

How do you see other creators using the pack as well?

I could see them using it whatever way they want to use it on. Maybe they could take a loop and recreate it themselves, or they could cut it out or use the whole loop on their songs. They could use a sample however they like. 

Do you have any advice for upcoming creators?

My best advice is to just keep doing what you're doing, whatever journey you're pursuing. It's gonna take a long time but that doesn't matter. If it takes years just keep going at it. Just remember who you're doing it for and why you’re doing it. It’'s going to be a long journey but at the end of the day, it all pays off. Keep working, never give up and never listen to the haters especially because there's a lot of haters out there. It doesn't matter what you do, how good you are, there's always gonna be people that bring you down. So, just keep doing what you do, keep doing what you love.

Who are your favorite producers of all time?

Timbaland of course because he's a legend. He's produced a lot of songs I listened to growing up like “Apologize”. And there are a couple new producers in the game like Take Keith, I would really like to work with him because he produces for a lot of my favorite artists like Drake, Lil Baby, Meek Mill. But there are a lot of producers in the industry that I like, especially the Beatclub VIP producers.

What is your dream collaboration?

The number one artist I want to collab with and it's always been my dream is Meek Mill because he's the one that inspired me all these years to keep doing what I'm doing. He's a really big inspiration, just hearing his story, and where he comes from, people can really relate to that. So he's always been my favorite artist, and also Bad Bunny, especially because he's the number one artist right now and my family listens to him. So if I got a song with Bunny, I know my family would go crazy because my whole family is Hispanic. So when it comes to cookouts and barbecues Bad Bunny is all we listen to.

Interview by Sean P. Jones

You can check out Lenstrumental’s sample pack here.