24: Introduce yourself to everyone that doesn’t already know who you are.

Mike D: Wsup! This Mike “Trauma”D one half of Arkatech Beatz

Jug : Peace, This Jugrnaut aka Big Jug, the next half of Arkatech Beatz..

24: Could you briefly describe your history on how you got into the music industry and who were some of the artists that inspired you?

Mike D: After I graduated high school, I knew I wanted to be in the music biz, but didn’t know in what capacity. I went to an audio engineering school to explore some options and hustled my way into an internship at Loud Records/Sony Music. I worked my way up the ranks from unpaid intern to finally getting paid..lol..to mail room clerk, to promo dept, to sales, to finally Director of A&R.

Jug: I was forced into this music man! Nah, but my parents had me taking piano lessons from young. Some friends around my way had some equipment and I learned how to lay things down, write lil raps or whatever.  After college, I landed a gig at a fortune 500 company.  I was making a lil bread so I invested in a studio setup, samplers, keyboards or whatever. While I was doing the studio thing, Mike just landed the internship at Sony, and our Mothers (we’re cousins) suggested we connect. We started linking up and doing beat tapes, and it was on ever since. Once the production started popping, I moved into A&R consulting, etc.

24: For our readers who may not know, can you please list some of the records you’ve produced for?

Jug: We’ve produced 2 records for the late great Big Pun, “Capital Punishment” and “LeatherFace. We worked with the legend, Nas on “Kids in the Pjs”, “Worst Enemy”, “Seeds of Blackness,” & “Selfconscience ft Prodigy of Mobb Deep. Also Raekwon “Live From Ny”, “Casablanca”, “Jury”,“The Table” ft. Masta Killa, ..a whole bunch of joints with him, too many to list. We did Max B’ “Why You Do That”, Mya “Back To Disco”… We also did the score for the movie Black & White which starred Ben Stiller, Claudia Schifer, Brook Shields, Elijah Woods, Robert Downey Jr. Mike Tyson , Raekwon from Wu Tang and others…all star cast.

Mike D: Game “Never Be Friends”, Shawty Lo “About My B.I” ft Mya, “Big Boy Talking” for Lil Scrappy …umm bunch of stuff wit Alley Boy, “50 Bars of Posion”, “I’m Strapped”, “Rappin & Robbin” ft Princess & Waka Flocka, “Get To it” a bunch of stuff…we’re also working wit Jon Jeezy, Lil Hot, Yung Mazi, Slick Boy Ziggy, Eldorado Red..lot of stuff, lot of indie cats that’s really poppin down south making a name for themselves.

24: How did you guys come up with the name “Arkatech Beatz”?

Mike D: Well originally we were known as The Infinite Arkatechz and that was cool, but as the industry climate started to change we felt that in order to survive one must reinvent themselves, so that’s what we did. We didn’t want to stay soley on some New York shit like some other producers do when music was thriving in other regions. We thought that would be pretty silly and a career killer to put limits on your own talents. We wanted to push ourselves to the next level. So we morphed into Arkatech Beatz. Almost like a new beginning.

Jug: For business reasons it made sense not to just stay in one lane and region, but to broaden our horizons and push ourselves creatively. We also felt the name Arkatech Beatz is a brand that says it all..We create/build and structure beats into songs, records! That’s what we do.

24: What made you want to produce compared to being an artist or singer, manager, etc?

Mike D: well I can’t sing or rap…but nowadays it seems like that don’t even matter..lol..but I use to dj and make little mixtapes so it was just natural progression from dj to producer.

Jug: Well, I used to rap. I couldn’t get beats from the locals back then, so I learned to do my own! Best decision I ever made.  I eventually gave up on being an artist as I learned production and the business in general.  I felt there was greater longevity in production as opposed to being an artist.

24: What other producers, songwriters and/or artists do you see as your primary inspirations?

Mike D: Well there are a lot of producers and artist out there doing their thing…too many to name. My respect for producers and artist are in 2 folds. Your musical creativity and/or just your grind to make a name for yourself. That’s what inspires me every day..cause even wack producers and artist are popping…and I’m not gon sit around and let them surpass me, when i know what we’ve done and what we’re also capable of doing. Seeing others grind with half of what we have is inspiration in itself.
Jug: I’m with Mike D on that one, I’m inspired by everyone who has the guts to pursue their dream in this business.  

How would you describe your production style?

Jug: Intense.  Sometimes aggressive.  We want to stir up some emotions when you play our joints.

Wat is distinctive about a Arkatech Beatz production?

Jug: Whats distinctive about our production is our ability to adapt and Arkatech (architect) a record for an artist.  Our sound knows no bounds.

Mike D: Yeah we rather not be tied down to one sound. We don’t want to be figured out or have a signature sound. We want the consumer to hear the Arkatech Beatz tag in the beginning and have no idea what to expect when the beat drops. Just expect quality from us.

24: Do you both consider yourselves producers or a beat-makers and explain why for either answer?

Mike D: We’re more then beat-makers and producers. We’re more like A&R producers and executive producers because of our history. We’ll make a track based on an artist and what we feel they should be on. We’ll structure the record in parts and give instructions so an artist knows ok this is going to be this kind of song, your going to rhyme here and do hook here. Then we will also suggest feature or go get feature and make it a record or do it the other way around hook first.

Jug: We did that with the Shawty Lo “About My B.I” ft Mya record. We had Mya do hook and went to Lo with the record already produced. All he had to do is jump in on the verse and we got it from there.
 
MIke D: Then after its all done we’ll go the extra distance and promote record. We’ll email blasts, help send to DJ’s,websites, blast it on twitter and even do a write up on the artist and put on our website, ArkatechBeatz.com. So it just doesn’t stop at being producers with us, we go all the way.

24: Who are some other artists you’re trying to work with in the future?

Jug: Of course we want to work with the names Rick Ross, Young Jeezy, Gucci, Lil Wayne, T.I, Jay Z, Keri Hilson, etc.. But we also want to continue working with the new artist on the grind that aint big yet but their working hard making a name for themselves and their movement.

24: How do you guys approach making your beats, do you start with the drums first or a kick?

Mike D: well it depends. If we’re making it from scratch no samples we’ll do drumz maybe even a basic drum pattern, then play everything out, then add on more percussion. If its sample based..sample first then build on top of it.

24: What equipment did you start off working with and what equipment do you use now?

Mike D: wow…lol…I remember Jug gave me his Akai SO1 sampler and an old Alesis sequencer lol..and then after that I think we were sequencing on some old mac computer…Jug is the tech head..he got the history on that…

Jug: We started using old Akai samplers. Then we moved on to the Ensoniq ASR 10’s, MPC’s, Now its Pro Tools, Reason, etc..  But to be honest, we use the MPC2000XL probably the most.

24: Can you describe, briefly, how the two of you work together on a musical project?

Jug: Well I’m in Atlanta and Mike is in NY, so we have our own individual workspace. We send music to each other, tweek or add on to each others work, give tracks the thumbs up or down. Mike’s in Atlanta all the time also, so when he’s out here I may do a drum track and get up and he may start playing something and I’ll say keep that…vice versa as well.

24: What producer in the game at the moment makes you say damn! When you hear a beat they did and make you want to step up your production?

Mike D: Honestly, these days, musically I don’t really get that feeling from any producer. Not to sound arrogant or cocky, I mean I here stuff and I’m like yeah that’s hot, but nowadays it don’t have me like ahh dayum like it use to!  Back in the days when you had Rza, Havoc, Large Pro, Pete Rock, Eric Sermon, Roc Wilder, Just Blaze, Organized Noize, Beatz By The Pound, BattleCat, Melman, Dj Quick, etc..that era? Maaaan sheeeeit. Those cats had me like WTF?. You couldn’t tell what was a sample and what wasn’t. And the way some samples were flipped and chopped and hidden in another sample playing at the same time. Wow!! They put work in and really did some things, not taking anything away from some of the stuff producers are doing now, but you can tell there was a certain kind of soul in those records. Not some of this light fluffy stuff that’s out now.
 
Jug: Nowadays It’s the producers grind and hustle that gets me like damn. To walk into 5 different studios and 5 different artist  plays me records from the same producer has me like..”this nicca again? Wow! He working”  Lol That makes me want to step up my grind and work ethics. I want that producer to look over his shoulder and see us right there! We coming for you chump! Lol

 
24: Do you have any plans of starting a label later on and have artist(s) or do you just want to keep focusing on being the best producer possible?

Jug: We’ve been down that road, had 2 production situations at 2 major labels, etc. It’s truly more work than people know, which can steer you away from the thing that got you the deals in the first place..producing! Right now, we’re focusing on the production. As producers with label executive experience, we sometimes do consultant work with new artists to help maximize their situations.  That’s about as close to having a label as we’re getting these days. But who knows, if the right artist and situation presents it self, we might be down for it.

24: Is there an artist you want to work with that you have not yet had the opportunity to work with?

Mike D: Plenty.. Jay Z, 50 Cent, Rick Ross, Young Jeezy, T.I, Wiz Khalifa, Pill, Currensy, Gucci Mane, French Montana, Lil Wayne, Drake, Keri Hilson, Mary J Blige, Keyshia Cole, Lady Gaga…etc..everyone we can.

24: Do you have a favorite musical project that you’ve worked on?

Mike D: Yep Big Pun “Capital Punishment” Our first placement, first latino rapper to go platinum, our first platinum plaque, first album grammy nomination, it was a first for everything..

Jug: That alone was history!

Mike D: yeah and the album dropped on my birthday! Talk about a birthday gift..sheeeeit …lol

24: Do you have advice for young people who want to become pop music producers?

Mike D: A whole lot of advice… I don’t even know where to start. For starters I’ll say 1) Study the business and make sure your foundation is straight. Have your publishing company, ASCAP or BMI setup, everything set. Study the different kind of deals and research the pros and cons so when someone comes to you with an offer you know what to do. 2) Study the music out there and make sure what your doing can compete. Keep building on it till your sure. Practice makes perfect. Last but not least…3)The grind! You get out what you put in, you have to sacrifice social time and energy. You may have to skip a few months of partying, hanging with the fellaz or trying to bag that chick so you can focus on your craft. It really takes a lot of dedication.

Jug : Fa real we def have a lot to say, lot of info that people aren’t telling you. That’s why we opened our site Arkatechbeatz.com You can go there and read some of the articles we post from production tips to venting about how these A&Rs operate all the way to execs ignoring you after they get what they want from you. Real deep talk that most people scared to even speak on.

24: What do you like to do for fun outside of working on music?

Mike D: There aint time for much, not enough hours in the day it seems…but even the almighty God had to take a day off right? Lol. So on them days we keeps it regular like everyone else movies, pool, bar lounges, video games, chill wit the fam..u know just regular stuff.

Jug: Yeah..I definitely like to kick back, watch movies, play some video games, whatever.

24: What’s some up and coming moves you’re trying to make in the near future that everyone should look out for?

Jug: We got the website poppin off right now. ArkatechBeatz.com, we’re in the studio now working with Duct Tape Ent, Alley Boy, Mya, Shawty Lo, Lil Scrappy, Lil Hot, Jon Jeezy, Parlae, Yung Mazi, Eldorado Red, Slick Boy Ziggy and lot more major artist I can’t even mention cause its still pending.

Mike D: Things happens so quick, by the time readers read this there will be another 10 artist on the list.

24: How can the readers keep up to date with everything your doing?

Mike D: twitter.com/arkatechbeatz is the best way. I’m on everyday, I try and talk to everyone…so just holla. Thats the best way you can get at us

Jug: Also, www.arkatechbeatz.com is a good way for you to get info on the business, hear new music, etc.

Thank you for providing 24hourhiphop.com with this exclusive interview, do you have any last words for your present and future fans?

Mike D: First off thanks for reaching out to us, it was def our pleasure doing this. To our fans thanks for reaching out to us on twitter. Alot of folks have hit us on there expressing the love for some of our work , especially the joints we did back in the days. It’s really amazing how fans really don’t forget our contribution to Hip Hop. So thanks for the love and we’ll continue supplying yall with that heat.

Jug: Definitely want to thank 24hourhiphop.com for the opportunity.  To the fans, we aim to please, so as long as you’re checking for us, we gonna keep it going with banger after banger, 1!