Big Alliance Deep artist Smootrab, Producer and DJ of House – Tech House & Deep House music, is quickly establishing himself as one of Belgium’s most upcoming and respected tastemakers on the dancefloor in the International Club scene. With some of his EP’s and remixes popping up on established labels in House music , charted and supported by many deejays around the world, he is clearly leaving his mark during his rise to the future platform. Having now included his name on albums alongside some of the leading music artists including Stefano Noferini, Nicole Moudaber, DJ Chus, Mario Ochoa, Roy Rosenfeld, Mike Newman, Pedro Mercado, Marcelo Vak & many more, Smootrab keeps on working on exciting collaborations with other talents. Music is his passion, producing his way to clear his mind. His style is known to be surprising and give pure ecstacy to the people on the dancefloor. His following is rapidly growing and regular club, radio & chart support keeps him pushed to the front of the music scene. Spininng live sets at 20K capacity festivals he has proven to take the crowd on a neverending trip you’ll never forget!
SUM : Hello mate , thanks for taking the time to talk with us, How’s been 2013 so far for your career?
Hey guys, you’re welcome!
2013 has been a pretty crazy year so far. Next to 16 original tracks, on EP’s & compilation albums, I’ve released about as many remixes on different labels. A result of working hard and by getting international support on a lot of my productions this year, I feel 2014 will be even bigger!
My Ibizamaica EP & Cuba Libre Remix of Dj Jackk on Big Alliance Deep this year both supported on Tomorrowland, La Rocca and other clubs, keep me strong to survive!
I’ve also had the pleasure of collaborating with talented international artists, which have lead in promising projects with a new kind of groove. Always interesting as a producer to see how colleagues do their magic and learn from it.
Besides the succes of those releases, 2013 was also a dark year for me. On June 19th, fate turned against me. I was invited for an interview and guest mix on Radio FG Belgium. After the DJ set, the hosts of the forplay show (Dj Licious & Sakso) always ask the guest deejay to take a special photo to post on their facebook fanpage. Offcourse I’d like a really special one … Outside the studio I climbed on a rock to jump off, so they could shoot the pic while I was ‘flying’ in the air. It didn’t seem that high, but when I landed on the ground … never felt so much pain in my life! I had shattered my both heels. I’ve spent almost 3 months in a revalidation hospital, recovering, in a wheelchair. Now, 5 months later, I can walk again, but it will still take some time to get back the energy I had before.
Nevertheless, I’ve had a lot of studio time to work on my music during this period, so I’ve got some pretty solid releases coming up soon. Always look on the bright side!
SUM: Tell us how “Smootrab” came to be?
I grew up with classic schooled musicians around me, all playing instruments, mostely in the style of Jazz, Soul & Blues. I always enjoyed listening to music as a kid, but wasn’t that interested back than in playing an instrument myself. As a teenager, I started experimenting as a deejay in a youthclub playing all styles, trying to create samples on my stepdad’s Roland synthesizer and experimenting with crappy music software on my computer. Later on, because of my work, marriage, kids, I didn’t take the time to deejay or to work on music anymore. After a few years my eager for music became too strong. I really needed to find a way to express my feelings in it.
So in 2010 I started studying, reading and testing the newest DAW’s, learning techniques of producing own electronic music. I spent hours watching tutorials, trying to make my own sounds, creating samples, to produce my first very own track.
To release your own tunes, you need an artist name offcourse. Before as DJ, I was known as Jigs, but as a producer of my own music I wanted to have a name that was related to my real name, but not directly recognizable. After some brainstorming, I came up with SMOOTRAB. My real name is Bart Ooms, you do the thinking …
In 2011 I sent my first demo to some labels and it got released. When I now listen to my first tracks, damn… I even wonder why a label was interested, lol! Good I’ve kept working to advance my skills to make the music I do now. Still a lot of room for improvement and I will never stop learning and evolve my career.
SUM: How would you define your style and who/what are your musical influences?
First of all, I don’t think a certain main ‘style’ or ‘genre’ exists. Who decides anyway what style your music will have when it gets released? Every track is unique! An artist can mix different styles in his productions. I’m not into one specific, and I don’t bother to make all kinds of it.
Some might say that’s confusing for fans of your music. But for me, when I start making a new track, it all depends in the mood I’m in, how I feel a certain flow needs to go with it or the groove I’m trying to achieve. My music represents my feelings and my thoughts, not a style.
But if I MUST define my overall style, I would say a blend of Tech & Deep House with Latin or Funky vibes.
My influences? So many good artists out there, many underrated. It’s not just the Beatport TOP 100 producers that make good music! So I get influenced by known but also new talents. If you really like some big names that inspire me: “Noir, Dusky, Oxia, Jay Lumen” to name just a few.
SUM: Recently, you have your remix of “Strong To Survive” which is a massive Tech House tune. Please describe shortly the creative process of that track , what inspires you and what tools you use Software/Hardware that helped you to do this original production a reality.
Thanks! When Dirk sent me the original he made with Matias, I loved it and was inspired by the groove of this track and certainly the vocals. Nowadays, you really need to be strong to survive in this messed up world !!
For this remix I wanted to give the original some extra Tech power without losing the House groove. Hard to tell what my artistic process is of making a remix or track, that’s always different in my studio. For a remix I always listen to the original like 10 times and filter out the most important sounds I think that makes the track stands out. I remember I’ve started working on a new kick & bassline in my Ableton DAW for this one. After I started building on changing the melody and the arrangement of the leads a bit. To make it a bit more clubby, I tried to make more catchy but not overrated breaks with a nice smooth verb and some little silent parts in it.
Adding a little tech,funky smootrab vibe without losing the feel of the track was my goal.
SUM: How many hours a day do you see yourself doing your magic in your studio?
Some days I don’t, others I’m doing studio shifts of 12 hours a day. I think an average of 3 hours is likely.
SUM: What feels more rewarding for you, music production or Djing?
Music production! It feels so satisfying when you’re in the studio making a new track or remix and it all falls together perfectly. Making music is a creative art process you start from a blank page. And it can be very frustrating if you don’t seem to find the right groove or melody. But than, suddenly you get that special groove, the moment when it all fits, getting goosebumps while it blows through your speakers. That’s like a musical orgasm!
Imagine you’re in a club, enjoying the music, another fellow deejay puts on one of your tracks and you see the party people around you go crazy, it’s an indescribable feeling!
SUM: What is the best or the craziest memory you have from a live event?
The craziest by far is breaking my two feet after a live radio show! The best, I think, my very first open air live performance in Brussel. The opening set at the 20K festival “ULB Nocturne” in 2011. Spinning an hour of only my own productions for so many people. Pure magic!
SUM: So far what you think has been the highlight of your career?
The worst part of success is trying to find someone who is happy for you, so by this means, I’d like to thank my fans and supporters of my music, those are the ones that keep me doing what I love to do. Also the pleasure of getting to know a whole bunch of new prominenced producers, deejays, A&R’s, managers & fans which have become friends. That’s the highlight of my career for me!
SUM: What are your top 5 tracks at the moment?
I can’t mention my top in this interview now, cause they haven’t been released yet, but in my top playlist from known tracks at this moment certainly are:
Noir & Haze meets Compact Grey & Ron Costa – Around The Bane (Noir Mashup Treatment)
Jay Lumen & Max Demand – Hipster Chicks (Jay Lumen’s Stripped Mix)
Sabb ft Rafa Barrios – Illusiones (Original Mix)
Technasia – I am Somebody (Original Mix)
Dusky – Nobody Else (Original Mix)
SUM: What is your take on this digital world we are living in? and what is your take on music piracy?
Digital Music revolution … The advantage is, everyone can release music, disadvantage is … everyone can release music. Due to this revolution we have an overload of music getting our way and it gets very hard for a good artist to get the exposure he might deserve for a brilliant track that dissapears in the mass productions. New digital labels popping up every day, thousands of new tracks released every week. It’s all about marketing nowadays to get the right music to the right people, not about the magic of music or quality of it anymore.
Music Piracy … Because of this mass production of music in this digital world, I think it can help new artists of getting their stuff more exposed, so really good tracks get the attention, because of piracy. On the otherhand, I think many people forget how much work, feel, love, sweat & tears artists do and make on making a new song for them to hear, enjoy and party to. It’s a social issue that we all find it normal to download music illegally. Teens nowadays grow up with the fact illegal downloads is normal, everyone does it! They don’t even mind the quality it’s in. If you really like to listen to music and can enjoy it as many times as you like, it’s so hard to pay $1,50 for one track while you pay $4 for one beer or $9 for one cocktail in a club? Would you still enjoy the drinks when there was no more music playing?
SUM: If you had the opportunity to collaborate with one artist of EDM, who would it be and why? (Please exclude Lange).
Pfff, I can only choose one? Maybe, Jay Lumen, because I recognize a lot of his patterns, certainly the drums, groovy basslines and the overall arrangements in his productions I like to make, or try to achieve. I think our feel to music is very compatible. So I would love to see the building process of doing his magic in the studio, so I could compare.
SUM: What would be a piece of advice that has helped you in your career?
Have patience and don’t be disappointed when your demos aren’t selected by the bigger labels. I’ve learned it’s not always about the quality of the music, don’t be fooled. As for me in my House, I don’t matter what they might say! Keep the fate in what you do!
A career needs to be build and can take years, so keep believing in it, keep working hard to achieve your dreams but don’t be naïve and never forget that there are other important things besides your career.
5 Random questions
SUM: Would you rather have less work or more work you actually enjoy doing?
Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.
SUM: What are you most grateful for?
My two beautiful sons, they make me feel immortal.
SUM: If it all came back around to you, would it help you or hurt you?
What goes around, comes around, will come back and get ya!
But the knowledge and expierence in life I’ve gathered from the past would prevent me being hurt, I hope
SUM: What small act of kindness were you once shown that you will never forget?
The help from my father, stepmom & girlfriend when I was in the revalidation hospital for 3 months due to my 2 broken feet after that DJ set on a radio show I talked before.
SUM: How do you deal with someone in a position of power who wants you to fail?
The first thing that came up in my mind was stabbing a big cactus in his ass, but seriously… There’s only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve, the fear of failure. Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it’s the courage to continue that counts. And the pain of the cactus in his ass is temporary, quitting lasts forever!
SUM: Message for your fans?
I make music, my dream is to be succesfull with my music. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams, so I do. But without my fans loving, supporting or buying my music, that future is unattainable…so thank you for supporting my dream!
Hugs, Smootrab -x
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