Producer Spotlight: Inspirmentalist

New Jersey producer, Inspirmentalist, fully lives up to his name. Though his soundscape draws from classic modern tunes, the “Terrific Tuesday” mixer keeps each beat fresh with a new approach to snares, hi-hats, and booming 808’s. Contrary to his song’s title, “I Don’t Do Trap,” Inspirmentalist does dabble in the genre from time to time. Every so often, he’ll also dive into records on YouTube and find gems like video game recordings, dark bells, or tweaked instruments. However, when it’s time to make a beat from scratch, Inspirmentalist will skim through sound fonts or play around on the piano in FL Studio. The goal at hand is to resonate his sound with those he’s fond of. Some of his inspirations include: P. Rock, DJ Premier, 9th Wonder, The Alchemist, Q-Tip, J.Dilla, Kanye West, and IllMind, to name a few.

All-in-all he aims for uniqueness in a world full of copy-and-paste beat makers. His beats are best for brainstorming ideas, cruising around, or for yoga, perhaps. Still working a 9-to-5, Inspirmentalist makes time to do what he loves, simply because it’s his die-hard passion. One thing he’s grateful for every day is to have the ability to create.

“Inspir”, which is short for Inspiration in his name, reminds the producer to keep a fighting spirit to stay ambitious. The “Mentalist” piece of his name is a play off the show The Mentalist. He’s never watched it, but he saw an ad for it in 2007 and went with it. Initially, Inspirimentalist considered himself a rapper, but after going through a phase without a producer and meeting friends during college who did make beats, he decided to pursue it as well. Eventually, they got him to use different beat platforms. Then, Inspirmentalist started his current venture. In the span of his career, he’s created many beats, featured in an international magazine, and apart of beat battles. More recently, Inspirimentalist has created “Sleepless Nights,” “Dying To Live,” “Let The Keys Speak,” “Quarantine 16,” “Hidden Highland Trap Mix,” and “Lovers Journey.” Likewise, the producer was apart of a beat battle at Chamber 43, not too long ago.

‘Sleepless Nights’ uses snares, subtle hi-hats, violin progression, guitar chords, and a booming 808.

‘Quarantine 16’, however, showcases Inspirmentalist’s rhymes. Throughout the song, he speaks about staying optimistic during this current pandemic and his thoughts on the set rules. As the track moves forward, he educates others on the dangers of it as well. In other words, he tells others: “Don’t end up catching that damn Rona.”

Then there’s ‘Hidden Highland Trap Mix’, a beat that carries a menacing feel. It also uses a load of snares, kicks, xylophone progression, a heavy bass, hi-hats, and even draws from a dark bell found in WWE’s The Undertaker’s theme song. “The song uses a Pokemon sample,” he adds. “At the time, I was going through video game samples. And it only took me 15 minutes to create.”

He used the same process for his other song, ‘Lovers Journey’, except he found the sample from an old movie. Afterward, Inspirimentalist downloaded FL Studios and went to work. The song draws from an early R&B sample and uses snares, lush piano chords, and hi-hats. Specific cuts of “Lovers Journey” bring the beat out more.

Overall, Inspirmentalist keeps a bounce in every beat he creates. His favorite sound effect is the needle on the record. And if he could collaborate with any artist, he’d choose Disco D. The producer’s advice to others who aspire to make beats is to clear all samples, ignore the hate, and to keep your circle close. As he devours his Sour Patch Kids, he plans on dropping several projects, including a collaborative tape with OG Black. “Shoutout to the fam, my best friend and girlfriend Kenya. Also, One Large Production and Beats Work.”