Soteldo – “I put my whole self into the music—my heart, my essence, my vibe, my vision”

Did you have any mentors or formal training, or are you mostly self-taught?

At the beginning of my career, I didn’t have internet—no YouTube, no tutorials, nothing. It was just me trying to make music on my own. Back then, I was basically just making noise—experimenting with sounds at home. I didn’t know about patterns, arrangements, or even how to play piano. I was just pushing buttons, creating sounds, trying things out. But I kept going, kept making music, and eventually I developed my own style—my own way of making music.

Later on, I did have a mentor. He’s called Héctor. He’s from Caracas, Venezuela, but at that time, he was living on Margarita Island. I was already decent at making beats, but he understood music better—he was a mixing engineer, a producer, a songwriter. I learned a lot just by watching him work.

I used to always show him my beats, like, “Bro, check this out.” He’d say, “It’s okay,” but then one day he said, “It’s okay, but listen to this.” And he played a Chris Brown song for me—an R&B track. That moment changed everything for me. I’d never really listened to new songs before—because I didn’t have internet—so I wasn’t influenced by what was happening in the industry or on the radio.

When I heard that Chris Brown track, I realized how producers in North America were building songs—so simple, so beautiful. Not a lot of elements—but everything was perfectly placed. That moment shifted my whole perspective on production. I knew he played me that song not to directly tell me to change, but to inspire me—like, “Look at this, this is the level.”

And it worked. I started producing with that new vision in mind, and my beats completely changed. After that, he told me, “You’re ready. You’re ready for the game.” And I was. He really got me ready.

Were you already listening to U.S. music before discovering that Chris Brown song?

Yeah, I was actually listening to a lot of Swae Lee—songs like “No Flex Zone,” “No Type,” and tracks like that. I didn’t have internet, so I downloaded a few songs, saved them in a folder, and listened to them on repeat. That was pretty much all I had access to. That definitely became part of my influence—especially the Mike WiLL Made-It sound. That had a big impact on me.

Who were some of the first artists or projects that you worked on?

The first project I worked on was with David Rone—an upcoming artist from Caracas, Venezuela. He sent me all his songs, and I really liked the melodies and the lyrics. But the beats he made—since he’s also a producer—I wasn’t really feeling. So I told him, “Send me the acapellas, and I’ll try something.”

At that time, I was still working on the Canaima—the computer the government gave me, the one I mentioned earlier. I worked on that whole project using that computer. And he loved it. I even helped him connect with a distribution company so he could start officially releasing his music. We just kept making tracks and pushing him to release his projects. We made it happen together.