Supah Mario – “Listen to the artist, understand what they want, and then go from there.”

What was your process for improving your music back then?

I was surrounded by other musicians, like friends who already knew how to make beats. They laid the foundation for me, at least in terms of learning how to program. Over time, though, I developed my own unconventional approach to making beats. I would experiment with things until I figured them out.

I didn’t like asking for help, so I’d just tinker with stuff until I understood it. That’s how I learned Fruity Loops. I kept messing around, pressing buttons, reading the manual, and figuring out what each function did. It wasn’t until about two years ago that I really started using YouTube as a learning tool. But once I did, it changed everything.

The amount of information we have access to now, especially for musicians and producers, is incredible. If I have a question, I can just look it up online—I don’t even need to call anyone, although sometimes I still do. But once I realized how resourceful YouTube is, that was a game-changer for me, and I’ve stuck with it ever since.

How do you usually approach new production? Do you mostly use samples or create beats from scratch? What’s your process like?

Honestly, it depends on how I’m feeling that day—whatever strikes me. Some days, like a couple of days ago, I feel super creative, and I’ll just play everything myself. I usually start by experimenting with different chords. If I’m not in the mood to use samples, I’ll sit down and make loops from scratch. I don’t even add drums right away. I’ll create a loop or a small chord progression and then save it in a folder. If I feel creative again later, I’ll revisit that folder and add more to the ideas I started. It's a pretty minimal, step-by-step process for me.

On days when I’m not feeling as creative or need some inspiration, I’ll reach out for loops, or I’ll go through my email to see if there are any new samples. Usually, there’s something, so I’ll scroll through and listen to samples for hours until something clicks with me. Those are the days I’ll focus on adding drums.

For the most part, I prefer creating everything from scratch. Depending on how much I love the idea, it might take me two or three days to finish a beat, or I could knock out three to six beats in a single day.

Of course, now that I have kids and other responsibilities, my process is a bit slower. But about five years ago, I was making 10 beats a day, all from scratch—no loops. Back then, I didn’t even know what loops were!

I think using loops is pretty normal now, but when it first became a thing and people started sharing ideas that way, I wasn’t really open to it at first. Back then, I felt like nine times out of ten I wasn’t as creative when I had to share the idea with someone else. I preferred to start the idea myself and then have someone else add to it. Or better yet, I wanted to be in the room with them and build it together from scratch. That was just my mindset back then.

But now, I’ve gotten used to it, and I think it’s amazing. Some of these kids are so creative. Just sitting there and listening to the loops they’re making really inspires me to come up with new stuff and experiment with different ideas.

Do you have any creative routines when it comes to making music? Like, do you work at a certain time of day, or do you do anything beforehand to get in the zone?

I’ve realized that I make more and better music, and I can work for longer periods, when I make music late at night—when everyone else is asleep. And by everyone, I mean the whole neighborhood, the whole world feels like it’s asleep. I don’t know what it is, but it’s like I can tap into all that open energy for myself, you know what I mean? It’s just a better space to create in.

So I usually work at night to catch that vibe. But if I need to work during the day, I’ll step outside for a bit, get some fresh air, or grab a coffee to reset before getting back to work.

At this point, it almost feels like a regular day job.