We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kyle Spratt a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kyle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

Just like with anything you love, whether it’s a person, sport, cuisine, or even a place, there comes a moment in time where you need your space. Starting this musical journey, I never took that into consideration; the time I was spending with something I love. Creative block is easily the biggest problem I didn’t think I would come across. It’s like being stuck in traffic, or missing the last piece of the puzzle; there’s just nowhere to go, but you know things need to get done. When I’m in that state it really is a scary space when you think about it. When everyone around me is growing and getting better and I’m sitting there struggling to conjure up even an idea, it really does a number on my mental. The only thing that gets me out of this is stepping away for a bit. I try to make sure I spend plenty of time outside, being social, and spending time with my family. I never know how long it takes for the inspiration to come back, but when it does, the process becomes easier to enjoy each time.

Kyle, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started “beatmaking” towards the start of the pandemic. It all started when my buddy Sam showed me a song he made that won some contest; I think it was with Cymatics. When he showed me I thought it was the coolest thing, and I thought Sam was the coolest person. Not long after, I downloaded the FL Studio demo, watched some YouTube tutorials, and made some hot trash for a couple months, but it didn’t matter because nothing at the time could take my attention from that feeling of creating something from the ground up. The music slowly but surely started to come together, through feedback and countless hours, and I started to make sense of what I was putting down. I even entered some Kenny Beats beat battles on his twitch and placed both times. Not long after, I wanted vocals to my music, and I didn’t sing at the time because I was too embarrassed and never had tried. So I learned the bare basics of recording (YouTube again) and invited a few “artists” from my school to come record on my $50 podcast mic my cousin got me for Christmas. Like the beats, it was all trash at first, but I got the hang of it, and got an even better feeling for making beats for artists: leaving room for vocals, creating pockets, arrangement, etc. Long story short as time went on I realized vocals sound horrendous dry and I had to YouTube mixing tutorials. YouTube didn’t really do me any justice so I took it upon myself to listen to research who the best engineers were at the time. I came across engineers like Jon Castelli, Josh Gudwin, Manny Marroquin, and many more, and studied their sounds until I could tell it was one of their mixes without even checking. Since then, I’ve been attending Full Sail University since 2022, adding as much to my portfolio as possible, trying to master every aspect of the music creation process. I now write songs, whether they’re my own or someone else’s, mix music, and can proudly call myself a producer. Whether you’re a listener, collaborator, or a friend, it always comes back to the music, and no matter what part of the process is touched, I plan to do what’s best for the records.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Each person has a different relationship with art than the next, and that’s fine. I don’t even think non-creatives need to understand where we come from and what we see. There’s a beauty behind not understanding something that moves you and evokes emotion. It’s the same thing as figuring out the magic trick…it’s not special anymore. As far as my journey goes, all I did was take a risk to pursue something I love most. Whether it’s creative or not, it felt right, and this journey has shown me nothing but gratitude and joy for me and my future. And to make things even clearer, none of what’s happened this far would be possible without God and my family.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

As cliché as it sounds, reactions. The process will always be enjoyable, but to see someone react in a certain way to something that started in your head, that’s special. It’s especially cool when someone relates to it in a completely different way you relate to it. Something I may find freeing may make someone else cry, or something I find aggressive may make someone else feel nostalgic, you never know.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sprattabeats.wixsite.com/spratta
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spratta_/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spratta/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@spratta
• Discography: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6R2H1V7JGYpqXzydadlvFq?si=0272ea2fa5114eef