Stronger Interview With Arno Cost

Exclusive Chat with Arno Cost 

Since his discovery in 2006, French DJ/Producer Arno Cost quickly moulded his reputation into one of the scenes most promising young talents. Recently joining Nicky Romero’s management company Protocol, Arno has gone from strength to strength, touring the globe and releasing material on some of the world’s most prestigious dance music labels. 

With tracks on Spinnin, Size and Big Beat including ‘Head Up’, ‘Nightventure’, and ‘Lifetime’ - and with massive remixes for artists such as Laidback Luke and David Guetta, Arno Cost is quickly gaining speed.

His just released his newest single with Norman Doray on Size Records titled Stronger, we had the opportunity to chat to him about it. 

Hi Arno it’s such a huge honor to be doing this interview with you. Thank you for taking time out to answer our questions

You are French and the French are known for their croissants. If you were a croissant, which would you be and why? Haha

I would be a happy croissant, enjoying its croissant life and having fun with its other croissant friends !

This question is our signature question what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear South Africa?

Nelson Mandela of course ! The apartheid, safaris etc..

Tell us a little more about who Arno Cost is on a non-musical front, if you weren’t a DJ/Producer what would you be doing?

Im a big fan of cinema. i watch movies all the time so why not a director or this kind of stuff ! When I dont make music, I play a lot of chess, poker or go out with friends or family. I guess it’s important to have a proper social life and not think about music all the time. I aslo started medecine studies, so if I weren’t a Dj, maybe I would have become a doctor, who knows !

Your love for music stems from your parents exposing you to music from a young age. At what point in your life did you realize you wanted a career in music and how did you end up in Electronic Music?

Well, I started making music early (around 14) so I spent all my free time in my bedroom making some beats. Later, around 18, I went to the medicine school but realized it was definitely not for me. I missed music too much and I couldn’t handle both, so I quit medicine to focus on my musical career. One year later, I was releasing my first EP and started touring the world as a DJ !

At the age of 13 you first tried your hand at producing, that’s almost 15 years ago. How has your studio setup improved over the years?

When i started, i really didnt care about the quality of the sound itself. The compression, EQ, all this studio engineering stuff you know. Over the years, I really wanted my music to sound better, professional, with no help from  sound engineers etc. So I went on the internet, check tutorials on youtube, read a lot of things about mastering, mixing etc. I think it’s really important nowadays that a music producer knows not only about making music, but also about making the music the sound good !

Do you have any crazy rituals to get the creative juices flowing, where do you draw inspiration from when producing and how do you go from idea to finished product?

                  

Not really, I just go in my studio and start a loop you know. I get my inspiration from my influences, like disco funk, but also pop music like Coldplay, Moby, Portishead, Supertramp…

So I start this loop, make it sound the best I can, and then i build up around it. Do the break, add vocals, imagine the whole track in my head…and then finish it ! Quite easy on the paper, but sometimes it takes months…

Life is all about taking risks, and the music industry is no different, how hard do you push yourself and do you enjoy taking risks with your music?

                    

I always try to do something different. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but at least I tried ! It’s all about taking risks because if you do the same music as other producers, it’s completely useless and you’ll never get to a point that you are different, and people recognize your music in the first seconds.

Strong is your latest production with Norman Doray, it’s melodic and unique and we love the guitar in it. What was the thought process while creating Strong?

At the beginning, we wanted to make a 2014 version of Apocalypse. And for the breakdown, we found the gimmick that is in Strong. It was huge but not really fitting on the Apocalypse project. So we kept it for later because it was definitely worth doing another original track with it.

A few weeks later, we went back on that project again, and finished that STRONG track.

BUY ARNO COST & NORMAN DORAY ' STRONG' ON BEATPORT

BUY ARNO COST & NORMAN DORAY 'STRONG' ON ITUNES

 You and Norman Doray make an extraordinary pair. What’s it like working with Norman and have you guys considered teaming up under an alias to form a duo?

We love working together, we have different ideas, point of views, but at the end of the day, the result is great ! Working alone is sometimes tough since you don’t really step back and realize if what you’ve just done is good or not. When Norman is here, we can discuss every minute of what we are hearing right now and it actually saves us a lot of time ! We know where we are going !!

We are teaming up for an upcoming STRONG tour. Looking forward to it !!!

You have had a few releases on Steve Angello’s Size records. We sure it’s a dream come true to release on such a prolific label, and now you signed to another successful label protocol. Does your reality exceed your dreams?

Not yet to be honest. This is only the beginning. i think I’ve released great tracks on great labels but it’s not enough for me. I want to look at the big picture. A lot of exciting stuff is coming very soon, I want to tour more, do more big festivals, launch my own label…We still have a lot of work to do ! Even if I can appreciate whats happening in my life right now.

 Today everyone is a DJ/ Producer, and we sure you know how difficult it can be to get your work noticed, what advice would you give to upcoming DJ/Producers?

I would tell them to work their ass off and try to be different. Don’t make EDM shitty hardstyle tracks, find something new. and believe in what you do  !

It seems most DJ/Producers nowadays are so caught up in the fame; they don’t have time for their fans. How important are your fans to you?

I think it’s really important to be close to the people who believe in you. Fans are the reason why you are there, and why you can make this passion a living. They deserve to get attention from you big time. I always try to find the time to reply to their questions, by email or Facebook, Twitter etc…

If you had only six months left to live, what would you do with the time?

I would definitely do crazy stuff, like flying in Zero G planes, going to Space, climbing the Eiffel Tower etc… and spend a lot of time with my friends and family

Out of all the tunes you have in your record box , which one ‘never fails?’

Daft Punk - One More Time

Any last messages for fans?

Thanks guys for your love and support. It means a lot to me !!! See you soon in South Africa !!!

Connect with Arno Cost:

facebook.com/arnocost 

twitter.com/arnocost 

soundcloud.com/arno-cost 

youtube.com/arnocostdj