By Anita Malhotra

Born and based in Italy, Julius Arth is a 27-year-old DJ and electronic music producer whose music is a blend of dance and tech house.

Starting his electronic musical journey as a teenager, he went on to study electronic music online and at the SAE Institute Milano, while also completing a master’s degree in sports sciences.

He released his first single, “How We Party,” in 2020 on Gas Records. Since then, he’s gone on to produce many exciting tracks that highlight his passion for sound design.

These include “Play Hard” (Blanco y Negro Music), “Game of Life” (Fankee), “Heart for You” (Ensis Records) and “Artifex.” 

As a DJ, Julius has performed at clubs and events in Amsterdam, Ibiza, Italy and London, including three times at London’s iconic Ministry of Sound, where he supported such artists as Nicky Romero and Julian Jordan.

He recently returned from Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), where he performed twice and was interviewed by Nexus Radio for the second consecutive year. 

Julius spoke with EDM Beat on Nov. 6, 2024 from his home in Italy. 

EDM Beat: Can you tell me a bit about your early years?

Julius: I was born in Milan, which is a far bigger city than the one I’m living in at the moment. I live in Vercelli, which is a small town halfway between Turin and Milan in the north of Italy. I have lived here since I was a child. 

I found myself interested in music when I was six or seven. I started playing the piano and the keyboard and continued taking piano lessons in classical music for eight years.

Then, I was looking for something more exciting. And in 2012, 2013, when the classical EDM songs popped out –  artists like David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia – I was listening to their songs.

After one year, where I took lessons both on drums and sound designing, I started making my own music and playing at home with a small controller. That was before getting my first gigs. I had my first gig when I was 17.

EDM Beat: What did you get out of making electronic music as opposed to classical music?

Julius: It was far more exciting. There was much more passion in it, there was more movement.

And I really like the groove in a song, which is where I’m taking all my songs at the moment with the tech house approach and also blending electronic dance.

I try to maximize the groove –  so bass lines, toms, kick. It was something that I missed in classical music. There is not enough groove and percussion because you’re only playing the piano. 

EDM Beat: How did you go about choosing your artist name of Julius Arth?

Julius: I had another name before 2020, but after finishing my studies in sports sciences, I decided to change the artist’s name and do something completely different from the classical EDM I was doing.

I wanted something that could represent me with the English version of my own name, which is “Giulio” in Italian. I wanted something that deeply reflected my thoughts or my background in what I like.

“Arth” came from two things. The first one is art – music, art, photography – so arts in general. The second one comes from the Arthurian cycle –  King Arthur and all that – which is something that I have always loved since I was a child. 

EDM Beat: Does any of your music have anything to do with the Arthurian legends or the spirit of them?

Julius:  More the spirit, because I strongly support both freedom and life values. They’re softly imprinted with the Arthurian cycle, but more evident in other books that I really love – philosophical books in a fantasy environment. 

EDM Beat: How would you describe your music and the genres that it fits into?

Julius: It’s kind of niche, actually. It’s not really EDM, old EDM or old tech house, because it’s different from classical tech house. It’s more of a blend between electronic dance and tech house, especially in the bass line, kick and percussion. It blends these two big genres, taking influences from classic club and techno cultures.

EDM Beat: Are there any particular artists that you’re influenced by?

Julius: I’m pretty inspired by Swedish House Mafia. They have been my reference artists since 2013 when I was looking for something more. I would say, even at the moment, Swedish House Mafia and all the artists that are in that niche.

EDM Beat: Would you say that your music has any Italian influences, or is it pretty international?

Julius: I’d say pretty international because I’m not really into Italian music at the moment, except for some slight influence from Italian pop music.

EDM Beat: Can you tell me about your studio and the digital audio workstation that you use? 

Julius: I’m quite versatile because over the years, I switched from Ableton to Studio One to Logic to Cubase. And now I’m back to Ableton because it’s really easy to use, especially in music production workflow. It’s really fast, immediate.

But sometimes I found myself mixing and mastering in Studio One or even in Luna from Universal Audio. I love experimenting with synths, but I don’t have them in my own studio. Sometimes I go to other friends that have it and I experiment with the Moog and other hardware.

EDM Beat: Do you have a usual way of working on a song or is it different for every song?

Julius: It depends, but I find myself usually trying to start with the core elements – so kick and bassline if I don’t have any ideas, or kick, a normal sub and the melody, which could be a vocal or a synth. It’s either of the two ways.

EDM Beat: And you write your own lyrics?

Julius: It depends. Sometimes I start with a sample from Loopcloud just to make the workflow keep going and to write down the idea fast. Otherwise you lose it. You can always change it later.

But other times I record myself and other times I have a singer write the lyrics and sing it. 

EDM Beat: Can you tell me about your interest in sound design? You mentioned that you took a course early on.

Julius: I took several courses, actually. I really love the idea of sculpting the sound because it’s like when an artist makes a sculpture. You sculpt the sound the way you want it to sound to the listener’s ears. You shape it.

There is too much music at the moment in every genre and you have to stand out in some way from the others. Sound design is the answer because you can make whatever sound you want.

If you know what you’re doing with your digital synth or hardware synth, you can go straight to it. For example, I use Dune and Serum as synthesizers, and they’re both really good. They have slightly different sounds, but they’re both really versatile. 

EDM Beat: You also have said that you like to create unique sounds. How do you go about finding those sounds and how do you know when you have found one that you like? 

Julius: You try. Maybe you stay there one, two hours, just trying sounds and melodies, putting down a kick and a basic bass just to have a rhythm underneath.

And then you write down some ideas, some scratch ideas, just a loop of it. You loop it and you try the melody. And when you find a melody that you think could work at that moment, you try a sound design to change the sound and make it special. 

EDM Beat: How does your music help you express yourself?

Julius: In many ways, like inspiration. Inspiration comes from everything, you know. Sometimes I take inspiration from a book. Other times I take it from other music or movies or other things. It’s built on my experiences and also on what I’m reading, watching, listening to.

And another is writing lyrics. I have, for example, one song that is not out yet because I’m in talks with a pretty good and big label, but there’s lyrics sung by a professional singer-songwriter that talk about the future that is unknown. We craft our own future. That’s the meaning of the song. And that’s something I’m really proud of and that I care about.

EDM Beat: As a DJ, what is it that you like the most about DJing events?

Julius: That’s a good question because I started as a DJ. After playing my first gigs, I realized I wanted to produce my own things.

The thing I like the most is the environment and the ambience with the crowd and their response to your music, to your selection. And the relationship in that environment that evolves during the night.

EDM Beat: Have you noticed any difference in the different countries that you have DJed between the crowds or the atmosphere?

Julius: Yeah. Actually, here in Italy, club culture is almost dead. Every Italian DJ will say that. But playing in Amsterdam or Ibiza or London, you know, it changes a lot.

For example, London is really special because the city is multicultural and the crowd also. I found Italian people, Chinese people, English people all together. Maybe someone was on holiday or was planning to go to the Ministry of Sound for the event. It’s really cool.

It’s kind of like a festival, but much smaller. But Amsterdam, it’s really in my heart. I love the scene there. It’s really strong for electronic music.

EDM Beat: What have been some of the most exciting moments in your career so far?

Julius: The times playing at the Ministry of Sound club. But also this ADE 2024 was really good. 

EDM Beat: What happened at ADE this year for you?

Julius: I met many people from the industry, both other artists and managers and other figures. And I played at two shows. It was fun, and exciting also.

There’s also IMS in Ibiza, and I’m planning to go there for the second time, but IMS is smaller.

EDM Beat: What are some of the challenges associated with promoting and releasing your work?

Julius: You have to really pay attention and schedule a budget plan, because you can’t promote only on Spotify – the songs won’t go far. You have to have your own contacts, maybe DJs to do DJ promos, or use a service to do DJ promos. You have to promote it on TikTok and Instagram, and even on blogs, magazines and other stuff like that.

EDM Beat: Does this take up a lot of your time? 

Julius: The managing part really takes time. Yeah, you’re a creator, you’re creating music, but it’s a business fundamentally. So you have to think about it and organize it as a business.

So schedule your budget plan for the release, the timing also for the release, and what to do at what time before and after the release. So it does take a long time to organize all that.

EDM Beat: What are you working on right now?

Julius: I’m working on seven, eight tracks between my own and collaborations with other artists. And I finally refined my own sound and I know exactly the direction I’m taking. I’m planning to release them in 2025. 

EDM Beat: AI has been a big topic in music and other areas of life in the last year. Do you have any thoughts on AI in terms of your own work or just in general? 

Julius: I don’t like the idea of using it for creating music. If it’s for creating a sample, I could try that.

But for creating an entire song, I wouldn’t use it because it takes out all the excitement of creating something from scratch on your own.

Sometimes you do it in two hours; other times you take one week or more, but you lack the excitement if you do it all with AI. 

EDM Beat: Where can people find your music or more information about you?

Julius: I’m on Spotify, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, because I built a profile page there. And I’m planning to do a strong promotion on every channel by next year.

EDM Beat: Thank you very much, Julius. I wish you the best with your musical future and your new releases next year.

Julius: Thank you, too, for having me.

For more information on Julius Arth and his music, please visit him on Instagram (@juliusarthmusic), Facebook, Spotify, Soundcloud, tiktok (juliusarth) or Youtube (@JuliusArth).