Profile: Back to the Future Cut

Future Cut, Tunde Babalola and Darren Lewis, have been the power behind the thrones of Lily Allen, Estelle, Kate Nash and most recently the wonderfully stomach-shaking croon of Tom Jones. One of the highlights of the Music Show was the music producers panel featuring the duo alongside Mikey Graham and Greg Haver. In this extract from the discussion, they talk about the fine art of music production.

When was the first time you ever heard a record and actually clocked the production?
Tunde: Soundtracks, especially a lot of the Dirty Harry stuff and James Bond stuff. I think maybe that was the first time I’d heard a lot of orchestral music, but still with some sort of pop sensibility. I think that’s probably when I started to move into drum and bass: that’s what I liked about it, I liked the depth and the way it went from silence to big crescendos.
Who are the producers that you really look up to?
Darren: Quincy Jones and people like Rick Rubin, Arif Mardin and Jerry Wexler. People who don’t necessaily stamp their distinctive style on a production. As much as I admire the Neptunes and Timbaland, I defintely feel more empathy with the type of producer who wants to bring the artistry out of the artist.
Do you ever wonder how on earth 10 people could be involved in the production process for an album?
Tunde: There are different types of producers. Someone could have an amazing idea but might not be able to put that little icing on the cake that turns it into a record. Sometimes, artists have the money to say ‘Ok, let’s bring in different producers to finish it, cause we like where it’s at but we think it could be bigger, we think it could be better’. Everyone learns. Nowadays that’s the way you make the record really – just different ideas coming in until you get what exactly we want
Has the one-take record become redundant?
Darren: We’ve never thought ‘This is better than that’. The early Kate Nash stuff [the demos] was done on Garageband, on a laptop with a microphone built-in and the vibe was there. Ultimately it’s about the song, not whether you can play it in one take or 50 takes. It’s whatever’s right for the track. We’ve recorded on tape, on Protools, on Logic, on Cubase. If you get too caught up in the media you lose sight of what’s most important - having a great song and a great performance.
Tunde: We didn’t come in with the ‘Get one take and get the take right’ attitude, ‘cause we came in from computers. When we’re making beats we chop them so they loop perfectly. Sometimes when we’re recording bands, we have to get out of that mind-frame. It’s horses for courses and each advance in technology is going to slightly change the way we make music and its going to slightly change the way we listen to music.
Is there a lot of psychology involved in being a producer?
Darren: I don’t think we’ve had a girl band in our studio without at least one member of the band crying. A lot of it is coaxing the performance out of someone who may not have the confidence – and sometimes it’s just being in the room and not saying a word.
Tunde: For that number of days you’re with that artist, it’s quite an intense relationship. You can be their best friends for three days or you’re the enemy who’s got to beat it out of them. We always say it’s emotional.
Are there records when you are really contributing on a greater level than others?
Tunde: When there’s no record label, so it’s just you and them and it’s basically getting the sound together, getting it promoted, and getting a buzz up so they can be signed. Then you’re involved in pretty much every aspect – from writing, to producing, to getting the live thing going, setting up the MySpace, and putting the word out to publishers and record labels. Nowadays with the industry shrinking, record labels won’t invest money, so it’s down to management and producers.
How did you end up working with Tom Jones?
Tunde: We were on vacation, seperately, and got a phone call saying would you be interested in meeting Tom’s manager. I mean he’s a legend and we love his voice so we were thinking we’d love to do something, but not neccesarily something that sounded like a ‘Sexbomb’ – something different.
Darren: It was quite humbling at first. He could have walked in and been a Diva. But he was so cool and so into music. And about what you were saying about one take... he would sing a song from start to finish, because that’s how he’s used to doing it. And he sings so loud. We would go in and just run microphones. Just to work with Tom Jones, that’s pretty cool, right?
What would you recommend for people who want to get into production? College courses or just get out there and record as many bands as possible?
Darren: It doesn’t really matter what you do as long as you’re doing something. All producers come from different routes, but they all got up and went into the studio, at some stage, or picked up an instrument or learned how to DJ. Drive has a big part to play in it. It’s no accident that a lot of pop acts in America are so big and professional; their drive is just insane.