MBW’s World’s Best Producers collection sees us interview – and rejoice – a few of the best skills working in studios throughout the many years. The most recent instalment options British producer Fraser T Smith, who has labored with the likes of Stormzy, Dave, Adele, Sam Smith, Florence and The Machine and extra. World’s Best Producers is sponsored by Hipgnosis Music Administration.
Fraser T Smith is holed up in a country, barn conversion-like residence studio once we communicate. It’s the very best place to be on a day the place the solar barely peeks out from the clouds.
Upholstered beams maintain up the ceilings and MIDI keyboards line the desk behind him. This pocket of English countryside present in Buckinghamshire – solely an hour’s prepare from London, however far sufficient away to really feel prefer it’s plucked from an Enid Blyton novel – is the place Smith has recorded a few of the greatest information to ever come out of the UK.
Earlier than I ask a query associated to his life as a producer, somebody who’s helped craft the sound of Adele, Stormzy, Dave and Drake, Smith opens up about a few of his first loves.
There’s soccer discuss, clearly, and the way Manchester United is the group of selection for many south London rappers (Kano, from east London, helps Liverpool).
From there, he reminisces about taking work expertise jobs in Manchester as a 17 yr outdated, solely to go to the landmarks made well-known in Smiths information, hiring a automotive to tour Salford Lads Membership, Strangeways Jail and random ‘Cemetry Gates’. Liam Gallagher and bucket hats are talked about, inevitably.
Smith, nevertheless, just isn’t largely recognized for his contribution in the direction of Manchester’s music historical past. However he has had greater than a hand in shaping what’s arguably essentially the most seminal, important sound to return out of the UK in many years. Grime.
Two of the style’s main figures, Dave and Stormzy, owe a big chunk of their success to Smith and his steering. Smith government produced each of their debut albums, and co-writing Stormzy’s Audacity and Dave’s Funky Friday.
Since then, Smith has received three Ivor Novellos in 4 years for his varied works with Dave. “If it wasn’t for Fraser,” stated Stormzy in 2018, whereas presenting him with a Finest Producer Award. “I don’t suppose I might have ever been capable of realise the artist that I might actually be.”
The likes of Stormzy and Dave are trendy merchandise of grime’s origins. It got here from London. Clashes filmed on shaky camcorders have been distributed on DVDs named Lord of the Mic. MCs unfold their title on the sadly now defunct Channel U, a form of UK-version of Yo! MTV Raps the place anybody – actually, anybody – might ship in a music video and see it on TV.
Smith was there on the time, working with the likes of Kano and Tinchy Stryder in attempting to deliver this then-underground style to the plenty. Mainstream audiences weren’t solely prepared for it, although.
“I’m at all times ways in which I may help and be of service to the artist.”
Fraser T Smith
Naturally, some information have been watered down incarnations of the frenetic roots they grew from. However Smith was a bridge from grime’s first tiptoes into the general public consciousness, to the Brit successful, chart-dominating, Glastonbury headlining standing it enjoys at the moment.
Then, there’s his work with Adele, Sam Smith, Gorillaz and Florence and the Machine, making Smith a producer who can toe the road between the underground, and somebody who’s achieved two Quantity One US singles, and has contributed to 18 Quantity One albums and eight Quantity One UK singles. Oh, and he’s received a Grammy, too.
Shortly after Dave introduced gospel choirs and flaming guitars to The Brits 2022, Smith spoke to MBW about his life as one of many World’s Best Producers…
I’ve seen you described in previous interviews as ‘UK rap’s secret weapon’ and that you simply deliver the ‘Midas contact to grime’. How does that really feel? Do you are feeling like a secret weapon?
What I’ve at all times tried to do is figure with nice artists throughout the board, and for artists to essentially really feel that once they step within the studio, they really feel very secure, creatively.
I’m at all times ways in which I may help and be of service to an artist. After I first began working with Kano again within the early 2000s, I used to be conscious that I wasn’t attempting to leap on the again of these early grime information. I needed to have a look at how I might add what I do into the combo.
With artists like Kano, Dave and Stormzy, they’re such visionaries that they actually need to deliver one thing new to the desk.
It’s grow to be this loopy match between me and the artist, the place they’re trying to transfer into completely different areas and I attempt to assist that, whereas being very respectful of the heritage and the music that they’re coming with.
I believe ‘secret weapon’ is flattering, however what I’m attempting to do is shine a highlight on brilliance, and so as to add what I can. Possibly there’s a sonic I can add, or a musical breadth.
I should buy Dave a guitar, after which see how he’s taken that on. After I watched his [2022 Brits] efficiency, it felt like I used to be having an out of physique expertise. It was like a dream to see.
After I first purchased him the guitar, he didn’t know one finish of it from the opposite. Then, he went away and practised, woodshedded for hours and hours to get to that time.
That’s so culturally important, in nowadays of minute and a half songs. I actually respect [that], and I like artists like PinkPantheress for what she’s doing to the business.
There may be one other visionary, however the truth that Dave can play a guitar solo, that in all probability lasted longer than a PinkPantheresse tune, on the Brits, to shine a light-weight on [on-stage collaborators] Giggs and Ghetts, and to play keys, acoustic guitar and electrical guitar. That for me simply confirmed what rap music can do.
That’s what’s at all times drawn me to that style. I can present Dave a bit by [Gabriel] Fauré, we will speak about Pink Floyd, or we will speak about who’s the brand new hottest rapper.
That for me is at all times what I’ve been about, which is the variety and breadth in creativity and in music.
It takes a sure sort of confidence to do a minute and a half solo on the Brits, realizing that your followers will likely be affected person with it and can get pleasure from it. It goes again to what you stated earlier, about wanting an artist to really feel secure, going again to your days with Kano and Craig David, a number of the information you’ve been concerned in haven’t solely tapped right into a cultural Zeitgeist of the second, however they’ve helped push the tradition ahead. How do you proceed to faucet into that?
When trying to elevate artists usually, I’m at all times who’s coming into the studio with the imaginative and prescient.
If an artist is available in with an unimaginable imaginative and prescient, then I’m simply there for nevertheless lengthy they want me to push them, assist them, and elevate what it’s that they do.
I’ve simply completed the newest Kasabian album, and I’ve been working with [lead singer] Serge fairly intensely [Former Kasabian frontman, Tom Meighan, left the band after he was convicted of domestic assault in July 2020].
I’ve seen Serge’s imaginative and prescient of how he needs this new incarnation of Kasabian to sound. I’ve been there to assist him by way of the robust instances, in addition to the good instances. I’ve seen him step into the function of the actual chief of this band.
When Serge talks about what he needs Kasabian to be, a cross between Travis Scott and Iggy Pop, they’re the references that begin sparking me up.
It’s not pushed by A&R, it’s not pushed by TikTok, with all due respect to all of the sensible A&Rs on the market and the good platform TikTok is for creativity.
“I attempt to work out the place the weak spots are and fill them in. It’s like a midfielder function.”
However whenever you’re capable of grow to be musical companions with nice artists, I’ve to step up and match them. I’m undoubtedly not somebody that’s content material simply to sit down along with the studio and never assist.
It’s type of to do with what you say a couple of ‘cultural Zeitgeist’, however I’ve simply been very lucky to be round nice artists. I’m actively in search of new artists, particularly now with my label, 70Hz.
By doing that, I’m tapping into some form of Zeitgeist, as a result of I’m capable of shine a highlight on unimaginable expertise. And that should at all times, in a roundabout way, shine.
It doesn’t at all times need to be a Dave or a Stormzy. It may very well be [Peckham singer-songwriter] Cosmo Pyke, whose first EP we did. It may very well be Claire Maguire, whose report didn’t actually take off commercially, however there was some type of Zeitgeist round her that we captured.
With Kasabian, have you ever had an identical expertise earlier than? The place a band has needed to change all the things that they’ve ever recognized nearly in a single day?
After I labored on Schooling, Schooling, Warfare by Kaiser Chiefs, there was a large gap the place [former drummer] Nick had been. He was the Paul McCartney to Ricky’s John Lennon.
There was a gap there the place somebody wanted to return in and recommend melodies, chords, and work with the band in that manner.
The factor I attempt to do is figure out the place the weak spots are, after which attempt to fill these in. It’s like a midfielder function.
Is that one thing you’ve needed to be taught over time?
I begin off with the query, how can I assist? Once you’ve had a protracted profession, artists will are available in for various causes, so it’s about reducing to the chase.
The place’s the weak level? If it’s lyrics, let’s not fear about melodies till we’ve gone in on the lyrics. If it’s missing rhythm, then they’ll write the tune and I’ll programme the drums and get some beats going. Let’s break it down.
“We’ll all die with only a handful of songs written on our gravestones. Or on Wikipedia. The intention is to get a kind of.”
That’s what retains me and contemporary, in that I’m continuously having to push myself. There’s so many sides of manufacturing and songwriting, that to get actually concerned in a single particular space is the place you actually push your self.
You additionally need to learn how a selected artist is on a selected day, and the function goes to vary relying on how they’re feeling. It’s ever-changing. That’s the draw.
Are there days the place you simply need to let an artist have a time off to stroll across the countryside to make issues really feel proper?
If an artist is caught in a rut, then that’s in regards to the expectation of the artist and the stress they’ve placed on themselves, or the stress they really feel from the business or the label.
We’re all attempting to put in writing 5 nice songs per week, however finally, we’ll all die with only a handful written on our gravestones. Or on Wikipedia. The intention is to get a kind of, and if it takes per week, then that’s okay.
Successful is usually a hit, however such as you stated there are songs that can outlive you. Are these the forms of songs those you’re at all times aiming for within the studio?
It’s actually good to problem any thought.
The tune is sort of a fighter, and also you’re placing it within the ring. You could know that fighter is the champion of the world, however it is advisable put it by way of a number of rounds to check it.
The largest songs I’ve ever been concerned in haven’t essentially been the smoothest, however I don’t need to jinx the long run.
I need to enable somebody to stroll in after which in 5 minutes it’s carried out, however when you recognize you’ve obtained one thing nice the stakes really feel a bit larger.
What are a few of these songs that stand out for you?
Set Fireplace to the Rain felt nearly good, however we couldn’t get the pre-chorus.
I bear in mind Adele saying she couldn’t get it, and on the time when Adele smoked, she went over to the kitchenette, smoked cigarettes and furiously wrote concepts in a pocket book.
When she lastly obtained it, it was a eureka second.
On Damaged Strings with myself, James Morrison and Nina Woodford, it was fairly a fast, nearly Motown-esque tune at first. I don’t suppose the imaginative and prescient was absolutely realised from the primary writing session we had.
Colin Barlow got here in and flipped that imaginative and prescient right into a barely completely different sort of really feel.
That for me was sensible A&Ring, as a result of I don’t suppose that that tune would have been that tune with out Colin’s enter. That was him suggesting one other report and a reference. It was visionary pondering.
Blinded By Your Grace was initially a grime tune, however I might inform that Stormzy was fairly tormented with the uncertainty of what it must be.
We obtained collectively one Sunday evening, simply me and him, and I began enjoying the chords that ended up on the report. That opened up one thing for him, and he felt like he needed to enter one other room to provide you with the concepts.
That just about was how that tune was written, however over the course of months. And it simply got here at that time on a Sunday evening.
So, is there a recording in a vault someplace the place Blinded by your Grace is a grime tune?
Yeah. It was a totally completely different take. Typically you simply want to show issues the wrong way up and begin once more.
However once more, Stormzy’s imaginative and prescient is unimaginable. Relating to one observe, he’s in all probability obtained ten references in his head. That’s what makes him nice. That’s what makes all artists nice. These artists are visionaries, and they’re profitable for a motive.
Artists like Stormzy or Dave clearly have essential issues to say on a report, and that’s key to grime and UK rap usually. The lyricism drives a number of it. For you as a producer, do you simply sit again and allow them to say what they should say within the sales space? Or are you actively attempting to deliver that out of them?
With Dave, we might undergo lyrics and ideas on the very starting of the report.
He would go into the granular particulars of the lyrics, deliver them again, and so forth. With Stormzy, we’d work on melodies and edit them collectively.
When one thing’s not damaged, you don’t have to repair it. When the bars are flowing, then you must allow them to circulation.
However the studio can really feel like a really susceptible place to put down these first concepts. So when assist is required, then I’m proper there for them.
After so lengthy producing large information, with 12 questions, your first solo venture, why was 2020 the yr to launch that?
I didn’t suppose I might deliver the rest to anyone else at that time. I had labored on Kano’s Made within the Method, then Gang Indicators and Prayers, after which Psychodrama. I simply needed to simply develop myself in different areas. I had labored so intensely on these few information, I didn’t need to return to conventional writing and manufacturing.
To start with, I had these 12 questions that I assumed could be nice to develop as a part of a brief movie or some type of documentary.
“I bear in mind listening to Battle The Energy and feeling how highly effective music may very well be.”
I didn’t know what that was going to be, however I simply knew that I needed to interview individuals and report them answering these questions, simply to present us completely different factors of view.
I had a whiteboard, the place I might write down the names of everybody I needed to interview. From that, it ended up as this entire motion of music that’s 52 minutes lengthy, which is supposed to be a journey by way of the 12 Questions.
The solutions actually don’t give us the complete image, however we’ve some fairly unimaginable solutions from individuals akin to [activist] Albert Woodfox.
When he answered what the price of freedom is, having been incarcerated for 44 years in a six by 4 foot cell for 23 hours a day, that’s a fairly unimaginable reply. And we requested the identical query to Dave, Es Devlin, Stormzy, and Katrin Fridriks, who’s an Icelandic summary artist.
We’ve now expanded that right into a podcast, asking those self same inquiries to individuals like George the Poet, Kae Tempest, Jamie Oliver, Fatboy Slim and Julie Adenuga. It’s grow to be an unimaginable a part of my life, and it began with these questions.
Is it thrilling to have your personal venture, one thing that you would be able to simply experiment with and permit to mutate in your personal manner?
It’s the very best factor.
With the ability to spend time writing my very own music, writing my very own hooks, working by myself art work, and have all that expression permits me to be clearer with artists. I’ve clearly been there for the artists that I’ve labored with, however I believe each author and producer ought to have one thing of their very own.
Once you’re within the studio, you possibly can typically grow to be exhausted serving to artists out. It’s the very best factor on the planet, however it can be draining.
To ensure that me to progress, it’s actually vital to sit down down and suppose, ‘what’s the subsequent step? How are we going to maneuver this ahead?’ It makes you are feeling very replete and really fulfilled, after which whenever you work with different artists, you possibly can actually be of service to them.
I do know you had these ’12 questions’ to start with, however after engaged on so many information, was it laborious to chisel down what you needed it to sound like as properly?
I managed to get to the core of what sort of music that, given free rein, I might make. In a really crass manner, it was mixing hip hop and guitar-based music. I’ve at all times been an enormous lover of rhythm, however particularly hip hop. That was one thing I needed to place firmly into the report.
Hip hop and dirt are very formative genres, although. In case you hear Snoop Dogg or Beastie Boys whenever you’re 12, you’re in all probability going to be into them for the remainder of your life. Is that the case for you?
100%. I bear in mind listening to Public Enemy’s Battle the Energy, and actually feeling how sturdy and highly effective music may very well be. I bear in mind going to see [Spike Lee’s] Do the Proper Factor on the cinema once I was actually younger, and that simply simply blew my thoughts.
These moments are seminal, and it’s in all probability the identical when a 12 yr outdated at the moment hears an incredible Stormzy tune, or Black by Dave. Watching that video, you possibly can see how highly effective that’s. These are seminal moments. It’s a time whenever you’re so open to affect.
Is {that a} feeling you attempt to deliver to the information that you simply work on? Once you’re on a bus and a few youngsters are enjoying your tune out loud on their telephone, is {that a} large marker of success for you?
I bear in mind when Tinchy Stryder’s Quantity One got here out, and I bear in mind strolling previous an area Budgens store in South London, and a few youngsters have been enjoying that report off their telephone. For me, as a industrial signal of success, seeing individuals react to your music like that’s an incredible feeling.
As a artistic, getting artwork and commerce proper might be the most important problem.
However there’s some extent the place the intersection of artwork and commerce meet, and the songs that I’ve written that I’m most pleased with have undoubtedly carried out that.
Dave’s Funky Friday, Black or Set Fireplace to the Rain are all cultural moments that I’m very pleased with having collaborated on. I maintain my head up excessive, and I don’t suppose anybody bought themselves brief.
Even trying again to Quantity One by Tinchy. On the time, it was tremendous industrial, however the truth was that UK rap music needed to be industrial for it to go on to radio.
We did what we needed to do, however I nonetheless hear again to these information and suppose, that was a time in a spot, and I’m vastly grateful to have had all these unimaginable moments.
MBW’s World’s Best Producers collection is supported by Hipgnosis Music Administration. Music Enterprise Worldwide
