Focus Speaks On His Work With Christina

You've also got Christina Aguilera's new album Bionic coming up - how did you get involved with that, and what are you doing on it?

The greatest thing about that is that we share one of the greatest engineers in the US, probably in the world, his name is Oscar Ramirez - I believe in him that much. He's been a cohort in my career for years, and he's been her vocal engineer and mixing engineer for years. And it just so happens he was like, “She's doing an album and I'll get you a connection.“ So I did it, she took some tracks and it was amazing. We did a song and an interlude together - it's called 'Sex for Breakfast'.

So how do you work with her - does she provide a brief and you give her some examples?

Well, the track was already done, so my job was pretty much done. But she was also working on the track with a writer by the name of Detail, who is a new writer, a crazy writer.

Christina is a genius - she really is one of the greatest artists on the pop side 'cos she knows exactly what she is looking for and is not afraid to tell you. She's not afraid to show you some examples.

It was the first project I've ever worked on where someone sent me examples and showed me the exact parts in the song they were looking for. She's very particular and a perfectionist and I love it, and it's awesome watching her work. But as far as the vocals are concerned I try to keep my input to a minimum because she knows what she is doing - I'm just there if she needs anything.

And she's got some UK electro acts like Ladytron and Goldfrapp producing stuff for the record. Do you think she could be starting off a new trend for US R&B-based pop acts?

I believe that because her fanbase is so loyal anything Christina does is the start of a new trend. But no one's going to do it like she does.

I believe a lot of that stuff started coming in when people started going overseas, sampling it and bringing it over here. Like with Will.I.Am totally changing the sound of Black Eyed Peas, Kanye West changing his sound completely to what he is now. Now we're sampling that, and they're out there making new music.

Source: HitQuarters