Leon Thomas - Mutt | Behind the Song - video Dailymotion

Variety

Leon Thomas and his producers, D Phelps and Rob, show us what went into the making of their hit "Mutt" and reveal how the song is technically not in key.

Transcript

00:00That part is always so fire, I don't know why.

00:07Hey what's up y'all, I'm Leon Thomas.

00:10I'm Rob.

00:11I'm D Phelps.

00:12And we're going to take you behind the song mark.

00:21I was finishing up my album and we were trying to find a really cool title for the album

00:27and nothing was really sticking.

00:29I was at my house, my dog and my cat were fighting and my dog looked back at me after

00:34my cat smacked him in the face.

00:36In a weird way, his face kind of reminded me of my own in that moment and I thought it

00:40would be a really cool concept that plays into a lot of the different themes of control and

00:45you know, trying to be a good partner.

00:48I recently just watched the Elvis movie and he had a hound dog reference and decided Mutt

00:54would be a cool way to kind of wrap everything up.

00:56Came into the studio with these fellas and they had a really crazy track that fit the

01:01vibe perfectly.

01:02It was just about feeling and you know, it turned into a really amazing song for myself.

01:07Yeah.

01:08The song up on accident looking for another song.

01:10We were just like, we kind of do that thing where he'll give us like a brief of what he's

01:15looking for and we'll just try to play vibes and see is there anything we have unless we

01:19have to cook up.

01:20And I was looking for another beat and found that one on accident and he stopped it and

01:24was like, what's this?

01:25It was just like an eight bar loop.

01:27It's a shame that you go to the club and you never really hear records that have live

01:31instrumentation in it and I felt like this could be one that could really take us there.

01:36Well, the first couple of things you hear in the top, you hear some strings, you hear an

01:46upright piano, we have a Celesta, you have just everything I guess that we felt would go

01:52good within the interpolation of the song, which was a Silly Love song, shout out to them.

01:59We wanted to feel like that world, but also we still wanted it to have a little like modern

02:04slash urban sense to it a little bit as well.

02:10So this is the interpolation that we have to use to get it sound like everything.

02:23We can't see it on here because we got the things baked in, but a lot of stuff was just

02:27adding phasers, chords, certain things just to add some type of texture to it to still

02:32make it feel like fresh.

02:34Yeah, J37 is also my favorite.

02:37Waves plug-in, we added that too to give it like a vintage tape sound.

02:40And it gives it just a little bit of reverb, not too much.

02:43Yeah, yeah.

02:58What's really great about, you know, working with these guys and the kind of production

03:03we do, we like a good intro.

03:04So I got a little time to show off before I get into the story.

03:08This is my favorite part of the song, the first vocal run you do.

03:11Oh, thanks.

03:12This part is so crazy to me.

03:13I always thought, like I, this is, he sounds like a sample himself.

03:22Bro, that's incredible.

03:24These are some of the best mic drums I've ever heard in this generation.

03:27I mean, these guys are insane.

03:29Sounds like a sample, which is beautiful, you know?

03:45I didn't feel like programming drums at the time that day.

03:48It felt easier just to get on the kit and just play it.

03:51So, honestly, me just not wanting to just out of that happening.

03:56We were digging deep into drum tones around that time too.

03:58I can't remember what plugin.

03:59I feel like it was one of those plugins we had just found out about.

04:02Like, we threw it on there and we was like, whoa, this is gas.

04:11This was one of the rare moments where Phelps stops me while I'm recording something with

04:16a really dope idea.

04:17He'll usually just let me cook up.

04:19But when I played him the hook, he was like, man, that's cool, but you need something in

04:23between the phrases.

04:25And that falsetto part right here was birthed in the moment while I was recording it.

04:32And, you know, it's cool having a little Verispe moment in the back too.

04:41As like a little extra rhythm to what we got going on.

04:49This is really fun on a vocal production level because it, to me, has a lot of space, but

04:54there's a lot of ear candy in the background, which is cool.

04:57I was very intentional about how he wanted the bass.

05:00He was really talking about Parliament, George Clinton a lot.

05:03So he wanted to kind of honor that with the bass, which is Rob's tone is incredible.

05:09But I love how when the verse comes in, there's an 808 that also follows it, but it's not getting

05:14in the way of it.

05:15Doesn't get in the way of the frequencies.

05:16Yeah.

05:17Which I think is really cool.

05:24Everybody thinks there's a sample in it all the time, but there's really not.

05:27Like, especially like in the verses, it's just really like us too.

05:30Which I love that when the hook comes in, it's like kind of like an explosion a little bit.

05:34Right.

05:35Yeah.

05:36Like your face.

05:37Yeah.

05:46That part is always so fire.

05:48Like, why?

05:52Hey, what?

05:53Silly.

05:57And the harmony is coming up.

06:04I recorded this song the first time and loved it so much, but I felt like the performance

06:17wasn't right.

06:18So I took it home and I perfected all of the different pieces in my back room.

06:23The doubles working together in a way that didn't feel messy was important.

06:27So we didn't lose the message of the song and I wanted it to have attitude and sometimes

06:31I need to be isolated to get there, you know.

06:34And so this song is not in key.

06:43After I recorded it, I was like, it's too slow.

06:48So if you look here, the detune speed is 0.49.

06:54Because I wanted it for DJs to be able to lock right into the BPM.

06:58I didn't really care about people if they were trying to like play to the record.

07:02I still wanted it sped up and to kind of have its own thing.

07:06If it's at its original tempo, it actually sounds like this.

07:13And I was like, this is the difference between us being just on the radio and us being on

07:23the radio and the club.

07:24I actually play it to speed.

07:26I forgot what it even sounds like.

07:27It doesn't drag, but I don't know if like the other one just had urgency to it.

07:36People would have been able to play it in key.

07:38Well, yeah, facts, but you know.

07:41This is definitely in key.

07:43It's very speed.

07:44I sped it up and I could have sped it up with everything else.

07:48But the only thing is like, cause you know, you can do it different ways.

07:51But to be honest, I also like the way my voice sounded like this.

07:54Just a little pitched up.

07:55I don't know.

07:56It just had a different feeling.

07:57It was like the frequency was different.

07:58I mean, even if you look at the tune in reference, it's just like, the hurts, it just felt better

08:11to me.

08:12I don't know why.

08:13I didn't really have a reason.

08:14I think at the moment too, I was still kind of just tripping and catching the vibe.

08:17I wanted to make sure like it just felt good and feel was the most important thing.

08:23All right.

08:24Yeah.

08:25I'm gonna keep chasing feel, you know?

08:26Yeah.

Leon Thomas - Mutt | Behind the Song

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