John Legend records 'Fifty Shades of Grey' OST in PH
Editor's Note: One of the videos in this article has been deleted upon legal advice.
Not many people know but John Legend wasn’t only here for a concert, which was successfully held last September 26 at The Araneta Coliseum.
He had another agenda.
A day before his much-awaited concert, the singer-songwriter went to a studio in Mandaluyong to record a song which will be part of the soundtrack of the sensational movie adaptation of the bestselling novel by E. L. James, “Fifty Shades of Grey.”
One of the nicest guys
Boyet Carlos Aquino, a recording engineer at Spryta Productions, Inc., exclusively told Yahoo Philippines that the promoters of the show brought Legend to the studio.
“He recorded a song which I guess is for the upcoming movie ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ because that’s the name of the pro tools project file that came from him,” Aquino told Yahoo.
“He is one of the nicest guys I’ve worked with. He really knows his way in the studio,” Aquino said of Legend.
Even the discarded takes were ‘magara din’
“Alam niya kung ano gusto niya, tsaka mas importante, alam niya pag nakuha na niya yung take. He did 5 or 6 takes, then listened to it one by one, he asked me to do a vocal comp from those takes that he chose.”
After Legend made his choice, Aquino re-checked the discarded takes. “Pinakinggan ko nga lahat ulit yung takes na hindi niya napili. Lahat magara din!”
Aquino says he is still excited and hung over from the experience. It also happened to be the studio’s third anniversary that day, making it doubly memorable for him.
WATCH: Excerpt from John Legend live in Manila
Aquino was Francis M’s drummer
Aquino has been working as a recording engineer at Spryta Productions for three years. He is also a musician and was the drummer of the late great Master Rapper, Francis Magalona.
He has done session work with top-name artists like Rico Blanco (for “Yugto”) Wolfgang (for “Atomica”), Kyla, Top Suzara, Jay Durias, Maegan Aguilar, Sharon Cuneta and Jay-R, among others.
He also engineered for Macklemore & Ryan Lewis in the same studio, when they were the featured guest artist in the song “Arrows” by the band Fences.
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