One noteworthy maverick etching his name on the annals of Afrobeats is the young music producer, Oluwatobiloba Fakorede, professionally known as Signal.

The music whiz, whose distinct discography spotlights his knack for innovation and depth, has churned some of the most refreshing sounds in Afrobeats’ recent releases, including DJ Neptune and Joeboy’s ‘Mumu’, Khaid’s and Boyspyce’s ‘Carry Me Go’, among other classics.

Growing up around musically-inclined parents shaped Signal’s appeal in the music space from his childhood. The Ibadan-bred musician packs this panaché of radicalism into his beatmaking, crafting a laudable range of records from the euphoric pop of Boyspyce to the sullen salve of Khaid’s Trap-fusion. With the music, Signal searches for his place, which seems to be a broad map of creativity across the Afrobeats landscape.

Catching up with Guardian Music, the talented musician delves into his come-up experience, nitpicking his creative process as well as casting more spotlight on the pathway to Afrobeats future, among others.

Take us back to when you started making music.
Okay, it has been a while. I started in 2018, but it was just like having fun and stuff. Then I just kept on because I was in school at that time, so it wasn’t like a hundred percent, but I was enjoying it.
I relocated to Lagos in 2020, that was when I started working professionally, I figured out that music production is more than just making beats. It is more like putting yourself in the music from the beginning to the end. So, I started professionally in 2020, and from there, yeah.

So, like what actually attracted you to beat making?

It was just like being inquisitive, like just wanting to know how music was made. Growing up I was close with computers so getting a music production software was not that hard for me. My parents had a computer. So I spoke with my brother who was in university at the time and he told me that some of his friends were using the Fruity Loops studio software. Then, I got the software, because I wanted to know how the music I was listening to was made, it just took off from there.

What were your earlier influences when it came to experimenting with music production?
So, when I started I was basically influenced by EDM, and I tried fusing afrobeats with it. I grew and started working with other things. So, I had to broaden my horizon. I learned that I need to widen my work on other different genres.

Did you ever put out any EDM project?
No, not really.

What type of beats have you been drawn to making these days?
Right now I find myself doing more of anything that feels happy. I find myself doing that, I find myself moving in that direction.

Talk to us about some of your most exciting work that you have done, in recent times.

I would probably say the production I have my fondest memories from is Khaid and Boy Spyce’s “Carry Me Go”. That song was just a vibe from the beginning because it was not like we were stressing over anything and trying to bring ideas out. It just flowed; during the whole session when I was making the beat I just played drums and we converted. We were working on something fast then and then we did something slow. But we were like this was not it so, we took the melody from the slow “Carry me go” one to the faster beat. And from there it just took off and we recorded, we came to the studio to do more backups. I got my guitarist to play and the mixing session was also trouble free.

Another one would be “Mumu” by DJ Neptune and Joeboy. I went to Joeboy’s side and he was like let’s work on something, he was like, oya na play me beat. So I just played him some stuff that I have been working on previously. Immediately I played that one he was like, guy you say you no get beat. So he just wrote that on the spot and we were done with the song. And a few months later, after listening back and forth, he gave me DJ Neptune’s number, and we connected.

Where do you draw inspiration from?
I need to be in a space where there is not much noise, because when you are surrounded with too much noise it hinders your creativity. So I like to be in the right space. I listen to different songs, including old songs. Sometimes, I just get my guitarist and we come up with ideas, and sometimes I just basically tell myself I can actually just dive into it.

What actually are you looking to see improve in the Nigerian music scene right now, especially for producers?
I think the transparency could be a little bit better, because many producers are just working and they don’t even know what they are working towards. I have had many producer friends tell me about not knowing the stream count on songs they produced. It has happened to me too. I think labels and the artiste and every other person should be more transparent with the publishing. I just feel like we should be more transparent, and there should be a system that makes it more transparent for everyone to see how stuff is going and know how to proceed from there.

What are your thoughts towards sustaining the Afrobeats to the world movement?
I think the most popular form of afrobeats is just like three percent of what the movement has to offer. There are so many other sounds that have not gotten popular. I feel like moving forward we just need to bring people up to speed with the bounce, and we should strive towards sampling older Afrobeats records. There is still so much to be done because there is no end to experimenting and learning.

Tell us three things that people will find interesting about you
Signal is a fun guy and he likes to play, even though some of my pictures don’t look like it. I like to play a lot of games like FIFA, COD, and so many others. I have a laptop that is just filled with games. I watch movies too with my guys; I like to spend time with my guys and just catch fun then cruise and stuff like that.

What’s your plan in the next couple of years?
For the next couple of years, it is producing more music and also dropping projects. I even have songs that I have almost completed, probably in the later stages. I also have a song with Juliet Ariel that’s also out now. We made a composition of a different song entirely then, I think the editor was like it was too much producing on one song and we just took ideas from that. We made it into a different entire thing entirely, that was how we just came about it.