Mark Lui prefers to live in the moment

Published: 8:48pm, 12 Nov 2013

As one of Hong Kong's leading composers and producers over the past 20 years, Mark Lui has seen a lot of change in his profession. He's worked with some of the city's biggest names in pop, including Leon Lai, Kelly Chen, Justin Lo and Janice Vidal.

With more than 900 song credits over the course of his career, Lui is a busy man - and no more so than today, when he juggles the needs of his family, his staff and the artists whom he collaborates with. Given his hectic schedule, he's come to appreciate timing in every aspect of his life.

AZIMUTH Mr Roboto - “This watch was designed by a local designer, which is very interesting, and I like to support Hong Kong design and art. After I bought it, I found it was designed by a friend’s friend.”

Producing music calls for constant attention to timing - from writing a film score and ensuring that it develops at the right pace over the course of an entire movie, to sitting down with an artist and ensuring that their track is timed to perfection.

"The timing is very important. You have to plan every part of the song, and you have to have a very wide view of the track," says Lui, a trained civil engineer who grew up in Hong Kong and attended boarding school in England. "I'm not a good planner, but within a song I can see very clearly where it's going to go."

The same goes for working on albums - trying to tell the whole story from a series of individual elements. The rundown is completed after the songs are finished, with the producer not necessarily working chronologically on the songs that make up the album. "It's a different perspective on time, trying to make a story out of the tracks," he explains.

HAMILTON Pulsomatic - “This Hamilton turns things upside down by using a mechanical movement to charge a digital watch, which I think is great. [The design] is very simple and cyber, but I really like how they turned it around mechanically.”

Lui, who earlier this year staged the three-night Mark Lui Thank You Concert series at the Coliseum to mark his two decades in music, also always keeps in mind the idea that he needs to remain fresh.

"Over time I think I've evolved. I think I've kept up my creativity, and I do my best to keep up with what other producers are putting out, both in Hong Kong and worldwide," he says.

"I'm trying to look for things I haven't done before - that isn't easy. But you have to try new stuff, otherwise you'll become [irrelevant]."

Lui often works on music that won't be heard for perhaps six months or a year, so he has to be able to gauge what sound will be popular ahead of time - to predict the future, as it were.

"It's hard to plan. It's more like when I write the song, it's that instant, what I want to say or what I want to make," he says.

"I'm really not good at looking into the future; I'm very much an in-the-moment guy," says the father of two. "I'll try my best at this moment. To live in the moment is very important. It's what you can control - you can't control the future, so the current moment is the most precious."

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: The beat goes on

Post