'Content' from The Ranch Production House

Oz is a fantastically talented producer and mixer working out his studio 'Hidden Track' in Folkestone, Kent.

We catch up on all the pertinent topics of the day; How we got started in the industry, desert island gear and aliens.

This weeks deep dive is the amazing 'Tirade' - 100% worth a listen!

I was looking forward to this one - Joe and I have worked together for the best part of a decade and always manage to keep each other laughing and working hard. We cover ground on his new project but dig deep into songs that make us cry, mean journalists and Grandmother Appleford's prophecies.

This week's deep dive is a Bad Sign track from way back in 2015 - Some fun vocal layering and mystery bass tones under the spotlight.

This week's episode of Content is a nice chat I had with Jamie Coupe of rising pop-rockers 'Maggie Cassidy'. Jamie talks about his recent experiences as a song writer for hire on 'Fiverr', the challenges of being in Lockdown near a lovely beach and his experiences recording Maggie Cassidy tracks with a variety of producers.

Maggie Cassidy have a new EP out now 'Life is Beautiful' - You can find it in all the usual spots and it's well worth a listen.

At the end of the episode I reflect on the wholly under-appreciated 'Wholly' by Aberdeen's 'Grader'. It really is one of those 'How wasn't this much bigger?' records. If Tom Waits fronting Defeater sounds good.. it's well worth a listen.

Basically a lovely catch up with a great friend, Andrew Convey. Andy fronted Burn The Fleet and can occasionally be seen as part of 'Future Love', a great unheralded rock band from Northampton.

We mainly cover Burn The Fleet and the making/writing/production of 'The Modern Shape', but we do explore the best polar pattern and what happens when you wall jump a wall and there is now wall... (spoiler, you get hurt.)

This episode I have a chat with Jay and Liam from the exciting new 'Well being'. We dive into the origins of the band and the story behind their debut record; learning how literal forces of nature and global pandemics tried to stop them but they still managed to get their music out there, and boy am I glad.

A journey into the archives unearths an incredible track from Southampton's own 'Signals.' - Well worth a listen!

This week I'm introducing an exciting Southampton band with tonnes of potential and charisma 'Jetski Babylon'. Strangely I didn't ask where their odd name came from; we did however discuss collecting sports memorabilia, the Ice-age and some of the 'hits' of 2019.

After the chat I take 5 to pour over a fave from the vault, this week it's 'Wise Children', prepare for some prog folk from 2012!

This week is a Zoom chat with the cream of Aberdeen, Cold years! Apologies for the wild variance in quality between each member of the chat - but hopefully we can all soldier through it.

We tackle the important topics this week; Pizza, Heaven and Zil bells. Cold Years are a great band and surprisingly easy to spend a fortnight with in the studio, enjoy the chat and drop me a line with any thoughts!

Stick around for a revisionist history of one from the archives! 

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Cursed by a slightly dodgy Zoom connection, Neil has a chat with the Ranch's very own young buck, Daly George. We cut straight to the chase and ask the big questions; What is the best format of egg? How do you sort dodgy paradoxes in good movies and what gear should be consigned to the bin!

Daly can be reached through the contact form on the Ranch website (www.ranchproductions.co.uk) or via his own site www.dalygeorge.com 

In a slight change of format, Neil questions Danny and James, former members of Scottish Hardcore heroes 'Departures' (RIP), about their experiences making records at the Ranch, eating too many nuggets and staring into the void.

The audio quality is slightly less the standard expected from a recording studio as this was a zoom and headphone mic chat - Doesn't diminishing from the sparkling chat and general bonhomie of the episode.

Departures' back catalogue can be found on Spotify etc - It's well worth a listen if you love your hardcore melodic, emotional and very handsome.

This week 'Content' features a bloody lovely chat between Neil and Bob Cooper, a fantastic engineer and producer based in Leeds and working from the glorious 'Chair Works studio'.

We get pretty nerdy in this one, chatting fave gear and plug ins, studio regrets and why so many ghosts are after Bob.

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