The Process of Production

Carey Willetts is the bass player in multi-platinum selling indie band Athlete. Along with his fellow band members, he wrote numerous hits including Wires which won an Ivor Novello award for 'Best Contemporary Single’ in 2006.

Since turning his attention to writing and producing for others, Carey has worked extensively with Dermot Kennedy both as co-writer and producer on several tracks including Better Days, A Closeness, and Lost. Other credits include Amber Run, Jack Curley, and production on Freya Ridings' debut album. He was shortlisted as Breakthrough Producer Of The Year at the MPG Awards in 2020.

The Process of Production is presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews.

Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises.

Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Chiswick in West London.

If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected]

Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction

If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you

Welcome back to the Process of Production!

After a hiatus during which Lawrence’s second son was born, we’re back, and better than ever.

To start the new series, we interview the one-and-only Gordon Raphael.

Gordon is a producer from Seattle, Washington in the USA. After an early encounter with a synthesiser opened his eyes to the world of music production, Gordon got involved in the grunge scene in his hometown, forming bands and making weird noises on his synth.

After moving to New York and setting up his basement studio Transporter-Raum, an encounter with a then-unknown band at the Luna Lounge in the Lower East side would change Gordon’s life forever.

The Strokes would go on to define the indie sound that dominated for the next decade, thanks to the iconic debut album ‘Is This It?’, which Gordon produced, alongside the follow-up Room on Fire.

Gordon moved to London, which had been the epicentre of the hype surrounding the Strokes. After a spell in Berlin, he’s now relocated to Heben Bridge in Yorkshire, where he joins us from today.

Gordon's book, The World Is Going To Love This: Up From The Basement With The Strokes, is out July 2nd 2022.

The Process of Production is a music production podcast presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews.

Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises.

Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Chiswick in West London.

If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected]

Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction

If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you

Jim Lowe is a Grammy award winning engineer, musician, producer and mixer most famous for his work as the long time right hand man to Welsh Rock Band Stereophonics.

Starting out as an Engineer at Nomis Studios in London, he made the step from the engineering chair to the production chair when Kelly Jones, the band's lead singer, reached out to him to engineer demo sessions for their fourth record.

The two immediately struck up a fruitful working relationship and by the time the band came to record what would become their 5th album, Language. Sex violence other Jim had transitioned to producing the album. It was a move that would prove fateful for both band and producer as the debut single from that album "Dakota", driven by Jim’s programmed synths and more electronic influences, rocketed to number one, giving the band their first chart topper, and a place on numerous end of year lists.

Jim has continued his relationship with the band through another 5 albums, as well as helming work by The Charlatans, and Ex Sex Pistol Glen Matlock. He’s also continued building up his stellar mixing CV that includes the Dandy Warhols, Taylor Swift and Amy McDonald.

In this interview we get the story of what it’s like producing a No.1 song like Dakota, the grammy Jim didn’t even know he’d won, and the beauty of Room 1 at Abbey Road when the sound is right and the band is cooking. But we start by hearing about the space Jim works in in his home outside London - a space he built just before lockdown and which he’s given thanks for many times since - and why when he’s mixing he doesn’t always crank the volume knob to 11.

The Process of Production is presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews.

Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises.

Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Chiswick in West London.

If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected]

Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction

If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you

This time we chat to prolific pop production powerhouse Paul Whalley.

Working from his space in Tileyard (the north London studio hub that’s been home to the likes of Mark Ronson, Noel Gallagher and MNEK), Paul Whalley is one of the most prolific and exciting producers working in the industry today. Despite a masters from Guildhall School of music in Classical Composition, it’s in the more modern pop, dance and rock worlds that he’s been making a name for himself since moving to the Tileyard complex in 2015. 

The last few months alone have seen releases from  boy band legends The Wanted, Alt-Pop queen Amber Van Day, Reading Main Stage upstarts The Hara and alt folk singer songwriter Josie Proto. It’s also seen him rushed to hospital after a health scare that took him out of work for three weeks, the first extended break from the studio he’d had since moving to Tileyard. 

We start be asking how that work ethic came about, how the experience of the last few weeks is impacting his approach to production, and how, at the end of the day, despite all the gear he’s steadily collecting, he’s still happiest with a guitar in his hand

The Process of Production is presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews.

Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises.

Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Chiswick in West London.

If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected]

Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction

If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you

With Black Friday looming, Lawrence and Bob run down their top picks for discounted plugins and software during the annual sales, which seem to grow in volume every year.

We discuss the big hitters like Waves, Soundtoys, and Native Instruments, but also some lesser known plugins including Bob’s #1 pick for Black Friday this year, which is on the master bus for every track he works on.

We talk about when and why you might want to add some third-party software to your production arsenal, where to start, and discuss the ups and downs of using presets in your work.

Some links to the sales we discuss:

Waves - a swathe of plugins at $30 - This is our referral link which will save you an extra $10!

Soundtoys 5 55% off at $229

Native Instruments Komplete 13 - bundle is down to £500

Sonnox - Sale on everything

SoS Review of Oxford Inflator (scroll down) - review from 2004 but still relevant today!

iZotope Free Plugins - Including Vinyl

Spitfire BBC Symphony Orchestra (free if you fill out questionnaire)

Spitfire LABS - Free experimental sample packs

Softube Black November Sale

The Process of Production is presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews.

Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises.

Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Chiswick in West London.

If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected]

Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction

If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you

This week we talk to the amazing Isobel Anderson. After a career as an artist which has amassed over 25 million Spotify streams, Isobel set up the online community the Female DIY Musician, which helps female-identifying aspiring musicians and producers to find their confidence in an arena that has always been male-domianted. Last year, she started the podcast Girls Twiddling Knobs, which she describes as brining a "feminist perspective to all things music tech", and in our opinion is a nourishing and refreshing listen for any creative, male or female.

Isobel also has an MA and PhD in Sonic Arts, and her sound-works have been performed internationally, while she has also been the recipient of backing from the PRS Foundation's Women Make Music Fund. She has also published in academic journals, such as Organised Sound and The Journal of Sonic Studies.

Isobel's music has been archived in The British Library and The British Music Collection, and previous live performances include Glastonbury's acoustic stage, The Secret Garden Party and London's Proud Galleries.

We spoke to Isobel about her journey to this point (which has been far from smooth), and what inspired her to educate other women and girls in music production. We ask what can be done to make the world of music production a more welcoming place for women, and get some great insight and surprising reactions from Isobel on this and a range of other topics.

Here's a link to Girls Twiddling Knobs - we highly recommend a listen to episode #1 if you want to get more background on Isobel and her career to date. It's a fascinating listen.

https://www.femalediymusician.com/gtkpodcast

https://www.isobelanderson.com/

The Process of Production is presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews.

Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises.

Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Chiswick in West London.

If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected]

Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction

If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you

This time, we speak to Emily Underhill, an artist and producer who performs under the name Tusks.

After a self released Ep called ‘Ink’ in 2014, Tusks was signed by One Little Independent Records, and has gone on to release two albums with the label, Dissolve in 2017 and Avalanche in 2019.

Tusks supported Bob’s band Alpines on tour, when Lawrence was playing keys in the live band, so the conversation picks up on many that we had sharing a tour van around Europe.

Emily has been a self-producing artist from the beginning, but the majority of her tracks so far have been co-produced with longtime collaborator, producer and engineer Brett Cox.

But the new EP ‘Change’ is entirely self-produced.

At the start of the pandemic in 2020, Tusks had just finished a headline tour in support of the second album, so lockdown coincided with a period of creativity and experimentation for Emily as she looked towards the next release. Emily used the enforced isolation to explore and get better as a producer, learning her way around the synthesizers that had always been part of her work, but were now becoming the centrepiece. We start by discussing that time, and how it’s led to new EP ‘Change’,

Click here for a playlist of Tusks’ work

The Process of Production is presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews.

Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises.

Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Chiswick in West London.

If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected]

Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction

If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you

In this episode, we delve into the world of mastering for the first time. To guide us through what if often referred to as a ‘dark art’, we speak to mastering engineer Kelly Hibbert, who has a wonderful and varied CV across a range of genres, but especially alternative and hip-hop, working on records from Flying Lotus, J Dilla, Madlib, Jordan Rakei, Little Dragon, Duke Dumont, and MF Doom to name a few.

Kelly has had an amazing career, starting out as a drummer, then getting into studio installations, before what sounds like an astounding stint as the in-house engineer on the superyacht of Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen. Deciding to leave the once-in-a-lifetime job to follow his own path, Kelly was thrown in at the deep end of mastering by mentor Dave Cooley.

After coming of age in LA, Kelly has moved around the world a few times to find the right place for him, finally settling in the jungle of Costa Rica, where he has built an idyllic-sounding home with his family. We hear all about his lifestyle there, his career so far, and some fascinating thoughts on the craft of mastering music.

Kelly’s website

Link to the Pitchfork article Lawrence mentions

The Process of Production is presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews.

Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises.

Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Chiswick in West London.

If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected]

Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction

If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you