In this episode, John is joined by Ben Howard and producer Nathan Jenkins aka Bullion, to talk about how they wrote, recorded and produced Ben’s latest album ‘Is It?’.

Looking back on their time together, Ben and Nathan talk us through their collaborative journey, from their initial coffee shop discussions, to the 10 day stint recording in the South of France. Sharing their initial sketches, voice note demos and the unexpected moments that changed the direction of each of the tracks.

In addition to stories of delay tuning and the potentially negative effects of singing with too much reverb, the pair share their thoughts on the importance of considering different musical approaches and giving time to ideas to allow them to flourish.

Listen to find out why you’ll never need four mics on an amp, why one wrong note with a delay can ruin a whole take, and why laziness is fundamental to Ben’s creativity.

Tracks discussed: Walking Backwards, Days Of Lantana, Spirit

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Listen to ‘Is It?’ here.

• Island, Universal Music Operations Limited

Intro Music - Sunshine Buddy, Laurel Collective

GEAR MENTIONS

Korg Volca Beat

CR78 Drum Machine

Shure SM57

Shure SM58

EchoPlex

Roland Space Echo RE-201

Teenage Engineering OP1

Eventide H3000 Ultra Harmoniser

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HELP SUPPORT THE SHOW

If you'd like to help support the show you can donate as little or as much as you'd like here, (we really appreciate your contributions :) 

Donate

Or you can join us on Patreon, where among many things you can access full length videos of most new episodes, ad-free episodes and detailed gear list breakdowns.

TAPE NOTES TEAM

Will Brown - Executive Producer, Engineer & Editor

Tim Adam-Smith - Executive Producer

Will Lyons - Editor

Videographer - Andy Tindall

Guy Nicholls - Production Assistant