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 LINKS TO EVERYTHING TAPE NOTES   linktr.ee/tapenotes  Thanks to Strongroom Studios for having us! Instagram Twitter 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 OUR GEAR https://linktr.ee/tapenotes_ourgear 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. KEEP UP TO DATE For behind the scenes photos and the latest updates, make sure to follow us on:  Instagram: @tapenotes  Twitter: @tapenotes  Facebook: @tapenotespodcast   YouTube: Tape Notes Podcast Discord: Tape Notes Patreon: Tape Notes To let us know the artists you’d like to hear, Tweet us, slide into our DMs, send us an email or even a letter. We’d love to hear!  Visit our website to join our mailing list: www.tapenotes.co.uk 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices