Thanks to Audiomovers for supporting this episode. Their Listento Plugin has been a gamechanger for us and we use it across all of our remote interviews and recordings. To see their full range of plugins, visit audiomovers.com and use the promo code TAPENOTES1 at checkout to get your free month (usually only two days). In this episode, John is back at Strongroom Studios to catch up with Bakar and producer Zach Nahome about how they wrote, recorded and produced the album ‘Halo’. Looking back at the varied starting points of the songs, Bakar and Zach chart the journey of the album writing process, from writing in hotel rooms and AirBnbs to some of the most legendary studios in the world. As well as sharing the conversations that helped fuel their creativity, we are given a glimpse into how the pair forged Bakar’s distinctive sound, sharing tips on bringing modern elements into music that feels old, and building distinctive worlds of reverb. Listen to find out why you shouldn’t delete old beats, how a thief managed to unknowingly shape the sound of a track, and how working with an ‘anti-setup’ outside of the studio can benefit the song. Tracks discussed: Alive!, Facts_Situations, Right Here, for Now LINKS TO EVERYTHING TAPE NOTES   linktr.ee/tapenotes  Listen to ‘Halo’ here.  Black Butter Intro Music - Sunshine Buddy, Laurel Collective GEAR MENTIONS Abbey Road Vinyl Soundtoys Effect Rack Arturia Farfisa Synth Arturia Jupiter 8 Spectrasonics Omnisphere Nicky Romero Kickstart Waves API 2500 Compressor Valhalla Vintage Verb Neumann TLM 103 Shure SM7B Neumann U67 Gibson Les Paul Fender Strat Martin Guitars Philips Philicorda Squire PBass KRK Monitors Rokit 8 Monitors Neve Preamps Focusrite Logic Pedals - Vintage Drive Logic Pedals - Flanger Logic Space Designer Logic Pitch Correction Logic EQ Logic Slap Echo Garageband  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 TAPE NOTES TEAM Will Brown - Executive Producer, Engineer & Editor Tim Adam-Smith - Executive Producer Will Lyons - Editor Nico Varanese - Editor/Videographer Herbie Elton-Rowley - Videographer Guy Nicholls - Production Assistant Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices