The Importance of Modular Effects

The studio is cramped but it's great in the way that everything is so easily accessible. I can instantly do a send from any of the tracks to any of these you know effects down here. playing squeaky wheel and playing those drums so you can hear the effect on the drums as you're playing them yeahYeah, just simple but also complicated enough to generate these like kind of chaotic events and just make new things. Those are the things that get you excited enough to follow an idea through to the end.

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In this episode, John ventures over to Clapton to join James Ellis Ford and talk about how he wrote, recorded, and produced the album ‘The Hum’.

His debut solo release after almost two decades working with some of the world's biggest artists, James looks back on how his approach to music has changed over the course of the album, reflecting on the different mindsets and decisions that come with producing his own work compared to that of others.

As well as a deep dive into his vast studio setup and hybrid system of new and old creative techniques, we’re treated to thoughts on the fine line of ironing out the humanness of mistakes, and how more often than not, pieces of gear can give you back ideas that you’d never have expected.

Listen to find out which undiscovered mics are used across almost all of the records he works on, how to implement a Frippertronics-style tape setup, and what you can create when you push a bass clarinet to its limits.

Tracks discussed: I Never Wanted Anything, Squeaky Wheel, The Yips

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Listen to ‘The Hum’ here.