Is It a Ballad?

I sat at a piano and wrote this song in its entirety and knew i liked it. In translating it to recorded form, thought, well, i don't think this is a ballad. It was about building a production around chords and lyric and melody that i liked. But thite's a very different sort of origin story to a song that ended up in a kind of similar instrumental place,. So i thougt it was like, interesting to bring up the sort of parallel.

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Thanks to SoundBetter for supporting this episode of Tape Notes.

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In this milestone 100th episode of Tape Notes, John is joined by the Finneas at Lightship95 Studio, to talk about how he wrote, recorded and produced his album ‘Optimist’ and his new single ‘Mona Lisa Mona Lisa’.

Reflecting on the fluidity of his writing process, Finneas talks us through the varied methods and circumstances in which his tracks took shape, from the very first synth sounds that kick-started ideas, to the detailed sonic decisions that helped each element work towards a cohesive goal.

Alongside the production masterclass, Finneas looks back on his career so far, discussing his family’s involvement with his music and the impact they’ve had on his creativity. We hear stories from the early days of making music videos with his mum, vocal mic shootouts with Billie, and the essential advice that he still lives by.

Listen to find out why mediocrity isn’t a bad thing, how finishing a song isn’t too dissimilar to finishing a meal, and why the correct way to do something isn’t always the correct way.

Tracks discussed: How It Ends, Medieval, Mona Lisa Mona Lisa

LINKS TO EVERYTHING TAPE NOTES

linktr.ee/tapenotes

Listen to ‘Optimist’ here.

Listen to ‘Mona Lisa Mona Lisa’ here.

OYOY Inc, Interscope Records

Intro Music - Sunshine Buddy, Laurel Collective.

GEAR MENTIONS

Arturia Farfisa

Output Analogue Strings

FabFilter Twin 2

Spectrasonics Trilian