Tape Notes TN:118 Ben Howard and Bullion
From Coffee To Recording Sprint
- Ben and Nathan met for coffee and a month later were recording in France, showing a rapid creative leap.
- They locked into a residential studio and turned sketches into full-band sessions quickly.
Leave Songs Intentionally Unfinished
- Ben goes into sessions with songs nearly finished but intentionally leaves them slightly unfinished.
- That partial discomfort invites collaborators to shape arrangements and finish ideas.
Hour-Long Live Takes Became A Song
- Walking Backwards was born from long live takes with drum machines and pedals captured in the room.
- They spent over an hour recording long performances and later comped the best parts into a single track.
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
Thanks to Strongroom Studios for having us!
Listen to ‘Is It?’ here.
- Island, Universal Music Operations Limited
Intro Music - Sunshine Buddy, Laurel Collective
GEAR MENTIONS
Eventide H3000 Ultra Harmoniser
OUR GEAR
https://linktr.ee/tapenotes_ourgear
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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 :)
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