The Process of Production

Alex Cores Hayes is a writer, producer, mixer and executive producer from East London. Originally making his name as part of the Haunted House collective, who came up on the pirate radio shows in and around the E5 postcode in the mid 00s, he became known to the wider world after produccing his long time collaborator and childhood friend Professor Green’s Upper Clapton Dance. He would go on to Executive Produce the majority of Green’s records including "Alive Till I'm Dead", "At Your Inconvenience, and "Growing Up In Public. He has since turned his unique skill set, which involves bringing together often disparate beats and ideas into one collective artistic whole, with artists as successful and diverse as Emili Sande, JP Cooper, The Streets and Murkage Dave  The Process of Production is presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews. Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises. Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Chiswick in West London. If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected] Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you

Burke Reid is a Canadian-Australian producer, who began his career as part of the seminal Australian alt-rock trio Gerling. After ten years in the band, and 4 critically and commercially successful albums, he left to pursue a career solely in production. His very first full length role, The Mess Hall’s Devil’s Elbow won the Australia Music Prize and set him off on a fascinating and varied career as one of alternative music’s most interesting and in demand producers. Work with Courtney Barnett - whose album “Sometimes I sit and think, sometimes I just sit” also nabbed an AMP Award, DZ Deathrays, Flyte, Julia Jacklin and Sports Team have followed.  He relocated to the UK just as the world went into lockdown back in 2020, but we were lucky to be able to speak with him in person at my studio, Hackney Road, and hear the story about how he went from cult rock star musician with Gerling, to cult rock music producer. The Process of Production is presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews. Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises. Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Chiswick in West London. If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected] Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you

Our guest this week is Luke Smith, a British record producer and musician who emerged in the early mid 00s with his innovative and critically acclaimed band Clor. Having split up after their first album he immediately embarked on a production career and found early success with his work on Foals sophomore album Total Life Forever. As well as cracking the top ten it received a mercury award nomination and elevated the band to a new stratosphere in the British alternative and rock scene. Work with Slow Club, Crystal Fighters and Keaton Henson followed for Luke, as well as a session or two with host Lawrence Diamond. He now works out of his space in East London, but it was in Bob’s space in East London, Hackney Studios, where we sat down to discuss his path into production, that Foals record, and his reverence for the gear and spaces that make recording and production music such a special and beautiful job The Process of Production is presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews. Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises. Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Hackney, East London. If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected] Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you

This time our guest is Andy Hall Hall - a Music Producer / Songwriter / Engineer, working out of his studio in Battersea, South London. He started his career as a guitarist & vocalist in bands, but soon turned his interest to production after co-writing The Other Tribe's summer hit song 'Skirts' in 2012. He’s worked with some massive artists including James Gillespie, Bastille, Griff, Kygo, & Fickle Friends. He produced the majority of James Gillespie’s debut album ‘Safe’, including singles ‘What You Do’, and ‘Beyond Today’. To compliment episode 25 (Cameron Gower-Poole), we get the perspective of another vocal producer; Andy has recorded vocals for Kygo, Griff, and Two Another, as well as the Marshmallo ft. Bastille smash hit ‘Happier’. We talk compression, recording on tour, the 00s UK port-hardcore (read: emo) scene, and colour coding your regions. The Process of Production is presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews. Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises. Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Chiswick in West London. If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected] Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you

We've wanted to interview Catherine Marks since we started the pod and so we were delighted to finally get a chance to sit down and talk to her at the beginning of the year. An Australian by birth, producer and mixer Catherine is now based in London England. She begun her career after a chance meeting with super producer flood at a Nick Cave concert in the early 2000s. Abandoning a career in architecture she moved to London full time to assist at his legendary Assault and Battery Studios in Willesden. Engineering work on albums by artists such as PJ Harvey, Foals, and Interpol followed. Despite initially following a career in mixing her work on Wolf Alice’s Creature Songs E.P led her to take the producer's chair on albums by some of the 21st century's most exciting rock and alternative acts including the amazons, The Big Moon, The Mysterines, Manchester Orchestra and The Wombats. She also recently worked on ALanis Morrisette’s 2020 come back album Such Pretty Forks in the Road. In 2018 she was voted the Music producers guild Producer of the year . She recently moved to her own new studio space in Kensal Town and this is where she dialed in to talk to us. The Process of Production is presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews. Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises. Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Chiswick in West London. If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected] Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you

It’s been a long time, we shouldn’t have left you, without a podcast to step to… We’re back with a surprise drop in time for Black Friday, to talk about all our favourite new plugins of 2022, the best free plugins out there, along with a news update and an apology for dropping out of the game mid-season! We also have a chat about how to make a sustainable career as a producer and grow your network, thanks to a great email from one of our listeners, James. Listen to last year’s Black Friday episode, which we reference in this conversation, here The Process of Production is presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews. Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises. Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Chiswick in West London. If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected] Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you

Something of a 'mini-pod' this week, no guests, just Lawrence and Bob pondering this question: What do we know now, that we wish we'd known when we started? Predictably, the answers range from very wholesome thoughts on your musical identity and songwriting, all the way to techy stuff like saturation and gain-staging.  We hope you enjoy this one!  Please let us know your answers to this question, or perhaps you are just starting out, and you have something that you wish you knew right now!? Well, get in touch and perhaps we can help - contact details below. The Process of Production is presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews. Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises. Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Chiswick in West London. If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected] Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you

A year on from our first Mastering Engineer episode, we’re delighted to bring your our second. And this time around we’re speaking to the brilliant Katie Tavini. Katie is a mastering engineer based in Brighton, England. Originally combining her nascent mastering career with a full time role as an audio archivist, a nomination for the MPG (Music Producers Guild) Mastering Engineer of the Year award saw her, after a period of reflection she talks about in this interview, taking on her craft full time. Credits with Mercury nominated Nadine Shah, Mercury winner Arlo Parks, Los Bitchos and  Ash, amongst many others, followed as well as two further nominations for the MPG Mastering Engineer of the Year award. She has also recently started a mastering collective, Weird Jungle, that brings together like minded mastering engineers under one umbrella to offer the best service to the diverse range of artists Katie works with. The Process of Production is presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews. Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises. Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Chiswick in West London. If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected] Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you

This week, we speak to a specialist vocal producer first time. Cameron Gower Poole graduated from the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), and made his way up the production ladder at Trevor Horn’s Sarm studios. After excelling as an engineer in vocal recording sessions, Cameron built a reputation as someone who could get the best out of an artist's singing performance. After being nominated for breakthrough producer of the year by the Music Producer’s Guild in 2021, and then vocal producer of the year in 2022, he’s worked with an array of pop stars, including Dua Lipa on her grammy nominated Future Nostalgia album, Rita Sawayama, Anne-Marie, and Mahalia, to name a few. We speak to Cameron at his London studio about his role, and how he found it. The Process of Production is presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews. Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises. Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Chiswick in West London. If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected] Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you

This week, we speak to Leo Abrahams. Leo is a musician, composer and producer. Although classically trained, he left behind a degree in composition at the royal academy to play guitar for Imogen Heap, and later, Ed Harcourt as part of their touring bands. A chance encounter with production legend Brian Eno led to him assisting on a variety of projects, often helping to ‘finish’ the myriad of releases Brian would be working across. This led to him taking on more production roles and Leo has since built a fascinating C.V. that includes Frightened Rabbit, Wild Beasts, Katie Melua and Paolo Nutini. From his newly completed studio in east London he now divides his time between film and TV composition, session guitar work, solo albums, and of course, his production work. And it’s here we joined him to hear the story of his new studio, his serendipitous meeting with Mr Eno and what it’s like touring Siberia with a coach full of free jazz musicians… The Process of Production is presented by Lawrence Diamond and Bob Matthews. Lawrence cut his teeth playing and writing in Indie bands before finding international success and touring the world with his band CITIZENS! During that time he worked with a host of revered producers including Liam Howe, Mark Ralph and Alex Kapranos. Since the band ended in 2016 he’s been using that experience to help other artists develop their careers as a writer and producer while continuing to release his own music under various different guises. Bob learned his trade as the producer and multi-instrumentalist in Electronic Pop duo Alpines, whose career spans 3 albums, releases on major and indie record labels, shows with Florence + The Machine, The xx, Emeli Sandé, and a top 20 hit 'Tidal Wave' in collaboration with Sub Focus. In recent years he has turned his focus to producing other acts and has a studio in Chiswick in West London. If you have any feedback or questions, please email us: [email protected] Follow The Process of Production on Instagram @processofproduction If you like the podcast, please consider giving us a review on your podcast provider of choice! Thank you