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[Music] Hello and welcome to Tape Notes, the podcast that looks behind the scenes at the magic of recording and producing music. Every episode will be reuniting an artist and producer and talking through some of the highlights from their collaboration in the studio. So join us as we lift the lid on the creative process and the inner workings of music production to see what lies beneath. Hello, I'm John Kennedy and joining me for this episode of Tape Notes is David to talk about how he wrote, recorded and produced the album "With It". David Burke, known professionally as David, is an American singer and songwriter. An avid gamer turned breakout artist, David first made waves with his 2022 viral hit "Romantic Homicide". Blending raw emotion with DIY roots, the track propelled him onto the global stage, setting the tone for a career defined by bold, generative, high moves. Following his viral success, David's fan base continued to grow and in 2023 he released two EPs, "Pettles to Thorns" and "The Lost Petals", which also included his second worldwide hit, "The Track Here With Me". By 2025, he had amassed over 31 million monthly listeners on Spotify, signed with Indisco Records, and become one of the first artists to have over 1 billion streams on tracks before their debut album release. Withered, his debut album arrived in April 2025. On it, the 20-year-old explores themes of love, identity and emotional decay. Today, I'm at Strongroom Studios and I'm joined by David and what better way to start than by hearing something from the record. This is "Here With Me". David and David's fan base continued to grow and in 2021, he released two EPs, "The Track Here With Me". I don't care how long it takes, as long as I wait for you, I've got a smile on my face. It is "Here With Me" by David and I'm very pleased to say that I'm sat here with David to talk about David's debut album, "Withered". "Here With Me" doesn't feature on it, but it is one of the early tunes that really blew up. It's going to be fascinating to talk to you, David, because you're sat there with your phone in your hand and unlike a lot of our guests who turn up with their laptops or there is different hard drives and stuff, you've got it all in your hand and the palm of your hand. That is how you record these songs. It is. We thought maybe we should start by working out or explaining what you use to record because the approach is quite different, isn't it? Yeah, basically what I use is bandlabs, app-calls, bandlabs, all my files and songs are all just straight off the phone. Literally thousands and thousands and thousands of songs in here from now. Basically back on how I got into bandlabs, I was a YouTuber and a Fortnite streamer for the longest time and I was using copyrighted songs in my compilations. I couldn't make money off of it. I told my mom about it and she was like, "How about you just make your own music?" I was like, "You know what? Say less." I looked up how to make music on iPhone the next day. This app comes up and then I started using my little sister's closet as a studio. I put her like robes and clothes up to get the sound installation and everything and then I was just making everything on the phone with the app with your buzz, no professional mic, no nothing. The idea was that these would be tracks that you would use in your gaming videos. Exactly, I just sound like soundtracks. At that point we were using a voice. You were as another sound. Exactly, I didn't know how to sing. I was just trying to figure out what made sense and how to use my voice in weird ways and just make things sound good. When you go back right to the very first release, that is a humming. That's a good example of what you were creating to use in your videos. We'll find out more about Band Lab, I'm sure, as we have our conversation. The first track we're going to dig into is Romantic Homicide. We're going to listen to it a bit of that and then find out how you created it. Absolutely. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] and everything was followed after it was the most flow state life. thing of all time. So those extra hums that we're hearing they're added afterwards. Right, yes they are. So these are improvised words. Yeah, literally every single word is improvised. Which is kind of amazing because when you listen to the song it's almost like a mini drama or something because it has a twist at the end. Right, exactly. It's like an entire story. But the thing is the song is so short that it makes sense. It was so easy to kind of just like conjure up these things and be able to like go on the fly. And it's so simple. Like there's three seconds of space between everywhere. It was just clicking, clicking, clicking, clicking. And then the chorus, the biggest part, which is the one that went viral on TikTok. You hear how the pitch is actually lower. So this is my original voice that I recorded in. And then I sped it up two different times. So the release version is a half semi-tone up. And then the one that went viral on TikTok is like five semi-tones up. So I messed around with pitch and I messed around with like frequencies a lot in different songs and stuff like that. Depending on how it sounds, sonically. Yeah. And when are you doing that afterwards? After. After. Yeah. Yeah. Have another program called DJ that I use for like BPM and tempo and pitch and stuff like that. Right. So you're there with your phone using BandLab, recording the essence of all the sounds and creating something in this instance at that moment in time as you play it to us. Exactly. And then you just took it away and put it into DJ and then kind of fiddled around with it. Right. Yeah. I can tell you how that process works too soft to that. Yeah. So I'm going to play the chorus. So in the two minutes, 30 seconds that this song lasts. So then you stay in the closet to add those backing vocals. Right. For another two minutes, 30. Yeah. So this then one other layer and then you're out of that closet. Literally. That's it's that quick. And then the rest of the process is just me hitting the three dots and then pressing download, exporting it to DJ, opening up DJ. This is what DJ looks like when you open it and then speeding it up, right, pitching it up. And that, but that's the whole track. It's speeding up. Exactly. Yeah. You can't everything go into individual. You can in BandLab. Right. But when I do it, I like to do it all the same time. So I'm something sounds weird and you know, modulated and stuff like that. And basically I just I usually do a random number to see what sounds good. And in this case, it was like 6.6. And this is a version that's on streaming. And I was like, "Yo, that sounds really good." And then I would just drop to like that. Yeah. Literally. Time for school. Exactly. Time for school. Right after that, I had to do like six assignments. That's crazy. Right. Wow. This is kind of mad. So in a way, the speed is a combination of things. You know, you've kind of got your own built in deadline because it's like you're doing this at kind of morning breakfast time. So you got you got a vision. You said, right, it's sad songs today. Yep. And this is almost like a release to set you up for a good day. Right. Exactly. We get the self-expression. I'll get everything out and then start today. And then do your school work. And then do you go back to the tune afterwards? Oh, yeah. Well, I'm listening to the like, I'm listening to what the entire time I'm doing my work. Okay. It's the entire time. The advantage of home schooling. Nobody's saying. Exactly. Take those off. Keep it a moire. Right. Right. Okay. So it's still you're still in a way working on it. No, thinking about it. So at this point, you're just thinking in terms of songs to soundtrack your YouTube videos. Right. So where would you have seen this? This is a sad song to reflect. What the thing is about this song, in particular, was too sad for a four-night montage. Right. So I was like, I don't know what to do with it. And I didn't want to drop it. I didn't want to drop it. So I showed my mom. And we were on the way to like, I think to the grocery store. After I finished my work and I showed it to her in the car. And she was like, this is a way to finally you can't release this. You're talking about killing people in the song. No, my son can't do that. And I was like, oh man. And I went home and I started scheming. I was like, wait a minute. If my mom doesn't approve of it, it reminds me because I wasn't always home schooled. I went to a club at school. I went to point. And every time I was in, I got some new clothes from like my grandparents and stuff like that. I bought new clothes and I put together a fit for school. I knew it was fly when she didn't like it. I knew it was cool when she didn't like it. So the same thing applies to music. I knew it was a good song if she didn't like it. So I was like, all right, she doesn't like it. I'm posted on TikTok. So I sped it up even more. And this is how the sped up sound. This is what everybody knows on TikTok. Put that on TikTok and promoted it as Alvin and the shipmunks because like the pitching speed so high. Sound like Alvin and the shipmuffs. So I was like, Alvin and the shipmunks making original music and then boom, overnight. I got a million and a half years. Wow. Did you put a visual with that? Yeah. It was literally just the screen recording of band lab. Right. Right. Yeah. Like I just screen recorded it and all you see is just like the file, just the screen moving like that. Right. Yeah. With little text on the screen and people added up. It was crazy. And say those stats again overnight. It got how many? 1.3 million overnight. overnight. Right. So then you go back to TikTok and you think what? Yeah. I'm like, yo, this is happening. It's it. That's it. So after that, I literally just had a distro kiss subscription to the time. It was like it takes two days to process, put it in immediately. Two days later it comes out. I'm like, yo, the sound goes super viral again. I got another million. I have used like like 2000, 3000 people using the sound. And yeah, after that, it was just like it was up. And how long was this clip at this point? 15 seconds. 15 seconds. 15 seconds. Okay. So then what do you decide to do? I released another song. Right. Because at the same time, I made romantic homestead, I was also working on here with me. Right. I was working on here with me for about a week. That was a really long song because I made it inspired by the Disney movie up. So I watched up. I was inspired by Carl and Ellie's relationship when they get old and Ellie dies. And I was like, yo, I got to finish their relationship in a song. But the writing process for that song was weird. I pulled up that file too. The writing process for that song was weird because it's like I kept having to go back to the scene and make sure I'm getting all the emotions, right? And this is in terms of creating the emotions lyrically, describing what's happening. Exactly. Like you see, there's so many different revisions of this just July 15th, 2022, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 different revisions over the course of how many days, five days, four, yeah, one, a.m. Four, yeah, 11 a.m. 9.50 p.m. 9 a.m. Again, 7.50 a.m. 8 a.m. And like I was just working on it day after day after day, trying to get it perfect. And I just couldn't do it because it's in such a weird key. It's the first song that I had recorded where I wasn't like using auto tune on. So I kept having a re-record vocals. And this one has way more stacks. Reminds me, I'm excited at three total. This one has so much more than that. And I'm like using different stacks and actually, you know, comping vocals together and there's different spaces and stuff like that. Yeah, I'll play some of this too. But in a way, what you're concentrating on, so that the track as in the bed, the beats, the other sounds, that's all sorted in your mind. Exactly. What you're trying to do is finesse the lyrics, but then finesse the vocal sound and then the backing vocals. Right. No, so that's what you're spending all that time doing. Exactly. Really interesting. And another thing that boosted the kind of visibility for band lab as like a whole with my artistic direction for it was that there was already a bit of a community of band lab on TikTok. Everybody's promoting band labs, snippets, and stuff like that. But the reason I was able to break through I think is because of how professional my quality sounded. And that's because I was using earbuds just like everybody else, but my presets, the plugins and vocal chains that I had were so far ahead of everyone because I was actually like taking time to practice them. So I would notice. And these are all built into band lab. They are. But you can create your own. And you can mess with your own EQ, own compressors and all that stuff. So when I was looking at other artists that were in the same space and band lab, they would use the pre-made band lab filters. Like there's one ambient rock and stuff like that. Everybody would use the pre-made band lab ones and nobody would take the time to make their own. So what I did was before even starting a song, I'd listen to the track. I listened to how it sounds. I listened to like much more high-end and low-end or mid EQ. And I would make a preset for every song. So I have thousands and thousands. I should look at these. Like there's thousands of presets that I have made for different songs. And in this one particular, it's just a simple noise gate because the Apple earbuds pick up so much for that sound. A simple compressor, Bio 1176, which nobody uses anymore because they think it's outdated, but I still use it's fire. Simple D delay and the simple style EQ that comes right at. So you use that on your voice when you record to create the sound that you're after. Exactly. So you admit in a way, you've taken this tool, band lab and explored it to your advantage. Whereas a lot of people weren't playing around and not necessarily thinking, well, I can do more with this. So that's the difference, isn't it? That you spend the time, put the energy in it. Exactly. And came up with your own version of applying things. Yeah, I mean, I got to the point where people thought I was faking it. People were like, oh, there's no wisdom. band level. He's recording it in a studio and then pretending. It was like that good. Right. Yeah. Which is amazing. It's a fascinating process because you make it sound simple. Yes. Effort. There's ideas and it's interesting the different things that you're responding to. No, what's kind of motivating you to create because you're inspired by the movies you watch, the games you play. And in a way, your musical education has been through that. Yeah. I mean, it's all I had because I was homeschooled. I wasn't going outside and, you know, doing other stuff that my peers were doing when I was in school. So it's really all I had was movies, games and television. Yeah. But then that's rich world. Yeah. So much emotion to graph from that. Yeah. Yeah. Fantastic. Is there anything else to see and hear from Romantic Homicide before we move on? It's pretty much it. Yeah. It's really simple song. Okay. So a little reprise then of Romantic Homicide. From the master would be nice and then we can look at crashing. Yeah. Oh. It's a bad look. My mind. I kill you. And I didn't even read it. I can't believe I was in the game. But it's a no. I hate you. So there it is. We get there. The crunching line at the end from Romantic Homicide. And before we move on to talk about crashing, I should find out. So after the scheme, what did your mum say? Oh, man, she was happy. Right. She was so happy. I mean, like the thing is though, she didn't know that I had dropped it until like all the emails from a label started coming in. So the song already had like maybe five or six million streams, but at the time she found out I released it because she's not online. Yeah. She's like, I have ticked out. I said, I don't have necessarily. So she didn't even know until like it all like became successful. Yeah. Yeah. She didn't reprimand you. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Excellent. That's great. We're going to take a break. We're going to look at crashing next. If you're serious about songwriting and building a sustainable career in today's music industry, this is worth your attention. Starting in September 2026, Trinity Laban are launching a new master's program, the MA in songwriting built around a right produced release approach to learning. 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That's Trinity, L-A-B-A-N, dot AC dot UK and search for the MA in songwriting. The next song we're going to look at from the Withered Album by David is Crashing featuring Callie Uchis. We'll find out more about it after we hear how it all sounds first. We use sleds so don't want to be stupid, I don't want to be dumb. I know you've been going through it, but maybe I've been going through it all. It all comes crashing down. It is Crashing by David from the Withered Album and David. So this is kind of fascinating today because we're kind of finding out your story in a way. No, because with the evolution of these tracks, things are changing in your life. Having created romantic homicide and originally the initial idea was to create a sad song, potentially to use in one of your YouTube videos. People are getting a touch, people want a bit of the action, they want a part of David now. They're kind of taking you seriously as a musician and producer. This is changing presumably what you're thinking about, what your priorities are. Just the YouTube, that's not so important. Yeah, it was kind of crazy to see the dramatic shift because it was at a point where my four night videos were doing better because I was putting my own music in them and because my music was really free, allowed other creators to use my music and make money off of it as well. But then after like a month or two, I started seeing the music do better than the four night videos and people were listening to the songs more than watching the video. So I was like, man, like should I be doing four at night or should I be doing music? So that's when I moved to TikTok and started promoting myself elsewhere and started like really pushing the music farther than the four night content. So yeah. And did this tie in with your exploration of the possibilities of band lab? When you're thinking about making better music? No, I presume that was one of the things that led you to say, well, what can this app do? What is it? I was really trying to push the boundaries. I mean, even I even sent emails like before I even was connected, 'cause I'm connected to like the creator of the app now. I was literally sending them emails like, can you do add this feature and add more tracks and add more plugins? And I want this and I want that. And I saw this on Ableton. Can you add them? I was like really pushing the limits of this app like crazily back then. Right. So actually reached out to the creator and looked at other things to see what was on offer. I mean, yeah, even when I was I even looked up like, what's the best does? And I was taking ideas from those and trying to see if I can get them on band lab because I didn't want to switch. And I still use this to this day because like crashing I made this couple months ago. So I'm still using it to this day. I mean, I've been making songs here while I'm in London. So it's like in the hotel room just cooking up. But the other is like, I'll never, never switch them. Right. Just because it's so instant and user friendly. Exactly. Exactly. Ideas on the fly. Like I'll be recording snippets and ideas of songs on the car ride over here. Like it's that easy to use. Yeah. Amazing. But there is a change in the different kinds of people getting involved with you, both labels, but other musicians, producers, you know, your way of working is changing. Or is it or have you told your sister you're going to have to put your clothes somewhere else? I mean, yeah, it's funny because I started using the studio a little bit more as the years went on. And I was here in London in November to create half of the project. And I found myself even taking songs from the studio and bringing them back and recording them on band lab just to get that sound back. Because sometimes you lose a bit of the imperfections and you lose some of the authenticity from recording on such a perfect setting and such a perfect mic and expensive equipment. You kind of lose that flavor of the songs. And yeah, I just want to keep it as raw as possible sometimes. Yeah. So the mic you're using is the built-in mic on your iPhone. Sometimes I know it's the Apple earbuds. The both of them. And I also use a beta 58 sometimes with a focus right interface for background vocals and different leads and stuff. Because I found out that the mic you use, well, personally, the mic I use kind of makes the song, you know. So if I'm using the Apple earbuds, it's like a very specific kind of song, maybe some bedroom part. If I'm doing like all stuff, I use the beta 58. If I'm doing a more R&B maybe I'll use a noem in on the phone, but it's all too band lab, but it all depends on like what the vibe is for the song. Yeah, this is interesting because you have explored quite a few different styles in the way. No, your own particular style has evolved and is continuing to develop. But also there have been other projects that you've been able to be part of, like Arcane or invincible, things where you're able to like commission to come up with something that is fitting a template or a brief. It's so, yeah, I mean, I love doing that because it's so easy to do. I feel like when I was coming up in music, what I was already doing was the sound tracking and commission, I was commissioning myself essentially. So I love having a template or a rough draft or something to score any visuals. I'm looking at, I love getting inspiration from something that I'm making music for. I mean, even when I'm making these songs now, like the song I made two days ago in the hotel, I was just watching the boys on Amazon Prime. I was literally watching TV, so I was watching movies, and just like letting what's on the screen, predict the next lyric. Like I'll see somebody do something and action on screen, that's the next lyric, that's the next line, or this is the chorus. So it has this cool stuff. - Amazing. - So crashing into the next song, we're going to look at, recording Rich and Only a few months ago, you see. - Yeah, I walk into the process. Basically, after I came back from London, I was in Houston for about two weeks, and I was trying to make a song a day for two weeks on band lab just by myself in the house, and I was just playing Call of Duty. I recorded the entire process too. We documented the entire thing on camera. I was playing Call of Duty. My producer sent me some beats, three beats, and I was just playing the game, freestyleing over them, and I was trying to find melodies and stuff like that. And I heard this one, and the arrangement that got released is different than the one that I recorded because there's an extended intro in this one. I'll play it real quick for context. So this intro comes in, and then there's actually a chorus before the first verse in this version. ♪ It all comes fresh ♪ ♪ Down ♪ ♪ It all comes fresh ♪ ♪ Down ♪ And then the first verse comes in. ♪ Baby, baby ♪ ♪ I've been asleep ♪ ♪ For too long ♪ ♪ But when you wake me ♪ ♪ Say you love me ♪ And that's the kind of arrangement for the first one. This is before I thought about having Call of Duty as a feature. This was my original second verse for it too. I'll play this one. ♪ When you wake me ♪ Oh, nope, that's Call of Duty's version. Oh, that's Call of Duty's version. Hold on, where's mine? ♪ You were the only one I feel ♪ ♪ K-token to ♪ ♪ But now my mouth's closed shut ♪ ♪ Because you gave up too soon ♪ ♪ Had a one at the end ♪ But it always sounds like when there's stuff like that that's like a really low effort, you can tell I'm not even trying on them. It feels like there's something missing in terms of just flavor and elevating it and taking us on to the next level. So I reached out to Kelly. I was like, "Yo, I have this open verse for you. If you want to try anything on it," she instantly fell in love with the song. And she sent the verse back to the next day. She worked so fast. And I put it in band lab just to see how it sounded with my own presets and plugins and stuff like that. And it sounded so good. And the rest is basically history with that one. It's basically from the closet. Then after her and she records it. And then this is the first time I think I've put a major artist on a YouTube beat. That's crazy. Like, that's the power of band lab too. It's like you never know what could happen with these producers and people as you can get with online. 'Cause that's-- - Yeah, I wonder how did you connect with County? Did somebody introduce you? - She actually coasted on me a long time ago. She was singing here with me online, like 2022. And she's been a fan of the music, like just mysteriously in the background. For many, many years, she's been one of my favorite artists for a very long time. And my A&R actually connected us, Mammores. - Yeah. - And we got on the studio a couple weeks before I went to London. We tried doing some melodies in the studio together just to see how the vibes were. You know when you first meet somebody and you meet the artists and you're trying to feel like feel the vibes of how they work. And we got some cool melodies out of that. And then I was like the foundation of working history. And then this song was the second step. - Yeah, so you had that little relationship going on. You were able to just chuck something over-- - Exactly. - And see what she thought. So she-- and then you took what she sent you back and put it through your presets to create the David sound in effect. And what we're looking at and hearing, you know, this is the door that ends up on the final record. - Yeah, literally. Literally, it's like the coolest thing. - And it, yeah, I'll ask this after we've heard a bit of the vocals. Can you sell the vocals at all? - I got you. - And I named this preset after a tour. It was this Cali lead vocal preset. So whenever I'm recording any bedroom pop, I use the Cali vocal preset. - What is in the preset then? - What I'm gonna show you, too. - Things you do. - Oh, yeah. So I got the Graphi EQ. All band lab users notice when this is like the most used EQ of all time. And band lab plus 8 dB on 100 Hertz, minus 2 dB on 200 Hertz, minus 6 dB on 400 Hertz, 800 Hertz is minus 0.9. And just like all the technical stuff. And then I up the levels of bunch just to get her vocals to be on the level with the track. Simple D delay again. It's like, how do I have it? 33 milliseconds to delay on that. And then the EQ, I got a lot of high end on it because her vocals were really low end heavy when they came in. And then another compressor on top of that, take lab, and then just a regular reverb that comes in band lab. And another chorus on top of it to give it that kind of, what's the word I'm looking for like that? Super, it's like a ghostly sound that I use a lot of my vocals. Yeah. Do you have the vocal that she sent you? The wrong one? Yeah. Oh, let me see. ♪ When the world comes ♪ That already had reverb on it when it came. Yeah. ♪ And nowhere else there ♪ But it's just like super dry, some basic reverb on it. ♪ And then the difference between that and the one I added. ♪ The difference between that, just elevates it a little bit more. ♪ They played it ever by all I can't be one ♪ And then back to the wrong. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ We were ♪ ♪ Just hold me tight and don't you let go ♪ I'm going back to the track itself. We just have a bit more of that. ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ They are ♪ ♪ They believe it ever fall out like everyone else ♪ ♪ They're no, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ We were ♪ ♪ Just hold me tight and don't you let go ♪ ♪ Let go ♪ So, I mean, there's a real precision to how you set your presets. Yeah. No. How long did it take you to realize what you were doing? And a long time. I mean, in the span between releasing my first song, I'm running away and then releasing my second song, "U and I" was four weeks. So, I spent like maybe five or six hours a day for four weeks figuring out what EQ was and looking up YouTube tutorials and figuring out like what in the world music was and just figuring out how to use that in band lab. So, I just figured out what EQ is, what a compressor is, what delays, what reverb is, and how to use that. And what is the difference between a reverb on F.O. Studios was we in Ableton and different plugins and how there's not those plugins on band lab. So, I got a kind of copy the plugins that aren't available on band lab and are available elsewhere and kind of replicating that in band lab. So, everything that is popular in the major dolls, I'd have to replicate that by myself from scratch in band lab. Yeah. So, you kind of gave yourself a crash course in studio production. Essentially, yeah. Like, engineer. Yeah, engineer 101. Amazing. But clearly motivated and clearly driven because you were thinking you enjoyed this, I'm enjoying this and I want to make it better. I want to be able to use this tool that I've stumbled upon that I really like using, that it works for me, but also bring in these other things. So, how did you attempt to say, like, get to know Ableton or get to know this? I didn't. I mean, like, I never even downloaded it. I never touched it. It was just like, I'd Google it or go on YouTube and watch other people do it and be like, okay, that sounds cool. That's my turn. And then doing what people said was impossible to do on band lab and I just did it on band lab. I was like, yeah, I've been using this for so many years. It's almost trialling ever at this point. Like, I'm even finding new ways to make presets now for like alternative music. Because every single genre, I have to relearn it because there's different ways to kind of make it sound as authentic as possible and stay true to the genre itself. So, I started making a couple of rock songs. And I was listening to a lot of deaf tones in Irvana. And I was like, yo, how do I sound like Crico Abayno on band lab? How do I sound like Chino Moreno on band lab? Most people can just be like on F.O. studio, they can import a vocal chain onto their thing. But I gotta do it from scratch on band lab. So, I gotta listen to these songs and kind of mimic each and every individual plug-in. It's a fun process, though. I don't, it's not taxing at all. So, it's something you find interesting and stimulating and challenging. Literally. It's like your mind is switching into some kind of EQ zone where you're listening to something and thinking, "Hmm, that's a kind of certain kind of EQ." Maybe if I do it and this little section, I could maybe replicate that. Exactly. So, but going back to crashing, that musical, the guitar, et cetera, where has that all come from? Oh, my producer will of it. Right. So, you worked on that together at the same time. Not even like he basically prepares things for me 'cause he knows how fast I work. So. He prepares these beats for me and I just cut it in one day. - Right. - And how much of a beat will he give you? Like how long will that? - It depends. Sometimes it'll be like 20 seconds just to see if I like it if he wants to finish it. And sometimes it'll be like four, two minute, 50 seconds. So this one that he sent for crashing is originally, it was originally four minutes, 20. - Yeah. - And I cut it down, took the intro, I took the first chorus out and it ended up being three minutes and 50 at the end. - Yeah. And so he's coming up with that guitar line. - He's playing that guitar line. - All live. - Yeah, all live. Right, and just recording it, then saying, right, I'm gonna send it over to David, see what you think. - Yep. - And then are you chopping up that? I mean, I know you made it shorter, but do you really raise things? - Yeah, I do a lot of the arrangements myself. 'Cause sometimes it'll still be sent as kind of messy. I'm sorry about the earbeats that are kind of messy sometimes. And I'll use another song for reference. I did a song called, Where Did It Go Wrong? It was the first single project. And there's an outro part that I started rapping on. And the original instruments didn't have that. It was just like the guitar ends at the final chorus. So I took the chorus and then I removed the drums and then I basically got the stems from 'em, took the drums out and added another guitar on top of that, double the guitar with one of the presets I have. That's a vocal double, and I put that on the guitar line. And I was able to kind of craft this Frank Oceane sounding outro that cuts in, that wasn't originally there. ♪ If you don't say for me, maybe you like it, you see ♪ - So this is all just me, like just messing around and figuring out what I like and what I don't like. And I'm able to remove things, add things as I please. - Yeah, really interesting. And try different styles of vocalizing. - Exactly. - No, switching it up, thinking, well maybe. No, I like that sound a bit of rapping. I can do that. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think out of the box, I don't think I don't like to be confined by specific things. People think that, oh, you got a YouTube beat, like the beat is the song, and no, like reach out to the producer, get the stems and it becomes a collaboration. I collaborate with these producers, I don't have them, just make me something and that's the final thing. We're always working on it, always expanding, always adding and removing things and making this song as great as it can be. - Yeah, yeah. And do you think, 'cause ultimately this is quite do it yourself? No, you don't know any rappers, I'll do some rapping. - Yeah. - It's not like you said out. - It's be turned yourself. - I don't know any singers, I'm gonna do the singing. Do you think that's LinkedIn with the homeschooling? Do you think, no, being there homeschooled kind of in effect, doing it yourself, that's the approach you've brought to them? - Honestly, yeah. I mean, homeschooling has probably been one of the best life lessons of all time for just self-sufficiency. Like, when I was learning the band lab, I had a set out to do that myself completely. I started learning how to code by myself. Like, when I was in the early stages of homeschooling, I had to do two electives for my college credits, because when you're homeschooled, you have to kind of just build credits to be able to graduate. So I learned how to code C++ and Java for like two years. When I was making like little mini games, and I was credited towards my graduation, I learned how to build computers, which is also credited to my graduation. So, all my gaming PCs, I play games and I build those myself. And stuff like that. Like, I just love doing things and figuring things out on the fly. - Right. So you're a massive whole set of different skills. - Basically, who's supervising that? - My mom. - And how does she know all that stuff? - I mean, she doesn't. The thing is with being homeschooled is it's so lenient. Like, we had a, my name, my brother, and now my sister, we use this program called Time for Learning, which basically creates a curriculum for you. And all my mother has to do is just check in once a week. She doesn't have to teach me anything. So she's the teacher. Maybe she's the principal of the homeschool. She's not really the teacher, but we just learned everything online. So that's how we were able to just learn whatever. And we make our own hours too. So I could wake up at 12 p.m. Do my work, I wake up at nine p.m. and do my work. As long as I get something done before Saturday, which is the allocated time throughout the week. It's fine. So I had time to do music, I had time to do gaming, I had time to do montages and learn how to code and build computers. I had time to do everything. It was crazy. - Yeah, amazing, amazing. Right, we got another song to look at. We're gonna take a quick break. And then the next one we're gonna look at is you left me first. This episode is being supported by MakeNoise Pro Audio, the UK's GoTo Retailer for used studio equipment. From Neve preamps to vintage 1176s and everything in between, microphones, compressors, consoles, drum machines, outboard units, MakeNoise Pro Audio cover it all. Alongside use gear, they also sell new products from established brands such as ATC, Solid State Logic, Franklin Audio and many more. Making it the one stop shop for all your gear purchases. And if you need to free up space in your studio or fund your next purchase, MakeNoise will buy or part exchange your old gear. With next day delivery and free UK shipping on the majority of products, you can get your hands on new studio essentials and toys in no time at all. And as the take notes exclusive, they're offering listeners a 10% discount on all gear from Franklin Audio. So to find your next studio favorite, head over to makenoiseproaudio.com and use the code tapenotes10 to access your 10% discount on all Franklin Audio products. The next song we're going to look at from David's withered album is You Left Me First. I think David, you're gonna play us a blast to the Master Music. - Yep, yep, yep. Let's see it. (upbeat music) ♪ I think a strange ♪ ♪ When I call you ♪ ♪ And you don't pick up ♪ ♪ 'Cause you always do ♪ ♪ And you say ♪ ♪ You would be seen ♪ ♪ But you've never not made time ♪ ♪ You've never made time ♪ ♪ For me ♪ ♪ Why do you lie when there's no point in lying? ♪ ♪ Why do I try when there's no point in trying? ♪ ♪ You love me at the best ♪ ♪ I love you at your eyes ♪ ♪ How I run it ♪ ♪ 'Cause that when you left me first ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ - It is David with You Left Me First from the Withered Album. And how did this one start then? - This one started on me finding the files because sometimes I name these songs different names when I'm recording them and then I change the name after the fact of it being exported. So let me just find this file real quick. At first it was called Why Do I Try? Which is the first line of the course. And then we changed it to You Left Me First. This one started right after I made crashing actually. That's crazy. A day after I made crashing, I made this one. My producer Tyler Spray, he sent us to me. We do a lot of work together with Ryan Tutter. I met him through Ryan in 2023 and 2024. And me and Ryan Tutter, me, Ryan and Tyler, excuse me, did a lot of songs together for like sync and TV and stuff like that. And me and Ryan secured the song with 21 Savage for Call of Duty, the Call of Duty soundtrack. And Tyler, where are you doing that? - We did those in LA at Ryan's studio. And then this one I did in Houston by myself again. So Tyler just sends me beats on the fly. Sometimes when he makes them. - Yeah. - So when he's sending you a beat, it's kind of recently formed. It's not just a beat. That's like a time. - Tyler, so when I go to Velvet, I'm going for like things I can mess around with and things that I'm kind of like always rearranged and things like that. But Tyler is like so fundamentally interestingly trained. He always sends like the perfect structure 'cause he's just like a hit maker period. So he sends the beat as is and it's always perfect. So he's always structured out. He's structured out with the intro and then the first verse and then the chorus and then a bridge. And then the outro is like his main structure. - So he's still that old throob. You could well change all that. - I could, yeah. But it's usually so perfect. - Yeah, because it's interesting. Because your music seems to bring together lots of different genres. No, in a kind of fresh kind of way. So, and there are eras. No, there we go. It goes back through decades. Because there's almost like a do-what aspect to what you do. Especially if the way that you're layering these vocals on your own. - Yeah. - But so there's that side to it. There are bits that sound like shoegays or dream pop or but it could also has a kind of rock and roll. - Yeah, yeah. - Maybe even a little country. - Tad. - Sometimes with the guitars. And I mean, and dad, as you were saying, I mean, you have done some more upbeat things and some raw rock numbers. And it's interesting because it seems to me, maybe I'm wrong, but your musical knowledge is taken from your other interests. Your interest in movies and in games and TV. So it's like you're soaking up all that knowledge. No, and then you work out, oh, that's from there. Is it in order to get to the essence of it and work out how can I do that? - Yeah. - Then you learn about deaf tones or whatever. 'Cause I'm a sponge, like I'm an information sponge. So everything I see, I wanna do myself. Like everything I see, if I, I'm looking at like, these keyboards in here too, like how do I get a MIDI and band lab and figure out how to use the keys on band lab, like I've done that too. Sometimes I made a song a few months ago where it needed drums. So I basically just took the, the phone, Mike, and started banging on the walls for the drums. And I started like, you know, just clapping for like, snaps and stuff like that. Like, I'm really intricate like that sometimes. I really, I want to get better. Like there's always something else to learn and more instruments to be to master and things like that. But I'm gonna get there eventually, but I'm just taking my time with it right now. I'm just, we go on, taking my time with it. Yeah. And the whole goal is to realize the idea. Yeah. Whatever you've got in your head. You know, the sound that you're searching for, the emotion that you're trying to tap into. And as time has gone on, I've been spending a few years doing this now. Are you using songs to express other things that are going on in your life, maybe? Absolutely. So is this an example of that? This is too. I mean, I feel like with this project, whether the first album, it's so much different and so much more vulnerable than anything I've ever released. Because when I was home school, I made pedals with the ones of first EP. I was living vicariously through these characters. I'm watching on TV or people I'm meeting on Fortnite and things like that. You know, so to be able to step back from that and, you know, go on tour for the first time and travel the world for the first time and get in relationships for the first time and things like that. Things that I hadn't had the chance to do in my teenage years because I was just inside all the time. This project being purely about myself and my own experiences is the most beautiful thing ever because I haven't done that before. I think the fans are going to resonate with that even more as well because they haven't heard this side of the music before. It's always been like, oh, it's like basic sad music and it gets billions of dreams. But now I wonder how the music that actually comes straight from the heart is going to feel and is going to resonate with the fans too. So I'm just excited. Yeah. And having been onto it, what's the setup when you play live? Oh, the setup. I have a drummer. A drummer, Devon, and my guitarist, Mike, for right now and me. And we have a bunch of different live enhanced versions of these songs that we play live. So we take the master and we just, we go on and we over, overproduce it. I call it for live. We came up with the live version of romantic homicide from that and it's been the most viral thing of all time. I remember I was on a scissors when we played it for the first time on the scissors stage and there's this note at the end where I built crazy the chorus and it went viral. 13 million of you was every time we posted. It was so crazy. Wow. And so you're transforming into a performer. Was there a performance aspect to doing the YouTube thing? No. Yeah. I don't get nervous when I go on stage because I've been this performative person my entire life. I've been able to be on camera and just fool around all the time and not care. So yeah, I mean, that's been great for doing stuff like this too. Interviews like I'm able to like interact with cameras. I'm able to kind of like hold the conversation and things like that. You know, all there are is to be terrified. I don't have anxiety. Like I don't care what people think about opinions and stuff like that. So, you know, when did you first start YouTube? I started YouTube really early like 2017, 16. So you're like, 17? Yeah. I was really young. I started doing Minecraft content because that Minecraft was really big back then. I always just record on my phone and my voice was so, I got to find a video too. My voice was so high, but like, I'll find it because I want to find it. I was so crazy. And I was doing Minecraft content for a bit. Then I Fortnite came out and that was the big hit and I was on Fortnite. But let me find this real quick. It is David here from Viper and oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, it's your Brian. It is here, Rob Ryan. Oh my gosh. It's amazing hearing you. I mean, you as a little kid. Yeah, literally, man. It's fascinating. It's such a different kind of, well, story to a lot of the standard musician stories. But this is the way. This is the new way that people are being able to utilize this technology to their advantage and in effect, develop themselves. No, this is something that you wouldn't have predicted this whole David Rockstar musician vibe. Literally. So tell us about you left me first. So you're telling us about Tyler created the music. Let's go through the track and see what else you did. Yeah. So, it's super simple again. The only thing that has stacks and layers is the chorus. So it starts out with this first verse. I think it's strange when I call you and you don't pick up because you're always still as you say. Just freestyle on it. Have you found that you're getting more confident as a vocalist? Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, and this one is really laid back, just because the production is very laid back, but one of the, it's time to send it. Actually, at the end, I might play you guys like a London exclusive that I made two days ago. That would be great. I'll play you guys some stuff. Just never, never, not many time for me. Why do you lie when there's no point in lying? Had singing been a part of your life in any other way? You know what? Yeah. For a very short while, though, I was in church choir when I was about seven, gave up on that. And, uh, after over the year, my mom tried to get me into piano lessons. I gave up on that like two weeks after that too. So music has been a part of my life in various errors, but I'm never stuck to it. I was also in middle school band before I got homeschooled in sixth grade. I played the flute band. So it's, it's common gone and then it stuck when I started making it. Yeah. Yeah. What else should we look at for him? You left me first. And there's another voice at the end. Oh, yes. The, um, added voicemail. So there's an extra layer that I added throughout the album where you hear like little voice bice and things like that. Uh, cannot disclose who the voice is because copyright. But, um, just, you know, sound bites and things to add an extra layer of authenticity and storytelling to the project. And there's an interlude as well. Um, a main motif of the album is the invisible string theory, the Korean ideology, the invisible string theory. And I have this alter ego called it Tommy, which means pain in Japanese where everybody's connected from this invisible life force that connects you to either your soulmate or friends you meet or people you encounter in your life. And I flipped that for this story as in everybody is connected to e Tommy, my old ego who was like the agent of chaos in my entire aesthetic. Um, you see him in various music videos. You'll pop up and he's basically like the evil version of me. And he's kind of garnered this cult that followed after him. And in the one more dance music video, you followed a relationship of two of the cult members and they're going around with me and the trunk to bury me after I died. And they're just like wreaking havoc on the city. And that's the kind of cool, like, piece to show just like the layers that I have to this lore and this world building that I'm doing leading up to this album. So I've been working on it for years to so it's kind of amazing to see it come to fruition in music. So these bigger ideas, these conceptual pieces, it was always going to be part of what you were going to do. And I mean, when I wrote a Tommy into just like existence, he was originally for a manga because I'm big into anime and stuff like that. So I was going to make a comic book in a manga. And I just like had it in the vault for a long time. And then once music started, I made the romantic homicide music video. And I was like, this is where we have to bury them. I feel like because it's a huge opportunity to capitalize on something that I had for many years and didn't have a place for. But the music was doing so well and I didn't do a music video yet. It was so cool to kind of be able to express that finally and it stuck with the fans and it stuck with me. So he's here to stay. Yeah. Fantastic. And it's really interesting because you're interested in that. Now, who knows what will happen in the future? Right. Exactly. Because you're going to be making your own movie really. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I just get that sense that these bigger plans will emerge. Yeah. I mean, Charles Gambino is doing it. Donald Glover is doing it with his movies. His next album is going to be soundtrack in the project. He's putting out. So yeah, I'm excited. I'm inspired by so many things. I just can't wait to put things in motion. So crazy. Fantastic. We've got some questions. We ask everybody who comes on tape. Notice our own questions. We also have some questions from Patron. Oh, far. But before we go into those, maybe let's have a blast of the end of you left me first. Gotcha. Maybe a little snippet that goes into the voice. The message. [Music] I sound so stupid right now, but I've been so selfish and I can't stop thinking about you and what I did and how it's affecting like everything. I just want to say, I'm sorry. I really am sorry. When we listen to the album, is there a story? Is there a through line? There is definitely a through line from start to finish. The great thing about that is I'm actually doing a merch piece, not a merch piece, but like I did a journal where I documented the behind the scenes of every song and the motivations and the back stories behind each track in detail, which is going to be released very, very soon. And it kind of goes into the background behind the voice mails and also the answer to the word where I'm having the conversation about the invisible string theory and all that kind of stuff. So it's all going to be like contextualized in the future, which is going to be really awesome to see. Fantastic. Right. into our own questions, a few from some of our patrons. Spencer says, "Your song there goes, my baby has had me curious about your songwriting process. The hook is so infectious, it's such a near worm." When you start your writing process, what takes priority at first? That's a good thing. I mean, I can walk you through a more recent song for this one, because this is a good segue into that. So two days ago, I got sent another beat pack, a London beat pack. And I'll just sit in a hotel room at like 3 a.m. in the morning. And usually when I hear a beat first, I usually think of what background vocals go under this to lead me into hook. Because melodies, there's so many songs out there, and so many things have been done already. But when I'm working on melodies, I kind of think of what has been and what has been done and what strikes nostalgia. So when you listen to romantic homicide, it sounds like it was made in the '80s. You know, when you listen to it here with me, it sounds like an old song. So how do I make things sound old, but also sound fresh? So I go straight to the chorus usually. I hum, hum, hum, hum, through the verses. And once the chorus hits, once the instrumental lifts up, is that's when I start like saying real words and stuff like that. So this is a song I made two days ago. And you hear the background vocals and these verses right here. But all the stacks, these background vocals, these came first before anything else. I might solo them for it. So those usually come first every time. And then the chorus, once the instrumental lifts up. And then that's the chorus. And then I'll skip the first verse completely and go straight to the second verse. Because I know why like right now I'm in like that. Like you said, featuring myself. So if I want to find a rapper, I'm the rapper at that point. So now I go straight into the second verse. Audio is coming out. But you get the idea. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that's kind of upfront exclusive stuff that is still at an idea stage. Yeah. We really still know that there's London beats. Exactly. Amazing. Exciting. Rodrigo says, I know you used to be big on typebeats. What was your process when searching for typebeats on YouTube and what advice would you give to producers that are posting typebeats looking to inspire more artists? What makes you click on one versus the other? And what makes you actually want to write to one versus another? Love crashing. Shout out to Velvet. Oh, well. That's a really good question. I feel like three years ago was way easier because the algorithm on YouTube was much more condensed and much more to the point. If you searched up a Steve Lazy type beat, you'd get a Steve Lazy type beat nowadays. You search up a Steve Lazy type beat and the type beats that pop up are not even close to his sound. So I guess for me, I'm a very visual person. I like producers that really put effort into their thumbnails. So if I search up like slow core bedroom pop Billy Irish type beat and the thumbnail is like some random person frallicking through a field. Like that's the vibe. I want the thumbnails to tell me what the vibe of the beat is. If it doesn't match, it's not getting used. So I like things that give you visual cues and insights to what the actual sound is before I click on them. So that's how I click on them. It depends what makes me right on it is basically how the beat sounds in my head before I click on it. I have a preconceived notion of what the sound is going to be like. And if it's not what I was envisioning in my head, I won't use it. Sean says Sean Turkel says the piano in this is how it feels is beautiful both in terms of sound and composition. Was that recorded live in a studio or did you use a VST or a library for this is how it feels. This is how it feels. This all feels all live. All live. I did that in the room with Leyve and Spencer Stewart. A very, very amazing producer and Leyve played the piano on that actually. Leyve did the piano. Right. Yeah, we were freestyle on that. I think we have a video too of the entire process of that song, but she was just not piano. And then I just freestyle the chorus and then she did the verses and I was like, "Yo, this is the song. It's done at that point." So yeah, it's all live from Leyve. Amazing. Jake says, "What is your favorite band lab effects?" Favorite band lab effects. Right now, my favorite effects have to be, I'm in that alt space, so I'm going to give you some real grunge stuff. I'm using a lot of the vintage limiter for that fuzz effect. And then I'm also using buzz face for that really grungy sound. I'm also using stereo wise to put the vocals in both ears at the same time. And I'm using the univirb reverb right now. Interesting. So we ask everybody who comes on tape notes, you know, what equipment can't you work without? What would you, you know, if I was a fire, what would you run out of the house with as it were? But I'm kind of thinking you've already answered that question. Yeah, just the phone. It's the phone and band lab. Oh, well, yeah. Yeah, so that, the other question we love to ask people is about advice. So you're at a really interesting position now where it's really blowing up massively. No. And have you received any advice? Have you learned something in the last few years that you say to yourself? Maybe? Or only piece of advice I really got was SZA when I was on tour and she just told me to stay true to myself, which is, you know, cliche, but hearing it from someone who has done it and is living proof of being herself the entire way through has kind of just like opened my eyes to a whole new thing because I am an artist that can do every genre at any point in time. And sometimes it's not the right idea and not a good idea to do that even when you can is learning discipline in your own music and learning what to do and what not to do even when you can do it. It's like when I was making the first three versions of Withered, it was it started as an R&B project and then involved into pop because I was listening to too much Sabrina Carpenter and then it turned into a whole bunch of different things. But then as soon as I heard that, but my mind was like, yeah, wait, that's not me. I have to go back and listen to my own music and listen to what made me me and go back to band lab and just like start from the ground up and that's when I really clicked from you was to just stay true to my own sound and keep evolving that because I don't have to switch my sound to get better at it. I can just completely re-envision the way that I view that same sound and that's where it is. Yeah, it's amazing what you've achieved just from just using your phone and your sister's closet to take going to on tour with Sizzar. It's interesting the trust that people are putting in you. Just how do you think you communicate the fact that you can trust your vision, your talent? Because to go out and support somebody as big as Sizzar is a big ask, but you stepped up. Yeah. I mean the proof is in the pudding. I feel like people just, I mean especially Sizzar, Sizzar calls on me a long time ago too. She was on a billboard interview and she shot them y'all because she was listening to my music and the way she found my music was super cool too. She was on a trip with her friends in Hawaii and she was at a surf shop and my song was playing at the surf shop and she asked the cashier who was playing and he said me and that's how she found my music. So I guess it's just like believing in things you like at that point because yeah, it's kind of crazy from her perspective too. Like I make music on my phone. I've never played in a arena like that. Like there's low key. Most people would be set up for failure at that point because it's like what do you do? But I'm able to adapt to so many different situations and I was able to take advantage of that opportunity for 100%. So yeah, I can't be prepared. Yeah, it's just fascinating because in some ways this setup with a few cameras talking to me that's normal for you. But stepping out into an arena stage and performing to thousands and thousands of people, that's not normal. Yeah, because at that point the biggest venue on Play2 was like 500. So one from 500 to 20,000 is like man, I was but I wasn't scared though. We had we made vlogs throughout that tour and behind the stage every time I'd have to go out. I'd just be tracking jokes backstage before going out to all these people and it was so amazing because they were all fans of my music too. Me and Sizzis fan bases are like this. Right. So every time I go out they sing the words. They're holding up for flashlights so you know, they're engaged. Nobody's on their phones. Like it was so beautiful. And then like even the people that didn't know me, they knew the songs. They didn't know me, but then it was a song. So I'd see like maybe half of the crowds, turn off their flashlights and instantly Google who this is. And then I'd get like a bunch of followers overnight just because of people finally recognizing that that's the guy that made this song and that song. So it was cool. Right. Brilliant. And what a great thing that Sizzis did that in a way. You know, these people know your music. They already know you, but she introduced them. Exactly. Thank you Sizzis. Yeah. So good. David, thank you so much for coming in here. It's been absolutely fascinating. Such an exciting process and approach to things you've got. And I think it's going to be really inspirational for so many people. Me too. I think we should play another track from the album, an outro track. Another little taste of David for people's appetite. What should we go for? You know what? Let's play a more upbeat one. Play a little bit of upbeat. The song is called What are you waiting for? I've seen from a car. I thought I wouldn't feel a thing. I think it's getting cold now. I want to get close to you. I swear that we've been here before. Thank you for listening. And in particular, thanks to all of you who have signed up to supporters on Patreon. I'm just one part of the team that brings you take notes and it relies on your support. Access to Patreon includes the full length videos of new episodes where possible. Add free episodes and detailed gear lists among many other things. If you'd like to join, head to the link on our socials or website. The pictures I like clips and behind the scenes content head to our Instagram. Instagram or YouTube channel and on Discord you can join the growing take-no-to community. Once again thank you for listening until next time. [Music]