TN:172 Artemas & Toby Daintree

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Kicking off Take Notes 2026, I caught up with Artemis and producer Toby Daintree to dig into some of their biggest hits as well as tracks from Artemis's latest album Love a Core. For those of you who are not online so much, Artemis is behind some of the biggest viral hits over the last few years, notably if you think I'm pretty and I like the way you kiss me. To watch the full video of the podcast, head to the Take Notes Patreon page at patreon.com/takenotes and you can also watch highlight videos from the episode on YouTube. Thank you to all of you who have joined our new Patreon tickets here, Extended Players Premium. January's gear giveaway are a pair of Neumann NDH30 headphones along with our IME plugin for reference quality immersive monitoring. If you'd like the chance to be in the running for that prize as well, join us on Patreon on the new Extended Players Premium tier. Thank you also to our partners at TapeIt, the iPhone recording app designed specifically for musicians. But now, without further ado, let's get started. This episode is being supported by TapeIt, the iPhone recording app for musicians. As many of the fantastic artists and producers on TapeNotes have mentioned, recording voice memos field recordings and capturing ideas on the go is crucial to the creative process and TapeIt makes it effortless. With TapeIt, you can record straight from your lock screen. Capture ideas and stereo, choose between multiple recording formats, drop markers to highlight key moments and create shared mix tapes with friends and collaborators. You can even view your recordings on a map so you'll always remember where inspiration struck. Whether it's a quick melody or a full song idea, TapeIt helps you stay creative without the clutter. So, click the link in a recent episode show notes or head to TapeDotit forward slash TapeNotes to download TapeIt for free. And for even more, check out TapeIt Pro and use promo code TapeNotes for 20% off. That's TapeDotit forward slash TapeNotes. Now on with the show. Hello and welcome to TapeNotes, 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 TapeNotes is Artemis and producer Toby Daintry to talk about how they wrote recorded and produced the album Love a Core. Artemis is a singer, songwriter and producer from Oxfordshire. His first steps in music came when he began learning the piano age six, but it wasn't until he saw a documentary about Kurt Cobain at the age of 16 that he set his sights on being a musician. Teaching himself music production, he began to release his blend of dark alternative pop in late 2020. With his debut album, I'm sorry I'm like this, arriving in 2022. In 2023, he broke through globally with the track If You Think I'm Pretty Going Viral and setting the stage for his rapid ascent. That momentum carried into 2024, with the mixtape Pretty and Justina, before I like the way you kiss me, became his second viral smash. Named one of the most ubiquitous songs of 2024, the track hit Number One in eight countries and has had billions of streams worldwide, including almost 1.5 billion on Spotify. Continuing to build on his intense and cinematic production style, Artemis' fourth release Love a Core was released in October 2025, working alongside longtime collaborator producer Toby Daintry. Toby Daintry is a British songwriter, producer and multi instrumentalist. Classically trained in jazz guitar at London's Guildhall School of Music, Toby met Artemis after joining his band. The pair quickly formed a close creative partnership, writing together daily and developing a long-term collaboration. In addition to contributing to all of Artemis' viral tracks, Toby has co-written and produced his last three releases. In 2024, Toby signed a global publishing deal with Warner and has since worked with artists including FKA Twigs, Devon Workman, Jesse Fink and Joy Crooks. Today, I'm at Baltic Studios and I'm joined by Artemis and Toby, and what better way to start than by hearing something from Love a Core? Opening the album, this is Love a Core and Superstar. Love a Core. (Music) Love a Core. (Music) So that is the day one demo. (Music) That was the day one. (Music) And then you said you used a phone app to speed it up? Yeah, I don't know. I really wanted to share it. We were pretty much in the studio 10 hours a day, every day at the time. It was like in the baby stages of us working together and everything just felt so exciting. And I didn't want to wait to post it, but it felt a little bit slow. So I had this app on my phone called CatCut where I literally just sped it up in there and that's why the voice is. Do you have that version? I can show you how to do it. Well, I just interested to know what the difference is in terms of the sound. I think at the bottom here, I can do it on the Ableton as well. So it starts here. (Music) Which is already sped up one, the vocal, right? I think the vocal is up one up there. Yeah, we do a lot of like tricks with like changing the. This is plug and cord, very speed. Hold on, let me just. Yeah, one thing at a time. But yeah, okay, so it's not that complicated. We just like sped up the song on my phone and I posted it and then I don't know people connected with that. Yeah, I'm just intrigued to know what that sounded like. (Music) This is up one Semitone, which I think is where it lands, right? I think another one. Up another one. That's mental. This is where it's at, yeah, yeah. So this is what you shared on TikTok. This is what I shared on TikTok. And then you're kind of just stuck with that as a result. Yeah, and how much did you share? How much? Just that section? I think up to the second chorus. Yeah. Which was kind of nice. It's really fun to go. It's happened to us twice where I've shared like. Usually what happened is I'll go like drinking after the session and then I'll be just like in the Uber bag or in my way back home and I'll be like, "This sounds so amazing. I'm just going to post it." And then. Yeah, and then I'm stuck singing these songs for the rest of my life. And was there a visual to go with it? I either just post a picture of my face or like, yeah, it's very basic. I think with this one as well, we'd had a couple before where we'd had something do kind of well on TikTok. And then we'd go back into the session and then we'd be like, "All right, this bass is weird. I've always had it at this bass. We're going to change it. Just lead things kind of weird. We change it." And then we upload it and it's like completely different tempo. So this one would. Yeah, people get annoyed if you change the snippet. They're giving people demoitis. But I remember thinking like, the bass on this, like when we did it, we're definitely going to change this. It sounds like I don't know, like a fart. I don't know. I felt like a little like EDM or something. It was exactly, it was like perfect. And I wouldn't change it now. But yeah, I don't know. It's just like, it's really fun to finish a song when you know that people are excited about it. Yes, that kind of messes up for a bit. After this song and then after, I like the way you kiss me. When we went to finish the project after that, last time we finished a piece of music, it was the most viral song in the world. And suddenly, we had to. It was the only song. It was like, "What's this?" But it was kind of annoyed with this song. Because we kind of, when we got back into the studio the next day, to finish it, it was a pretty easy process. And I think we were basically done in like an hour. I'm getting everything. And then I felt like, "God, we need to do more." Because it seems that, I mean, from the initial snippet that you played us, I mean, a lot of the elements are all in there. And so, you shared then that sped up version, went back into the studio to like officially finish this. But you'd already shared it, so people were getting a taste of it. So what happened next in terms of explain how you built the song, or built the rest of the song? Okay, so the first thing we did was pitch it up. Right, who are we gonna just start that? And then I think I pitched it up, and then the verses I recut in like my natural normal voice. Which is kind of cool to it that like the hook has that kind of ethereal quality to it. And then like, I know it just makes it poke out a bit more. Yeah. But yeah, like you said, like all the elements were kind of already there. But it was just kind of giving them more, we just, I just wanted it. Because we knew that like a lot of people were excited for it. We really wanted like each section to be like we kind of wanted to show off a little bit. And I don't know if there's like this kind of like drop at the end. And we kind of wanted to just show off some of our like production chops of all what we've been doing at the time. Yeah, when you said you changed the bass that you weren't happy with the bass. No, we, so we kept the bass. Right, okay. You can see in the project there's like a bunch of different like basses we tried. I think there's like 808s that we tried that weren't hitting. Yeah. If I can find them. It's not even a cheer. This is the main bass. It's from this like, and at the time I did like I didn't really have many plugins. I think this is something that we use anymore. This Anna plugin. I don't know who you use it since. Yeah, but it was just some random farty bass sound. And then, um. And it's this on the laptop that you're working on R.T. Yeah, it was, yeah. It might crap old retina display MacBook. And, um. Should I play like all the individual? Yeah, that would be great. Yeah. Cool. There's literally like two elements in the intro. It's just like this lead thing. Which is just playing octaves. And then there's just like an automated auto filter, which just kind of moves around. And then like takes you to the next section. That was like the first thing that was played, I think. Yeah. I think that's a kind of fax machine quality. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But true and full. I think one of the like weirdest things about the songs is this like really like poorly mixed, like heavy breathing that I'm doing. Kind of sound like a just a Jack Russell or something. Or a steam train. It's supposed to be sexy. Yep. It's quite awkward being in the room. Yeah, really. And you know what, this was actually quite an important song just like for me like lyrically. Because I don't think I'd been so like overtly horny before. And now it's kind of just like a staple of what this artist project is. But I think once this song did its thing, I was like, okay, I'm going to double down. Yeah. I felt good. So I'm going to just keep going. Another thing I remember about it is that the vocals were like I originally did it in like a kind of low. Just like if you think I'm really and then I did they were background vocals and they were really rough. I don't think I could even hear myself at the time because my laptop was like so old and slow that I couldn't monitor without there being loads of latency. Vocal that's like I think the delivery is like one of the reasons it's so sticky was just I wasn't even I couldn't even hear myself. And like it's funny like just on the latest project how many takes I'll do for something and just this this is like my second biggest song. And yeah, like should we hear that again? Yeah, yeah. And then like the vocal chain is completely mental as well like an auto filter rolling off high end. Yeah, so here's the raw if you think I'm pretty vocal I'm a bit nervous about this. I sound like a little boy. But yeah, so those were just I mean they're not like lined up ones like panned. Is that like 12 I can't read it. I don't know 13 or something. 13 and one to the left one like the random number to the right. So this is how little thinking was going into it. But you know I think it's important to like just go if something sounds good. I think that's important to just if something's feeling good not to mess with it. Definitely. I mean it is clear that what you're doing is experimenting and enjoying what you're doing. And just keen to move on and keep going. Yeah. And why fiddle too much. And you're searching for the sound in a way the sound that is exciting you. Yeah, I think like when I was younger I would spend like ages like tweaking like taking out frequencies of vocals and thinking I was doing loads and using loads of random plugins. But nowadays I try to just switch off that part of my brain helps I got Toby as well who I know is like keeping half like an eye on that kind of thing. But I try and be very like just listening to like the core of what the song is and how it's making me feeling rather than that. But in a way did you need to go through that face of coming around the other side. Absolutely. I needed to also like like spend all of my money on like plugins that I then that didn't work for me to like realize that like actually I just like a lot of this is just like stock able to and stuff. And I think we used so I'll go I'll go through the chain was this was this on that was on it's not doing anything. Okay. So we got a glue compressor doing nothing and then to carpet it to which is kind of like. We pretty much will put it on everything like sometimes it's like I'll go to like. I don't know. It just gives it there's something about it. It just makes it sound everything sound pretty good and pretty in your face quite quickly. So that's some EQ taking out some low and another glue compressor which I don't like it's that's it's like a boss compressor right. Yeah, and it's just like adding on volume honestly and like a small bit of reduction but yeah. Kind of grace and in this limit is going dummy. And then this filter in the intro just to give it like I don't know. So that when it opens up here. When you couple that with some heavy breathing at the center. Oh, the sense they're doing a lot of work. That's true. Let's see what's on the sounds. Okay, there we go. We got some echo boy. We love sound toys. vocal doubler. This is like some parallel warmth compression. We love this plugin. At the time we were using this a lot. It just makes I guess the idea is it makes things sound like a mellotron. It's like a tape. Yeah. There's like this session is literally like there's like a decapitate echo boy and like mellify. Yeah, and like maybe a couple of other plugins. It's so minimal. Yeah, but all on the vocal chain. So yeah, so so then you get to the music at the same time so that there's only underneath all of that. Yeah, what were you doing there? And you mentioned that you were going to showing off at the end. You wanted to show off some of the production that you've been working on. So we need to hear hear that. Absolutely. I mean, should we talk about anything actually show in the guitars in the second chorus and the lion. Oh, the lion's cool. Yeah, show in the guitars first there. There's a little like vocal chop here, which is doing a lot of the work. Yeah. Which kind of two bitches just moving around simply. Shouldn't there like guitars in there? Yeah, so there. Let's be able to find them. It kind of ends with these big guitars. The like guitar chain is literally decapitated. Echo boy. Mellify. And then like a little, actually a lot of Sue. It just sounds like when you're not like amping guitars, it just like covers like the whole frequency range because it's like kind of a filter, I guess. Yeah. So that was like a big thing for our sound, I think, which is using like these like literally just DI guitar with loads of decapitated. And like, you know, just making it. It sounds like modern, but still like crunched out. Still sounds like rocky or something. Yeah. So a lot of the guitars are like that. There's this other guitar, which kind of sits under the whole track quite nicely. It's just like super pitched down. Yeah, these are just pitched down guitars going through. Echo boy, literally just echo boy. There is like it's such it's such a weird like meld of genres in the song. It's like this kind of sleazy R&B song with them. This is like grunge qualities. Yeah. Yeah. And then the drums are mixed with break and trap drums. It was we were just, man, we were just throwing paint at the wall and it just felt really good. The break is so. Yeah. So decapitated is really destroying. Yeah. It's like taking off all the higher and basically without decapitated sounds like this. Without the break, it's just, there's like no momentum, you know? Yeah. So yeah, it was just like, it's just really simple elements. Yeah. Each element is just kind of like, I mean, literally on this session, it's just like decapitated just giving it like compression and making it sound super saturated in your face. So when you got the bass, you got the vocal line and you got a beat. And then were you playing those guitars like responding to the music? Or would you do them in isolation or you know, how I remember recording these guitars. I remember just like, I'm like a big like, I was like a jazz guy. And I love these like high, like, we're the voicings. And I was like, we're listening to like Steve Lacey at the time. Yeah. And like, we're trying to find like a task like that, which no, I think like voicing wise, they're probably similar, but sound world is definitely very different. Yeah. I think it came pretty quickly. I doubt I spent like actual like time, like writing the song more than like 25 minutes. Really? Like if I'm just like, I mean, it's very short. It's like at the time we were doing a lot of like these kind of like half songs. They were kind of more vibes, which is what I think is kind of the charm of the record, but we were, it's like a hook, a very short verse, a pre a hook, an outro. It's like, is it like two minutes, something two minutes, but yeah, I don't know. It does. It's kind of annoying because like, there'll be these moments and they're obviously big moments in my set. And you do just wish that you could sit in the vibe. If that's what I do is I just do a like strip down version. And then I play the real thing. Right. So I can maximize the. Yeah, that's a really good idea. And it's really interesting how the whole thing evolved and how, no, clearly you were excited about what you were doing. Yeah, thought, right, let's share this, shared it. And then thought, oh, wow, people are actually interested. We need to finish this. And what do we need to do? But you kind of kept some of the elements that you in effect randomly chose when you shared it. Yeah, yeah, you sped it up, right? In that spur of the moment, really, you thought there's so many things that in this song that probably make it special that had had we had like months to think about it. Like all I'm talking about, all I'm saying is if you think I'm pretty lay your hands on me. Like, I don't need to go. There's not how many angles are there. Yeah, it doesn't need a big bridge and we're like a core change or whatever, you know, it's just like it is what it is. But it's really interesting because I think, you know, because the voice shifts. Yeah. And it could be a, you don't know what the gender is necessarily because of singing it. I'm going to obviously know who Artemis is and we've got a sense of who Artemis is. But at the same time, just to hear those sounds, it could be. I think there is this like, I'm not, obviously not comparing myself to him, but I think there is like some print seen us in like this song, just like how it's got this like androgynous feeling to it. You don't know, like a lot of people did genuinely thought I was a girl singing. Yeah. It happens quite a lot on my songs and I don't know. It was just like, it was so important for me for my confidence this song. Because I was kind of, I'd been like toying with the idea of that these like sexual themes like in my music. I hadn't really put anything out at that point. And then once it did, it's just something. I've always like say like there's just something really nice about saying this shit that you've never say out in public, but like singing it in a nice falsetto. Yeah. And over a, over a distorted beat. It's just like, yeah, it's the important moment for us. Yeah. Fantastic. And it is really interesting. It is really interesting that you say that just because in a way, no, we listen to music. And we accept certain things that people say in song that we wouldn't necessarily accept in everyday life. Like if you were to look at Toby and start saying, if you think I'm pretty lay your hands on me, you know, then you, I'd change the mood in the room. Yeah. How did you find it when I first started breathing heavily into a microphone and singing about my dick? So normal now. It's so wild. So okay with it. It's really, but it has a power, doesn't it? And it is because it's almost as if you're breaking a little bit of a taboo there. You're opening up in such a way that we wouldn't do in normal life that we connect and get excited by in song. Yeah. Well, before this, I think I was making a like type of music that I was supposed to make because I was like, I don't know from, from the UK. And I don't know, I was, but I had been making these like kind of more out there kind of dark R&B songs on the side. And I remember like playing my new music to people and then playing them this like dark R&B I was doing at the same time. And like all my friends were like, why didn't you putting this other stuff out? It's like way more exciting. And that was like a, and then when this happened, it was like, okay, this feels, this feels right. This feels more authentic to me. And I like it the music being kind of like a bigger version of myself, you know, another like I like it being an escape and it not have to be so like reliant all the, sometimes I'm a real dickhead in the music. And I don't feel like I'm in real life, but it's fun to like play these characters. And I don't know, go to parts of my subconscious or like a different part of myself that maybe I like don't put out on it. And put out on a day-to-day basis. Yeah. Yeah. The dark, lethario, Romeo character. Maybe. Yeah. Fascinating. Yeah. We should have a quick blast to the end. And then we can move on to the, to the next one we're going to look at. And then we can move on to the next one. He silly. I like it now. He's feeling himself there. And there's a laugh as well in there. Everything can put it. I think I don't think I thought I sounded good there. Maybe I did. I think I was like, wouldn't it be funny? If we stuck that in, it's a couple of beers to an hour. I'm terrible. It sounds great. And it's interesting now that you've explained some of the things that you can hear. Some of those tasteful jazz chords coming in near the end. Yeah, those chords. Yeah, they're crazy. Excellent. Right. So that is if you think I'm pretty by Artemis, we're going to take a quick break and we'll be back to look at, I like the way you kiss me. Oh, yeah. If you're a regular listener and want to become a regular watcher, we post full and free video episodes on Patreon. You'll be able to see the studios where we're chatting to each artist and look into their sessions with screen capture of their door. To find out more, head to patreon.com/tapenotes. The next song we're going to look at by Artemis is, I like the way you kiss me. But before we do, I've got a couple of questions via Patreon that I want to ask because they seem really pertinent to some of the things we've been discussing already. The first is from Dirt Flirt, who says, "My name is Dirt Flirt. I'm an artist making pop music in my bedroom trying to get the world to notice. What advice do you have for getting over the self-doubt when it feels like you're being ignored or overlooked by the industry?" And in a way, Artem, you kind of referred to that. You said you had a period of time, a few years where you were making music and nobody was listening. About three years before my music started taking off, I had this little exciting period of industry hype around me. I ended up signing a publishing deal. I did the whole industry thing. I released an EP with a distributor at the time. We made some music videos and listened to every piece of advice I was getting in the industry and absolutely nothing worked. It wasn't until I had a Eureka moment and I started working with this fella over here. I just completely ignored that and stopped trying to get on Spotify playlist and just decided I was just going to put stuff out there into the world and be consistent for the first time and not overthink every element that I started doing that, just putting stuff out consistent. It was pretty immediate of people started taking notice and I don't think is it Dirt Flutter. Dirt Flutter, I wouldn't wait around to get, you don't need the industry. The industry will naturally get involved as soon as there's people listening to your music. I may be I'm like delusional and maybe I don't appreciate how lucky I got that I feel like it's very music-led and if you're making stuff that really connects with people just naturally with how the internet works, people are going to find it. Essentially what you have to do as a new artist when you're putting a music out, you have to make stuff that stops people in their tracks because they're scrolling on their phone all day long. And you've got like you've got to make something that's just pretty instantly like wow what's this and I think yeah the industry I'm not going to be able to magic that for you. No offense industry. Yeah but that's really I mean Ren also asks is there anything you actively do within your music to get attention or for your music online. I think naturally like look the obvious like answer is if you want a song to blow up it has to be like you know it's got to work so that there's like a section of it that's very very like eye grabbing. And I think making sure that your song has like some moments in it but I think it's just like classic he's just got to be classic like good songwriting sticky stuff. I think that like this era of like TikTok or like Instagram being the kind of like new radio where people find music is like there's much less constraints than in the past when it had to fit on radio. And it's like it's a good thing but yeah you've just got you've got to make sure that your songs have big moments in them and you know I think it's like a lot of a lot of what makes a song is is the reason why something pops off yeah so like. You get like an old song that pops off because it's got this like big moment yeah and then you know like it's like TikTok edits suddenly of like. You know just like we're just sharing it and yeah so it's like there's a lot of crossover of like writing something for TikTok and then writing something that's good and I think we kind of came. The conclusion that it's kind of just writing to try and write something good yeah that stuff will happen and I think the mindset we had at the time of just like when we showed you that first if you think I'm pretty session it's a mess and like we it's the we didn't know. How to mix songs professionally we didn't know what monitoring was and we were kind of just winging it but I think those like the fact that we were breaking those rules and the reason. Like the fact that I can't I don't know how I didn't know how to mix a vocal at the time is what gives it that sound and yeah you don't like you got to get out of that like. Like analytical part of your brain I think a little bit when you're in the creative process and like especially when you're making something you just got to let it happen like. Otherwise you're just going to stop yourself from maybe creating some magic and but I don't really fucking know anyway. But it is really interesting and people are obviously going to turn to you and look for answers because things are really going well and you you managed to connect with a lot of people and think oh wow what's the magic ingredient now what does. But ignoring the industry and like having that big because there was I had it there was a real moment where I was kind of down bad about like where I think I just wasn't enjoying the music I was making as well. And I made an active decision to just ignore like all the advice I was that was being given to me at the time and like the industry is just like they'll show up there as soon as you're as soon as people are listening to your music again. And but like honestly like the even like I like the way you kiss me it was all like super organic I think it was already the most viral song in the world before there was like a penny spent on marketing it just like the internet's crazy now you know things can move. But concentrate on writing a hooky song that kind of like like I just like my taste as well like of course I'm going to try and write like a cookie song or sometimes and I think yeah there was no I think we definitely allowed when we were as we'll get into in a second. But I kiss me like started is this like half time slow vibe and then I said the line and we just allowed it to become this like up 10 per thing didn't stop us I didn't get too married to anything. Yeah, I've kind of forgotten what that was talking now. Yeah, well, I guess I mean, I understand the question. When you went through a phase, you know, the insecurity of kind of listening to or not having any feedback and not getting any reaction and people just that's difficult. Yeah, I don't when I see like new artists that are like promoting their music for the first time is sometimes it's amazing, but it can feel like you're kind of shouting at the clouds of it, but you just go you've got a power through it. Like I genuinely think that the people who get some kind of thing going they just have thick skin with that and are happy to go through that stage and it's terrible and I hated it so much. I didn't really play very many live shows before I had like a following because I just like I just wanted to it's like a tough it's a tough period. Yeah, it's a tough thing to do later no people and yeah, but just ignore the industry is that that's not something that you have to that that's not going to be the answer to your career. Yeah, like it's the music. It's the what you put out into the world being fearless. I think is pretty important, you know, thick skinned. Really interesting, you know, with giant pussy and I mean this song is the prime example. Yeah, I like the way you kiss me is the next one we're going to look at let's hear a blast to the master. Get a test. I like the way you kiss me. I can tell you miss me. Please, please, please. We'll try to be romantic. I'll hit up on the back just so you don't get a test. It is I like the way you kiss me by Artemis, which originally came out in March 2024 and was then part of the your Steena mix tape which followed in July. So I really quick turn around and just getting it out there and you were saying that this started in a different fashion, you know, the original version that you're working on. It's often how our songs start like there'll be some like a total gone keyboard or we'll find like a loop we like or whatever really all sometimes we'll play instruments at the same time while I'm singing. But yeah, this like started as this kind of like half time. I think I had some beef with the original chords and I don't know. I remember we had made a song that morning and then we were jumping to the next idea. And like what kind of trips me out a lot is I remember I was if I like right at the end of this freestyle I do so what happens is you'll play some chords. I'll mumble some nonsense and right at the end is when I said the line in the melody like a lot of the hook is actually there. And I remember just before that being like let's try something else and there was like you know song can be changed my life. And so I may say yeah we should say I mean billions of streams later we're here talking to you about it. Do you want to play like the first moment I said this ridiculous lyric. Yeah. The beat is crazy for it as well. It's so so different. I remember I'd like it was so it wasn't like this eureka moment. Yeah. Right. I said it. And that felt like the best melody that I'd come up with in the in out of everything. But yeah, it's always it's quite like you're like one of the best people with melodies I've ever met because they'll be he'll go on the mic and I'll be playing chords or whatever. You know we made this with care as well and he was he would do like he'll like get some drums going or something and like generally just like very usable melodies like artist will just like sing the whole time which is great because you got loads of great material to it sometimes you don't know like which ones the melody you know. So I think you got like a good like intuition with that. No, I mean, what's cool about this is that like I mean, I say the line in the freestyle. I mean, that's all in the final version and then here. We edited that lyric, but then like I'm saying I say that and I can be romantic. I don't know why but I remember like just being because we maybe spent like 20 30 minutes thinking about the back half of the hook. And I was like very stubborn like I need to say not trying to be romantic. I think I because I've mumbled romantic and I was like if I can say something deplorable after not trying to be romantic. It's it's gold right then I said I remember saying when I first said hit it from the back so you don't get attached and there was this like. No, absolutely not. Luckily at the time we were making so much music that like I think we would like there was this two weeks in LA and we were making so much that it didn't the stakes were so low of like making a song. So it's just whatever like yeah, Ron with that the lyrics that connect to like ones which you're like I'm not sure. Yeah, it's a good sign if it was like really. Yeah, it's really interesting because they seem quite extreme. No, when they're they're no sure of the music and we just hear hear the lyric and see you in person. And you know did this lethario character is quite a strong personality in these songs that people clearly get something. I think this one is like slightly different as well because like in if you think I'm pretty I think that song like for example takes itself like quite seriously like I'm genuinely trying to be sexy on that song. Whereas I think this is a little bit tongue in cheek and like less you know like that like I'm being the verses are like I don't know this is my sound like pretentious as hell but like I feel like what I'm doing is I'm sat to raising like a piece of shit. That guy in this song because every single line is like just awful and like this terrible guy and manipulative but like I don't know it's fun though. Yeah, I didn't want people to like that. No, so so what happened then so you had this tempo. We had this and I was just I was really into like I was listening to this sub genre I don't even know if it's like a sub genre but there's this Spotify playlist called dark wave. And I was just listening to a lot of this stuff at the time and I think I just randomly was like we should try it like up tempo and yeah and do we start in this version of the project this is a day one. Yeah, so there's like there is kind of like a beat that similar I think a lot of like kevstrames are exactly the same as well. But like we really didn't know what's going on we were just laughing at this section which is like we did like YouTube intro music. Yeah, it's horrible. So yeah, like we were just we had no yeah like this whole session is just like an early yeah there's like another yeah this is like the first thing like before I think it's probably the first save as we probably didn't even really like yeah I think anything of it at the time. I'll put up the main session. Yeah and who's kev we should kev is so Kevin why is our dear friend and amazing he's the go and he's like been making like amazing music for the last 10 years and he's kind of like the experienced guy that will but especially like if I mean if you'll see that this song compared to if you think I'm pretty whereas like we were like really doing it he's like very like knows how to make stuff sound pretty like massive and in your face and yeah and we've just been with him for like two or three weeks working on stuff right and he just allows us to be the best versions of ourselves and he like conducts the session. Whereas like Toby will play the instruments and I'll be doing that the melodies and stuff and he just keeps it all organized and yeah so it's a bad description of. It helps you work quicker in a way yeah getting less bogged down in technical things yeah and so that's and this was recorded in L.A. then yeah yeah in like is it your first time. It was my first time in L.A. it's like third day or something yeah we were making just like two or three songs a day and it's just yeah it was very exciting time yeah so now we're going to get into the seconds. Should I play the demo as well yeah this is the day one demo there's like there was a couple versions in between so like by the end of that last session I had pulled up was just like us working it out but we did actually have most of the song by then the day yeah and then this is the one you updated to talk. Yeah so this is the this is the day one demo like the end of the day. So this is what you created after you were drawing with the idea of embracing dark wave yeah we just yeah and I tease only like this. This bit never saw the light of day right but I actually like similarly to everything I'm pretty I like posted that first intro bit. And I just remember I remember a friend picking us up and because we've been making so much stuff that week we didn't really like clock until that drive on the way back like when it first like hit. Like came through the speakers like it really did like feel feel like something for the first time like I got kind of got like goosebumps and then like look back at her you know I was like this is actually this could really be something. But yeah this is like the day one and it's very different to the final version but you'd actually shared that I shared that like the beauty is you can share like a little bit if you've got one bit of the song right. You can share that and then give yourself time to finish the rest of the way people's have time and get them interested. Yeah absolutely and again it was like I remember just being very drunk like afterwards somewhere in LA and then like on the way back just like. Listening to it and just being like a scrap like I'm just going to put out that sped up and cap cut yeah I sped it up again okay I know right yeah terrible the drunk technique. Yeah no but for real but like if you listen to that first demo there's like I think there's like a real like magic in like the mix of how like the base is coming through that like too was probably if we were being. Like overthinking will like it's like sounds a bit demo in rough but I think that's like kind of what makes it like so and it's the fact that it's just a base in the vocal and yeah yeah here's the final session. So this was after you sped it up in cap cut so it's almost as if you experiment with that for a laugh yeah and then check it out it comes like a staple of the sound. Yeah but it completely changes your mind about how you approach this another thing is off my friend she was like five minutes away from picking us up and I think it was a bit of a rush as well and so we quickly. Well like we should do an intro to the song because we had this like like staying on the one one called intro thing that we do quite a lot. But yeah anyway and like in a rush I just went on the mic and said you play the very star. Which like if I hadn't done that because that I feel like it was the intro suddenly going into the chorus like was the thing that people were like really latching on to. And yes there's so many just ducks had to be in order to yeah for it to become this a little chance moment a little impetus because she's going to be here any second. Yeah but there's like when that that intro was playing in the car on the way back you know yeah we like new life was going to change. So I mean you've worked on the demo or the day one version as well do you actually then start it all again or do you take elements from that. A big challenge is like trying to match it to the sped up one as well like we were really so differently to if you think I'm pretty we were pretty unhappy with how. The rest of the song was sounding so it was more of a challenge and like I didn't I found it very uncomfortable at the time because I was getting like a lot of like. Comments about like eat like EDM and I was just scared of that like what I just didn't want to be like in that world yet you know. So we just spent a lot of time trying to make the rest of the song sound as cool as possible not that but still I mean still it was bigger so I'm in Germany. But yeah and we can get into that yeah please do yeah I guess like a task were a big part of that right I think we should break down just the main beat. I think we should play like drums. This is it without the vocal. The snare is like kind of ridiculous on this track. It sounds like a punish or something. Street Fighter and the bass. I think there's like something there's like a glitch on the plugin of the bass. Have you got the original bass? Yeah so what happened with the bass is we changed something because to make it like stick out more but then the intro bass we wanted to make it sound exactly like the intro. So the rest of the track has like this bass. It's just like slightly brighter I guess. So this is the pre-set I didn't like I'm always quite just this one specific sound like quite precious about this one because I think it's like it's just this UAD move plugin. It's like we I mean you have one one of these right yeah it doesn't sound like this yeah and we kind of like it's a lot more expensive yeah but this one for whatever reason just hits and it's called dope bassy. I think we messed up the bass and then we met and I think we just opened up the cart off a bit and then the sketch cassette just adds like loads of high-end yeah kind of compresses it. I don't I can't even remember why I like pulled out I wonder if it was like a tape like a tape and it's like yeah I think of someone. I don't know if I got this source from someone on here because I don't know why I'd like pulled that up but it was like something about like adding like the noise. So you're suggesting that that was a compression and this this brightener on here I don't know it I for whatever reason this you think it might have been a tip from take notes. I don't know why but yeah that like makes it because obviously there's like not a lot in the track especially that when you first hear it's just the bass but like that kind of like fills makes the bass like hit and like fill up all the different frequencies. Yeah and let's hear that bass again and then on top of it you were actually playing a bass guitar on top of that was that guitar line or just a guitar line in the background that comes in. Sounds like the cure in a way. I mean a lot of the elements we added was just trying to be like those kind of like new way the post funky elements. Yeah I'm doing like a kind of weird like if I pitch this down like the delivery and I think it was like maybe like the first take and then we just like never got round to changing it but I kind of feel like I always felt like I'm doing like a really bad like Robert Smith impression. Which I then do quite a lot these days wait. I don't know I to up to this point I was I'm kind of only really songs where I'm doing like a kind of American Jackson. And this one yeah yeah it's like the first like I'm not trying to be a romantic like I don't know get more British yeah like it. And so some of the guitar there's a quite cool. I think honestly we tried so much stuff coming in the second half to remember we had like these like weird like synth lines and yeah. And it's everything to sound as super euro and it's just like the simplest thing we could have done and yeah just end up working on. We use these same presets and so many songs just like this brigade is like a huge part of the sound now. Yeah and then some of the other guitars are coming. It's just like super pitched up. And then there's obviously like this it's like a big guitar moment at the end. And do you try and perfect all of those sounds to do lots of retakes or do you just go with the flow of what you've got and. I don't I don't think we really thought about it too much like you just kind of add stuff and dial it in and like Kevin's amazing with this like. Like a lot of these are like resampled and resampled and I should say like resamples like when you just like re record it into able to. So like they'll just be like let like or add things or like maybe like a real pedal or something and then more like resample and then add something resample it and that means we can like. Just chop it up how it is exactly you know not have any like reverb tails and things. So a lot of the big guitar sounds end up like that so I can't even show you like exactly what it is annoyingly. Yeah so it's like super very says guitars just like hiding in the background kind of gives you this like more like analoggy warmth and then. I think all this stuff helps but it's not like the core things you know. Yeah it was really difficult for us to like find like we kept trying to add elements for a while to just that bass and drum loop and it just felt like it was losing its like moodiness. Yeah and but yeah these and these guitars but we definitely didn't do much like like once it started feeling good whenever something is feeling nice we try not to like get too precious about like making sure that they. I don't know everything lines up if something's a little bit out of time but you don't notice it unless you like focusing on it and it's probably not a problem. Yeah you know and we also were in a rush because it was people were ready for this ready for song this was the most insane thing about this song is like I made it. And then posted it like four days four days after after we made it like two and then like a week or two after that it was like the most viral song on. And so and that post that is this a different post or that this is the first. I made it posted it like three days later or something like a week or two after that it was the most viral song on on tiktok and then. Like maybe two weeks after that it was the biggest song was stream song on Spotify so it was just like the turnaround was. It was crazy and like it was it was so weird because we just it felt so fresh like in our memory and. Yeah the whole experience was it kind of like crack it was like yeah but it can illustrate just the positive sides of the world that we're living it. Yeah I mean that is amazing to go from idea to sketch to completion. And then have it shared with the world yeah so instantly it's pretty amazing and people then you don't get that luxury right of like just. Like you want to make that I don't know like a short film or something or. It's like months of preparation whereas we got this like instant gratification it's also like dangerous because it kind of set. Like six months before this like I had less than a hundred fans probably in real life and so it's like. Yeah it was pretty insane yeah and so that's interesting that you say you know less than a hundred fans in in real life so. On tiktok you're sharing a snippet of the song yeah and it's getting loads of likes and people are sharing it so it's it's connecting yeah and then you. Upload it to Spotify and you've got the full song and people are just listening to it they're just streaming it nonstop yeah. Yeah and that's that's all you've done it's not like you've toured the world at that point you know you're not pushing it in any way. We had I don't think maybe we had done a couple London shows. I think our first show we played like that it kissed me right? No no we did we did it if you think I'm pretty yeah we had played like two shows in London in February but we didn't go on tour until like. Two or three weeks after kiss me was out like I'm like the first tour we had like I remember that like Taylor Swift album coming out and then overtaking kiss me for like a day. And then and then we leap from the afterwards and like I think we played a room and like Rotterdam that night to like 200 people. So it was a good insane experience because we booked that we also booked the tour like four months before yeah as well and yeah it was just that I'll never be the same. Yeah after that whole experience. And also I guess you know that the idea is you know touring is different from no streaming and sharing music on TikTok. Yeah you've got to get people to come to the show and they've come to the show because they know it's going to be a good show. And you know the strength of one song won't necessarily bring them to the venue but that's all changed now completely but yeah I mean it is amazing. What more should we hear from the song? So we've got this synth which I think I sent over from my laptop just super processed already. And a lot of the time we just like just when they're on the laptop you can actually like blend them in right. If I'm if like someone sending a synth part or something and you need it to be to fit into something you might just have to like sketch sets good like you can do like dropouts and things. So you get like it feels more glued because it's interacting with the track and and all these things. That sounds like the synth was like just like a preset from like like just the starting one from like serum or on mysterious. Yeah that's I think that's polymax and then I just like pitch things up and then like have them together and then bounce and the re sample them and the re sample. You know like it's just like a process and then a lot of the time I'm like drawing in like pitch bends and things like that. The level of the echo boy thing. Oh yeah well like I can I can show that yeah I'll just get like an echo boy and I'll just put the time to zero. The mix down a little bit and then you just kind of see fine time so this is quite like a. Fiddly thing to do okay so you find time you set like a automation and then. So just automating the time in the background to go up and down and then you find like a sweet spot where it starts to crack. Just starts to just like change the pitch in the background which starts to phase it weirdly and stuff. So like that became like quite like a common technique of what we do the sense and things like this and just like this subtle modulation in the background. So we do that quite a lot. Like the stereo image becomes weird as well when you do that which is quite cool. Yeah. I play some of the other layers. Mr. Solo. I had no idea that was in there. Same thing like the guitar's lead with the real ones. Yeah. Here's one more. This is the guitar solo. I'm pretty sure Kevin did this. Just put through like a bunch of plugins and then resampled in. Probably like portal or something. And then that's over the last chorus and it's just. You can barely even hear it but it's just like moving between ears you know. So just little things like that give it some movement. This is one of the original ones right? Yeah. It's like a violin sample that's just been like chopped around. A royalty free one. Yeah definitely. Yeah there's a lot of things in here. It's just subtle. That's one of the things Kevin's really good at. He'll just kind of take what you give him and like find space for it or like you know delete it. He's very good at knowing the points where things fit within the mix without ruining it. Everything's kind of got its place but you might not even notice it. It's like a feeling thing. Yeah. Amazing. Really interesting. Let's have a blast at the ending and then we can move on to the first song. I can tell it this, this, this, this, this. I'm trying to be romantic. I'll hit it from the back just so you don't get attached to this. I can tell it this, this, this, this. Artemis and the next song we're going to look at is Take It Easy On Me. The next song we're going to look at by Artemis is Take It Easy On Me from the lover call mix tape. If you could play the blast to the master, Toby, that'll be brilliant. I think we just got back from some, like, grueling, touring, like a three month little run started in South America and did some random plays in America. We were just excited to get back in and the setup we were using at the time was like pretty like basic. Like, we kind of got used to, like, using a very minimal setup on the road and just like, midi keyboard, a mic that has, like, a lot of, like, a broken mic that has, like, noise on it. So the vocal was, like, wish we had recorded it on a better mic. And, um, yeah, we were just, um, doing what we always do, just messing around. And then I think we had, I started singing that take it easy on me, like, refrain. And, yeah, it just kind of happens. It's kind of just the bass and the vocals and the vocals. So, like, yeah, it came pretty quick, I remember. So, uh, what point was this? So, I mean, love a chord came out in October of 2025. Yeah. You'd put out two mixtapes, basically, in 2024. So there's not much, when did you start recording? A lot of love a chord. This latest one, like, the genesis of the ideas were, like, on tour and just stuff we collected because before, like, the previous two mixtapes without being on tour. So we kind of had, like, unlimited time and were, like, just in it every single day. Or, let's take it easy on me. It was definitely, like, uh, one of those ones, which is just, we randomly made during these periods of, like, touring. And we weren't really trying to make a project. We were just, like, making songs. And, um, So, using downtime spare time, while you're moving around, going to different countries, playing shows. Yeah, a lot of them, I think this one was in London. Back, right? But yeah. Yeah, I do. And is that in 2025? Is that earlier? Yeah, that would be in this. Yeah, it was, like, just, it was, like, after coat. And then I think we, like, finished, like, we finished it. I think we made, like, the first minute or so of it in London. And then we finished it on the road. I remember we were in, like, a hotel in Ohio with, like, terrible acoustics. They're, like, actually finishing, right? Um, it's another one where, like, a lot of the stuff that we just wrote to becomes, like, the main thing. Yeah. Like, I think the, like, bass sound is, like, the identical. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just, like, a decapitate and brigade chorus. And then literally nothing else. Yeah. Um, so yeah, it's, like, quite, like, a classic, like, kind of similar to Pretty in the way that, like, just kind of made it with the sounds. I gotta work it out off. If it's just us on it, it does tend to just be this, like, kind of weird mess, which is, like, what I love about it. Um, but we just kind of, yeah, we're just throwing stuff at the wall. The vocals are, like, insane on this. There's, like, RC20 plugins and chorus and distortion that's, like, automating on and off, I think, or only playing on certain lines. And it's just, like, this wash of reverb. But I felt like it just needed that. Yeah, at the time. Yeah, at the time. Sorry, a lot of these things just become, like, very, like, we'll make a demo. And then it's all just, like, hitting the master quite loud. And then it becomes, like, a balancing act of, like, if you turn something down, like, something else hits the limit at super loud. So that gets boosted. These can be a bit of a nightmare. They get very delicate when we're working, like, this, like, you can turn up a high-hat too loud. And then the mix is, like, gone. And so you just have to, I don't know, you're kind of just, like, accepting the song for what it is. Or you have to just completely rethink it. But yeah, but I love this way of working. So there is a demo that we can hear. What's the first version? This is the first version. So this is, like, it's so much slower as well. [Music] Wow. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Yeah, damn, it really is very slow. Yeah. It's interesting. It's almost more rock and also more hip hop. Yeah. Somehow simultaneously. Yeah, I know. I'm doing some, like, rapping or something. Yeah. Yeah. The vocals are the same. I think the vocals are exactly the same. They're, like, sped up though. But they're, like, not sped up. They're, like, not pitched. Not pitched. So it's the same thing. And it was, like, one of those things where we sped it up. And it wasn't annoying me. The vocal, I liked the delivery. And so, like, why bother recutting it, you know? Yeah. The world's moving fast. You know, you've got to. And the speeding up thing seems to have been key. In the whole evolution of Artemis. I know. Yeah. It's really interesting. I think it just gives it, like, the vocal, like, its own flavour. People get annoyed about, like, some of my fans, like, especially because there'll be, like, clips of me singing live out there. And sometimes they're, like, why do you do this to your voice? Like, you've got such a lovely voice. So I. Or maybe it's laziness. And I should just, you know, spend more time cutting them. Only recently, if we kind of tried to, like, up our game with, like, micwires. Like, I'm cutting a lot of vocals on, like, an e-lam now, which I've only just been able to, like, tell the difference. I used to be very, like, anti-, like, expensive gear or, like, wanting to be in, like, really nice studios. But, like, I don't know. Maybe it's placebo, but I feel like I can hear the difference now. But, yeah, this was made on, like, a piece of shit set off. Yeah. Yeah. So, we've heard how. Take it easy on me, kind of, started. How did you then change it? No, because quite a lot of changes are going on. Yeah. A lot changed. But, like, there's some weird elements to it that's just stayed in. And I was looking at this earlier. A lot of the, like, synth layers are, um. It kind of has the same thing in the outro. It's just these, like, random chops. And I had an. Earlier today, I had no idea what these were. And I dragged that out. And it's, like. And I realized it's some. It's, like, a lap-still or something, Paul. I don't know where I got that. I pulled his splice. What project are we in now then? So, how was that? This is still in the demo. This is still, like, Day 1. And we had, like, there was, like, a period of time where we would make something and then, like, you want, like, a harmony layer that's not, like. It's not, like, a recognisable, like, profit or, like. Well, like, it roads or something. Like, this vague, like, washy harmony. And then we were just doing this all the time. So, I think it just got a bit random. So, is it the pitch map? Yeah, so this is. So, I'll show you what I did. It's, like. You get, like, a random sample. This is, like. I'll put it in the original key. So, it got pitched down to. Like, a Hawaii. Like. And there's also this one. And then you just. I just, like, put it into Ableton. Get it on the grid. And then add this plugin called pitchmapper, where you can. You can basically, like, send. Or, like, have some MIDI information down here. And then I'll play it in to, like, what the chords are. And then, when this is enabled, it'll, like. Only. It only plays the notes of the chords in the samples. It brings up those harmonics. So, you can basically just make, like, use anything, like, any sample from. Like, any genre, and it will work in your track. Yeah, it's like, really. Yeah, some crazy tech. So, I just ended up, like, exporting that and then just, like, chopping it and, like. Just finding, like, nice spots for, like, where the audio repeats. You can, kind of, just drag around and, like, find, like, a nice. Like, it might have, like, some. Some, like, little, like, glitch in it or something. And then this. So, this track, that just became the base of, like, the harmony layer. Because I remember we already had the drums and the bass. And you want something to fit it up. You don't, like. It doesn't always sound too modern to just put, like, a. Especially, you've got, like, a garungy track. Just put, like, a road or, like, some kind of normal, like, profit layer. So, this became, like, kind of, a cool vibe for this one. We had, like, one chop here. Just just pan to the left. And then. Just, like, a slower chop. On the right. And then there's a central chop. So, that's the main thing you hear. And this one is another resample of the lap steel thing. But it's also got the backing vocals, like, caked into it. It just sounds quite, like, haunting. Which. And when you start to chop it up, you can, like, choose whether you want the chop. And then you can go back into the full vocal. So, you can be, like, a cool, like, lay off the song. And what I like about it is it doesn't, like, take away from, like, the grandiness. It just. You don't even really think about it when it's happening. It's just, like, just, like, very, harmony thing. Yeah. That was a cool one. So, that stayed. On the day. Should I put up the main session? Yeah. So, but those are elements that stayed into the session that we're about to hear. Yeah. Yeah. Because. You hear it's, like, exactly the same. I think we may be, maybe, as well, pitch it up, like, one after. So, we, like, back. We worked at, like, what's it done? Oh, yeah. As well. Yeah. Yeah. But here's just the instrumental one. So, very subtle in the background. Yeah. Yeah. These ones just sit left and right. You kind of notice them after you solo them. Yeah. Yeah, you do. Yeah. Another cool thing is this lead sound. It's one of the weirdo ones. This is literally just, like, a super distorted, like, using the pitch band on a MIDI keyboard. It's one of the ones that I was saying earlier, I just make, like, really processed, like, VST synth sounds ready to go. So, it's one that I made, like, in an Uber or something. Not the casual way you're creating these things. It's just happened to be in a cab. Yeah. Yeah. It's, like, super useful, because you don't always have time to just, like, sit down and be, like, hang on, last must, you're just, like, singing, like, an amazing thing in the background. Like, I need to, like, EQ my synth. Yeah. It's not always, like, good for the room. So, it's just, like, handy to have these, like, tours. You can just, like, pull up. And then you kind of just get, like, married to them after, like, listening to them. Yeah. And there's, like, why would you, like, need to change that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it's, like, all of the, all of the ingredients are there in that first one. What's cool? And this is something we've only started doing in recent times. Our bridges. And I think, I think there's some of the stuff Toby did here. Oh, yeah. It's, like, sat on my bed hung over in the hotel room. I remember it kind of, like, blowing my mind when you first did that. You know, in the. Oh, we did, like, a tempo change thing. So, here it goes. It's the same chop's playing, but it's just slowed down. It kind of degrades it more. And that's just the main vocal, like, slow down. Right. So, I mean, this is about a minute and a half into the song. Yeah. And you just. It has a breakdown in a way. Yeah. And then slows down. And then stays kind of at that tempo for the last. I think it. I think in the final version, it's, like, it then. It has one final bit at the end as well. Right, okay. Yeah, that whole thing was so difficult to work out, because we. Like, kind of fell in love with this section. Where, like, we kind of need, like, another chorus. So, that. That became a difficult thing. But I'll just talk about this very down section for a second. Yeah. Because it. It's got this, like, kind of. Almost feels, like, a canon or something where, like, this melody that hearty sang. Like, overlaps with the chorus vocal. This was just, like, an idea that he had in the same session, right? On the first ever session. Yeah, I think this was, like, it. I did that in, like, the freestyle, like, the start of the song. And then you didn't even use it until. Yeah. And then you, like, round and we found it at the end. And we're, like, this could be perfect for this section. And, you know, I'm just. It feels quite dramatic and, like, I found bad. And it just felt, like, a really cool thing, because this. It's so, like. Just, like, a million things come in as well. It's, like, it's, like, the worst job to try and mix this track. Because you have, like. This really busy instrumental one. And then you're trying to fit two vocals. And then you go to get back to the chorus. I think some of this didn't make the final version. Yeah. I think these guitars helped bring back the chorus. I think of these kind of. Sick. Yeah. It's just, like, the most chaotic grouping of elements. And that's why, like, mixing it became so difficult. Yeah. Like, there's no space for anything. But, as soon as you take something out, you're like, this doesn't feel right. You've, like, already fallen in love with something. It's one of the most, like, dangerous places to be with a mix, I feel. But did you say that this was sent to somebody else to mix? Yeah. So what state of preparedness was it when you. Yeah, we felt quite guilty. Because it's, like, so it is that these are difficult. We actually had to find, like, a mixer who could work in Ableton. Because the sessions are so, like, just using, like, the way we, like, do a lot of stuff is, like, grouping things together. And I don't know, just using the whole group. Yeah, like, you put, like, like, some. I don't know, some compression on, like, all the guitars at the same time and stuff. And, like, I don't know, it just would genuinely be a nightmare to stem this all out and get it to that point. It would take forever. But yeah, he just goes into the Ableton session and just does the, like, cleaning up. And you can see this has already been. The session has been, like, sent back and forth already. So there's, like, I've got, like, prints from his. This is Rob, who mixed this off. So who mixed it then? Rob Cohen. He's, like, a great mixer. And you give him an instruction as to, we want it to do this. We're very, like, just clean it up, but don't, like, take. Don't, it has to hit, like, we've got it. I think we can get it to a point where we're, like, well, like, all the instruments, like, all the drums and stuff to hit. But just, like, often, I'll, like, record the vocals, and they'll be, like, you can. You can hear, like, people, like, moving around in the background, or, like, we've recorded it in, like, a, like, a. Transit van. Yeah, there was a song on the. And Yostina, that we literally did in a sprinter. And you can, like, hear the motorway in the background and stuff. And there'll just be all sorts of stuff like that. So, like, I'm very happy to give that job to someone, someone else. Do you want to play the ending? And we can move on to the questions that we ask everybody who comes on the show. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Take it easy on me. It is Artemis, and those voices right at the end, who's are those? That's my pal Sophie. Right. She's kind of narrator on the project. She doesn't really say much other than love or core or, like, maybe the odd obscene remark here and there. But, like, these are. I feel, like, I'm still in, like, the mixtape phase of my career, where I'm just putting out. Yeah. We gave it, like, this, like, theme across it. But, yeah, it was just. I just thought it was, like, a cool way of. I don't know, giving the project some character and making it feel a bit, like, a movie or something. Yeah, love what it works really, really well. That sounds amazing. We have a couple of questions that we ask everybody who comes on take notes. The first is about tech, and whether you have a favorite piece of tech that you can't create without, or that you feel as an important part of what you do, it could be anything. Techquizes, it's like, we're pretty. We're just always in different studios, I feel. So, like, I've got a studio in HackneyWork, and we work there quite a lot. So, I've got all my things there, but it still feels like a privilege to work in a studio with things, you know? So, it's. I don't feel like we're relying on, like, hardware a lot of the time, but there is, like. You can sometimes be a nice, if we've had, like, a long stretch at your studio to, like, just go into, like, a writing room or work. Work with, like, no, but none of the tours, because we've, yeah, I mean, he's gone bloody synth crazy. A bit of success of. Yeah. I have the experience of, like, when I was younger, spending, like, all my, like, pocket money on, like, a new compressor, and it, my vocal still sounding, like, shit, that I've just, like, I'm, I, I don't think I've really bought many. Because he's also, you know, it's fine. He gets someone to use my plug-in. Yeah. I would say, like, with, yeah, I think I'm, I'll, like, way rather have something that's, like, weird and, like, quirky. Because, like, nine times out of ten, use, like, a plug-in, if, like, I've got, like, a profit. And now there's, like, really good profit plug-ins. I don't use that so much. So, like, like, I've got, like, one set up with, like, um, it's, like, a Corg OP6. And then it runs through, like, this, like, kind of guitar pedal, like, stereo pedal board. And I just always end up, like, gravitating towards that, because it's, like, a slightly weird sound. You can, kind of, get all in one. That just gives you, like, audio that's already processed and, like, that. So, I, I love rags like that, and I'm always changing around my pedal boards. I've got these, like, vong vong pedals, which I use all time. So, yeah, just, like, that's kind of my, like, gear side coming out where I, like, if I'm buying something I want to buy, that's where it's, like, completely different. It can't get, like, a plug-in version. That's, like, nine times out of ten, like, cheap, because you, you can, like, if something's expensive, it's probably been made into a plug-in. Yeah. So, I mean, you move around to, for various reasons, but, um, you make music, you create on the move. So, when you leave the house, what do you leave with? You know, because at the same time, you want to be able to respond to whatever ideas and whatever situation you're in and create. Well, on, like, I'm just intrigued. To the road, we just have this very simple, like, TLM, handheld mics, and I just hold it like that. And then we had two tiny general X and the Apollo, MIDI keyboard, sometimes. Really? That's, like, a tree. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. In, like, a little pelican box that we just will, to every hotel that we were at. Yeah. Because we found that just, like, on the road, like, just the, especially because we're just tired from all the traveling and the shows, like, just even, like, doing the, like, half an hour or, like, hour trip to a studio. And then having to set up and get used to that, like, we'll just kill any, like, will to make a song. 'Cause you're jet lagged as well. And so we just find, I mean, we make quite a lot of songs. This last project in hotel rooms. It's almost too much pressure getting, like, a studio when you're tired. I've always found, like, like, a huge studio room and you're, like, knackered. You can't, like, you've got to, like, all right, now we've got to come up with something. 'Cause this is the last chance we'll get until Canada. Yeah. So our Canada. Yeah. So much. Thank you. That's why I asked. Because in a way, you know, something so portable that is, it's almost something that you carry wherever you go, that you can have. Yeah. Open and ready to go almost instantly, just as instantly as opening up a laptop. No, it seems pretty important and pretty crucial to you. It's pretty, like, I would, I get pretty, like, uncomfortable to phone somewhere and, like, don't have access to, like, be able to, like, record vocals or just work. 'Cause if you're, like, if you're feeling inspired, like, I kind of need to do that. Yeah. Get that down as quickly as possible. Yeah. And do you use the phone? I mean, would you use it? Yeah, I'm using voice members the whole time. I think there's loads of songs where I go back and I find, like, the start of something. Yeah. I'm always voice-memoring, like, especially, like, if I'm, like, drunk. Actually, that's like three or four times. The other question we ask everybody who comes on is about advice, about whether you've learned something so far that you would share with other people or maybe you've had some words of wisdom handed on to you by somebody along the way. I see a lot of new artists that are, like, putting their music out, or I, like, talk to them sometimes, and I think that I see a lot of people making the mistake of thinking they need to be the finished product. And that they're, like, in, that the music that they're making, even if they've been doing it for, like, a year or two, is, like, going to be their magnum opus. And they'll sit on stuff and they'll, like, save songs on their hard drive and just won't get start putting this stuff out there. And I think it's, yeah, I think it's important to know that it's, like, it takes, like, a minute, and you're not. I remember songs I made when I, like, four years ago, at the time thinking, wow, if this isn't a hit, then what is, like, a hit? And then I listen to it, now I'm, like, God, that's, like, a walled away from what I'm doing now. And, yeah, just, like, don't be precious with it, especially at the start, like, you don't have to be the finished product, like, you should develop. I feel like we're, like, only a year and a half, two years, really, properly into this project. I don't think I'm the finished art career. And, like, if I had just sat on all this music that I wouldn't have been able to have all these experiences and, you know. And, and be able to grow and develop in the way that you are enjoying. Yeah, I think you, you look back at people's, like, careers and, like, I don't know, like, your, your idols. I think that there was this, like, wow, look at that first album and then it's led perfectly into the second. But you just don't remember the bits when they were, like, struggling. I think, like, radio, like, radio had that, like, kind of, like, single that was, like, a massive flop before, like, in between, like, Pablo, Honey and the bands. Like, it was some weird, I can't remember which one it was. But you think of Radiohead, it's, like, this perfect, this goal of the year. But, like, it's not, it's never like that. It's just, it's good to just be delusional and, you know, just put your stuff out there. Yeah. Yeah. What about you, Toby? Have you been given advice that you had passed on? I think, for me, it was just, like, getting out of the, like, I mean, this is kind of just more, like, production aim. But, like, just getting out of, like, YouTube, like, rabbit holes of, like, what they, like, tell you to do. It was, like, huge for me, because I was just such a, like, I kind of, like, learn everything about production from, like, streams and, like, YouTube. And, like, and tape notes. It's your biggest piece of advice was to stop listening to tape. Yeah, that's, yeah. We want the opposite. Obviously. Yeah, more, like, my, my, like, things that I use all the time, and I'm, like, super, like, I'll be, like, this is, like, more my sound. It's, like, things that I just, like, spend, just, like, nights on Ableton, just, like, trying, like, not something that I've just, like, copied, it's just, like, playing. And, like, just being, like, like, oh, maybe I could do this and do this. And then it, like, develops naturally. Even if it's, like, a pointless waste of time, it's, like, just stay away from, like, not, like, giving yourself the opportunity to just be, like, silly on Ableton, like, or whatever door. Like, I'll just stay up and just make horrible music that doesn't really sound, like, anything. I'm not even trying to make music. I'm just, like, trying to, like, learn how I would, like, how I would use this, like, workflow. So that's kind of helped me. It's, like, this, like, being, like, playful mentality, I think. Yeah. Thank you so much for coming in and talking to us. It's been fascinating. Thank you so much, man. And we are with both big fans. I'm so pleased to have an, like, an in joke of, like, I don't know if we did something cool in the session. I'm like, this would be great for tape notes. That's brilliant. I love that. I mean, it's fantastic that you enjoy the podcast and it's fantastic to have you here. No, it's really interesting. It's so awesome. And thank you. We should let you go, but we will play one more song from Lovacore, I think. No. Just as an outro in a way. What do you think we should go for? Pull up, pull up, pull it up. What's on Lovacore? What about Vanish? That's a good one. Why, why vanish? Actually, let's not do vanish. Let's do, let's do, you don't have to tell me. This is, I think this is the earliest song that we made on the project. And I know it was cool. We played at Coachella. That was always fun. Yeah, we played this, like, a bunch live. Yeah, it was out. And I don't know, it's like, I guess I feel like this song maybe gives us like a taste, a little bit of a taste of what's coming next as well, maybe. Like we're making a lot of stuff in this kind of world. So it feels appropriate. Really? Oh, yeah. R.T. Toby, thank you so much for coming in. This is You Don't Have To Tell Me by Artemis from Lovacore, rounding things off for this episode of Technics. 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. For pictures, highlight clips and behind the scenes content, head to our Instagram or YouTube channel. And on Discord, you can join the growing take notes community. Once again, thank you for listening. Until next time, goodbye. [Music] Hello, you may have heard me squeeze in questions from our Patreon subscribers. That's just one of the perks of joining the take notes Patreon. Alongside being able to submit questions directly to upcoming guests, you'll also get access to full video episodes and gear lists, plug in gear and studio discounts, and on our new extended player premium tier, you'll be entered into our monthly gear and plug in prize draws. To find out more, head to patreon.com/tape notes.