TN:79 Imagine Dragons

In this episode, John links up with Dan and Wayne of Imagine Dragons to talk about how they wrote, recorded and produced their latest album 'Mercury - Act 1. Having spent almost three years writing almost 300 demos, Dan and Wayne look back on the process of whittling down the tracklist and forming the album, from capturing their ideas as quickly as possible, through to working with legendary producer Rick Rubin and deconstructing everything to its purest essence. As well as sharing their thoughts on creativity, songwriting and their life experiences in the world of music, the pair speak openly about the inspiration and meaning behind some of their most honest tracks to date, while also demonstrating how they let the subject of each song help define its production. Listen to find out why samples can sometimes work better than a live performance, how raw magic often is captured on a first take, and the wealth of instruments that Dan can create using only his mouth. Tracks discussed: Dull Knives, It’s Ok, Wrecked   LINKS TO EVERYTHING TAPE NOTES  https://linktr.ee/tapenotes    Listen to ‘Mercury - Act 1’ here. ‘Mercury - Act One’ - Interscope Records, KIDinaKORNER    Intro Music - Sunshine Buddy, Laurel Collective    GEAR MENTIONS Analogue Design Black Box Plugin ApTrigga Soundtoys Devil-Loc TrackSpacer Plugin Fab Filter Pro-Q3 Melodyne Antares Auto-Tune Goodhertz Wow Control UAD E SSL Channel Strip Valhalla Reverbs Native Instruments Guitar Rig Native Instruments Drum Lab Native Instruments Rickenbacker Gibson Les Paul Ebow Vox AC30 Marshall ShredMaster Pedal Shure SM57 Royer Microphone Neumann U47 Neumann U67 Neve 1073 Kemper Profiler Rack Fender Telecaster Fender Princeton Amp Roland TR-808 Ableton Tube Amp Ableton Compressor Ableton Cakewalk Logic Pro Cubase   OUR GEAR https://linktr.ee/tapenotes_ourgear    HELP SUPPORT THE SHOW If you'd like to help support the show you can donate as little or as much as you'd like here, (we really appreciate your contributions :)  Donate   KEEP UP TO DATE For behind the scenes photos and the latest updates, make sure to follow us on:  Instagram: @tapenotes  Twitter: @tapenotes  Facebook: @tapenotespodcast   YouTube: Tape Notes Podcast Discord: Tape Notes To let us know the artists you’d like to hear, Tweet us, slide into our DMs, send us an email or even a letter. We’d love to hear!    Visit our website to join our mailing list: www.tapenotes.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices