Tape Notes · In The Woods

TN:161 Rudimental

August 12, 2025·1 hr 26 min·5 clips

Rudimental discovered two weeks before their first live show that they'd been booked to perform live — having only ever DJed.

The cold open starts with sponsor copy. Once the conversation gets into the room, Rudimental talk through why singers can sound so loose and soulful over their chord progressions. The trick is space. The guest describes giving vocalists room to move around, partly to warm them up and partly because the best turn might be the one nobody planned. The host keeps it practical. He asks what was ready before the session, since the track seems to change shape while they are making it. The answer is pretty bare: nothing, apart from the studio booking and a few samples loaded as possible jumping off points. Then one sample caught the room. When Fraser Teesmith played it, the opening had that slow, exciting, almost Jungle-like pull, and the producer brain did what producer brains do. It skipped ahead. Before the song was there, the guest could already hear it sped up and landing as the drop. That is where the clip works best. It shows how a small studio prompt can become the route into a finished record, as long as everyone leaves enough room to react. Vocals get treated the same way. Rudimental are not trying to force a perfect take out of a singer. They are listening for the tones already sitting inside the song. The host helps by staying on the nuts and bolts: what was prepared, what changed, what landed first. The ending returns to housekeeping, with a fresh track, thanks, Patreon, video clips, gear lists, Instagram, YouTube, and Discord. The memorable part comes earlier, when a slow sample, a free vocal room, and a producer hearing the drop early explain how Rudimental know a track is there before it fully exists.

As heard by us

Rudimental's studio instincts come through in a grounded conversation about vocals, samples, and momentum.

Tape Notes catches Rudimental's Piers and Kezi in the most useful part of the studio story: the point where taste, instinct, and a loose idea begin to gather shape.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

The producer who hears four bars and has already written the drop in their head.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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