In this episode of Line In, host Joseph Murphy sits down with Alan Smythe, the Sheffield-based producer and recording engineer behind 2Fly Studios, whose credits include Arctic Monkeys, Pulp and Reverend and the Makers.

Alan takes us back to the very first Arctic Monkeys recording sessions, when Alex Turner was a 17-year-old playing his second-ever gig and Cookie was still doing a tiling apprenticeship. He breaks down how he used a click track trick to anchor their tempo, why he barely touched the default amp settings, and how those demo recordings, distributed on CDs left on Sheffield buses, became one of the most unlikely viral moments in British music history.

We also dive into Alan's work on Pulp's third album Separations, the famous Pet Shop Boys-meets-Barry White brief from Jarvis Cocker, and the radical call to replace a live drummer with a drum machine mid-session. Alan shares stories from 50 years in music, including producing one of the UK's first ever cut-and-paste sampling records for Age of Chance (played heavily by John Peel), getting dropped from a major label deal after three years without a release, and his honest take on where AI music tools are taking the industry.

Whether you're a music producer, a fan of the Sheffield scene, or just obsessed with how great records get made, this episode is packed with producer techniques, behind-the-scenes stories and genuine insight from one of the Steel City's most influential figures in music.