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For LEISURE, Welcome To The Mood marked a clear point in how the group wrote and recorded together, and the conversations around the album focused on process, arrangement choices, and how the six-piece keeps decisions consistent across a long timeline. The record leaned further into live recording, and it expanded the palette through added musicians like strings, brass, piano, and backing vocalists, while keeping the songwriting direct and personal.
That context shaped the questions in our discussion with them, as most of the dialogue focused on how the album came together and how the band translated it into comprehensive visuals that tell a story both in the studio and on tour.
Now, with “The Mood Continues” underway, the same album cycle has a new headline in 2026 through the single “Home” and the newly announced May dates in Latin America.
Their use of tools like Session Horns Pro, Session Strings Pro, Guitar Rig, and Solid Bus Comp reflects this balance between precision and personality. The result is an album that feels cohesive and confident; a reflection of six individual voices converging into one collective rhythm.
The visuals for Welcome To The Mood were filmed at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West. How did that sense of “futuristic yet nostalgic” translate into your music-making process?
We wanted this album to feel timeless and classic, but still modern, which is definitely Franks' vibe! Our songs can start in a pretty modern way - often we'll just send each other ideas or project sessions in our group chat and collaborate over the internet.
It can be quite a logistical feat to get the 6 of us in the same room at the same time! We wanted this album to feel cohesive so after we had an initial demo of the song, we would then re-record the parts by playing together as a band and iron out any arrangement kinks and structural changes. That's more of the old school way of doing things. Then we can take those recordings back home and do overdubs and chop things up, etc.
We're constantly trying to find different ways of working to keep it interesting - for example, the main 'One In A Million' chord progression came from fiddling around with a one-finger chord generator and then replaying it later on a real piano.
Pro Tip From LEISURE: For this album, we were after a tight drum sound, so I would use Transient Master to take out room sound by turning down the sustain. If you turn up the attack, it can also add a lot of punch, which can be great for kicks and snares - I find that subtle tweaks tend to sound best.
Was there a track on Welcome To The Mood where strings or horns completely changed the emotional direction of the song?
When we wrote 'Missing You,' it wasn't until we put that melancholic horn part in that we felt we had the vibe right. I've always found it hard to find good horn sounds, so I love Session Horns Pro. It has so many combinations, and the articulations sound great.
For 'Missing You', we ended up recording a layer of real horns and tucking the programmed ones underneath. We did the same thing on 'One In A Million' with Session Strings Pro - I had programmed in some legato cello chords, and we got our friend Callum to add extra strings and flourishes on top.
[Learn More About Session Strings Here]
I find it's a really useful production trick to maintain the vibe and feel of the live performance, but use the sampler instruments to thicken up the sound and add more depth and fidelity.
[Learn More About Session Horns Here]
Guitar Rig is often associated with guitarists, but you used Guitar Rig 6FX across multiple sources. Where did it surprise you most in this project?
We've used Guitar Rig ever since we first started - for the longest time, the Leisure guitar sound was simply the 'Clean Chorus' preset with a couple of small tweaks! We still used Guitar Rig on this album, it's such a versatile plugin. In our song 'Beach House,' there's a trumpet sound in verse 2, which is actually just a vocal being pitched and distorted with Guitar Rig, then run through additional delays and reverb!
Comp often gets called “the glue.” Did you use it in that way to hold the live elements and electronic parts together?
Yes, that's exactly it.
I'll often use it lightly on the drum bus just to help add a bit of punch and smooth it out slightly. I don't really want to 'hear' it, I just want to feel it and have it keep everything consistent.
It's the same on the master bus - a bit of light compression just keeps everything in place and feeling tight. It's subtle but effective! I generally try to use a few different plugins to make small adjustments rather than rely on a single plugin to do all the heavy lifting.
[Learn More About Transient Master Here]
Pro Tip From LEISURE: It can be fun to record drumloops at home using just your phone for a bit of character. Put the phone on the ground between the hi-hat and the snare, and place a couple of tea towels over the kit to deaden it. It might sound a bit too lofi at first, but then you can layer in some kick and snare samples and use your recording as more of a top loop to add character and feel. Send it to a bit of the Guitar Rig spring verb, and you've got yourself a nice little vintage break!
As a six-piece collective, how do you all agree on which tools become staples in your workflow?
It can be a challenge - half of us work in Logic, but we also have Ableton and Protools in the mix. It means we're constantly stemming tracks out, which can be annoying, but it can have the upside of forcing us to commit to a sound. We each have our own 'go-to' plugins and ways of doing things, which I think keeps things interesting. Guitar Rig and Kontakt player are definitely plugins we all have in common.
We're all very much preset surfers too - it can be a great way to find inspiration and sounds that you otherwise would never come across. Guitar Rig is perfect for that!
What advice would you give to younger producers about using plugins not just for technical polish, but for building character into their music?
Don't be afraid to break the 'rules'!
There's so much information out there now, and there's always someone online telling us not to put reverb on our kick drum or to always sidechain your bass to our kick, but you just have to do whatever sounds good to your ears and your taste.
What would happen if you ran your vocals through Guitar Rig or sent your soft string arrangement or acoustic guitar through a nasty distortion? The truth is, there is no one miracle plugin or one secret tip that all the top producers and artists know.
Think about what makes you 'you' and lean into that - the more of your personality and style you can put into your work, the more it will stand out and be different.
[Learn More About Guitar Rig Here]
Pro Tip From LEISURE: Sometimes mix issues are actually arrangement issues. Is this the right voicing? Is there space in the instrumentation for this part to live - what is it competing with? Rather than piling on plugin after plugin take a step back and make sure all the parts work together.
Our Big Takeaways
Welcome To The Mood came through in this interview as a record built from clear process choices, including more live recording and a wider range of players in the sessions, while the core writing stayed personal and direct.
That album context is important here, since it shaped nearly every question and answer here, from arrangement decisions to how the band organized collaboration across distance. The update in 2026 added a current entry point, since “Home” arrived as a new single, and the May Latin America dates extended the touring plans.
If you needed one takeaway, the album remained the anchor, and the new release schedule kept the story moving without changing the frame.
