Shalford, Surrey, named Old Croft, Collins set up a Sequential Prophet-5 synthesiser, piano, Roland CR-78 drum machine, and an 8-track tape machine in his bedroom, and recorded a collection of demos with backing tracks and early lyrics. He was not concerned with the quality of the recordings as what may have lacked in the recordings would have been salvaged with the emotion in the songs. There were numerous times where Collins stopped recording earlier than planned as the ideas were not working in the studio, leaving him to resume the following day. Collins based the majority of Face Value on the divorce he had endured, and used a solo album as an outlet for his feelings. During the conception of the album, Collins had forged a close friendship with John Martyn and contributed towards Grace and Danger (1980), which contained a similar narrative relating to divorce and relationship breakdown. Some of Collins' material that he had written was performed by Genesis on Duke (1980), including "Misunderstanding", the arrangement of which remained unchanged. He had played "In the Air Tonight" and "If Leaving Me is Easy" to the group, but they were left out as Collins said they were "too simple for the band". Early album titles included Interiors and Exposure. To release the album, Collins signed a solo contract with Virgin Records for UK distribution. He did so to "leave the nest" and to ensure he could maintain full creative control over the music. Collins also felt that releasing the album on Charisma Records, the same label as Genesis, would have harmed its success due to the preconceived notions people have about bands and labels. Collins thought a new label would benefit the casual listener and appeal to a wider audience. Virgin gave Collins a £65,000 advance on the album. Production Recording Recording sessions for Face Value took place at the Town House in London and the Village Recorder in Los Angeles between August and December 1980. The demos recorded onto 8-track were transferred onto 24-track. According to Classic Albums, in what was considered a controversial move at the time, Collins, who grew up listening to American R&B as a child in Chiswick, decided to incorporate an R&B horn section, hiring the Phenix Horns, who played backup for Earth, Wind & Fire. Collins had asked a contact who knew the group if they were interested in playing, and upon their