Debra Fotheringham

The most recent project in the studio has been an EP for Debra Fotheringham. Once again we recorded everything in one room, all live, including vocals, and once again, we had an amazing vocalist to count on. Debra's vocals are spot on and just held up perfectly, take after take.

dustin christensen, ryan tanner, paul jacobsen, brian hardy, stephanie mabey


ryan tanner


me pretending i do more than sit in the control room and eat mini twix bars


pat campbell


dustin christensen


ryan tanner and brian hardy

the players:
Debra Fotheringham - guitar, vocals
Dustin Christensen - keyboards, guitar, background vocals
Ryan Tanner - keyboards, guitar, background vocals
Brian Hardy - keyboards, background vocals
Paul Jacobsen - guitar, mandolin, background vocals
Ryan Tilby - bass, banjo
Stephanie Mabey - background vocals
Nate Pyfer - keyboards, background vocals
me - guitar




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Odds and Ends

Once the new console was installed, there were quite a few small sessions coming and going. First of all - a few days of film scoring with Sam Cardon. I thought putting this on the marquee to welcome Sam was pretty funny, not sure if Sam thought so or not.



I'm afraid that despite the fact that I recorded and mixed an entire Jericho Road album for Deseret Book in May and June, the only proof I have is this one picture -



Between recording and mixing the Jericho Road album, Code Hero came on in. Again, I thought the marquee was pretty funny but...

we put the drums out in the big room for a nice roomy sound. u67s as overheads, blue bottle mics with the b4 omni capsule as room mics.

Adios SSL

The last few days of May found me, and a few very needed and very helpful friends, packing up and preparing the SSL to be shipped off to its new home. The console was sold to a studio in Australia, and on May 29th a few very strong, very big guys came to crate it up.

the truth is, the SSL was a great console, a great mixing console. but around here, as with many places, we have fully committed to mixing in the box, which is to say, within pro tools.

mixing on a console is something I miss, it just feels so much more musical and so much less technical than mixing in pro tools. I think it does also sound better, however Ive done mixes in pro tools that I like much more than mixes on an API or SSL. The key is just to do your best work given the tools that are available and make sense for the project, and for most people, the ability to quickly recall the mix and make small changes far outweighs the sonic gain that comes with mixing on a console.

It took 4 big guys, 2 jacks, a forklift and a truck full of wood to get the console moved out and crated up for the big move. The crate, as you can see, was as big as a car and the thing weighed thousands of pounds.

The new console - A 32 channel Daking 1112, on the other hand, took me, my brother, and a Uhaul trailer to make its move from LA to Utah. So far Ive been really happy with the new board. It is a great 'front-end' console, meaning it has great mic pres and eqs. The preamps are really wonderful sounding, and when added to the APIs, Neves, Chandlers, Langevins, Manleys, that we already had here at the studio, I feel like we really have all bases covered and then some.

Here are some shots of the control room with the new console -

Cody Rigby

Well here it is, July 6th, and I haven't updated this blog since January. I know - pathetic.
I'm going to attempt to update things a bit through pictures so here we go:

In early February, Cody Rigby came in to lay down a few songs. Cody has some great songs, and was lucky to be joined in the studio by some great players.

ryan tilby on bass

brian hardy on keyboards

dylan schorer on pedal steel and electric guitar

pat campbell on drums

forgive the hipstamatic photos. it was way back in february. i was young and didnt know any better.

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last day of fictionist in the studio


banjo ukelele


gear 1

my office

Fictionist - Jed Wells photos

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