July 14, 2012 - Recording at Nutthouse Studios

Note: I am a few weeks on posting this entry due to PC failure and the death of a motherboard.

I spent the greater part of today helping a fellow musician complete a project in the studio. The plan was to record a cover of "The Rose" with him on bass, his father-in-law singing lead and accompanied by piano, at least two other guitarists, some backing strings and additional vocals. Honestly, it's not my all time favorite song in the universe, but it was a sweet gesture and I'm happy with the work that we did. There are a million things I wish I had done differently but considering that of the five other musicians I'd only ever met one and this was the first time we played in the same room together and we did it all in a single day I really can't be disappointed with the final product.

My ever-faithful Pearl World Series kit.

All the recording was done at Nutthouse Studios in Sheffield, Al. I'd link you to a website but all I can find (apart from some broken links) is this MySpace page and a few interviews with the owner, Jimmy Nutt, on YouTube. EDIT: Here is the Facebook Page.


The studio is housed in an extremely unassuming old bank building in a very ordinary downtown area. The exterior did not prepare me for the eclectic yet well-organized and professional interior. The studio manages to be instantly both warm and familiar yet maintain a sense of strange unexpectedness. As an example I give you the three things in the picture below: the intact vault from the building's previous life, an old carnival side-show banner ("See Tazara the Seductive Love Goddess Change into a Monster WHILE YOU WATCH!"), and the Foosball table.

The control room is slightly more traditional. Like the cockpit of a spaceship combined with Darth Vader's home entertainment system. ...and a lava lamp.

Jimmy's fondness for the Beatles is evident

If you'd like to listen to the finished product just click here.


On the way home I passed this poor soul on the interstate on his tractor in a downpour.

The guy I'm glad I'm not

A few other pictures of the studio and a cemetery that I found a geocache at on my way there can be found right here.