High Hopes and Sound Kitchen Studios would like to thank everyone who participated in the "Strings and Stories" event this past Saturday night. The evening was filled with great food, friends and music. Among the artists who performed were Chas Sandford, whose songs have been recorded by the likes of Chicago, Stevie Nicks, and John Waite, Tim Nichols, who has written hits for Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, and Faith Hill, Greg Barnhill, who has had cuts with Martina McBride, Vince Gill and Etta James. Marabeth Poole, Sam Hunt, Erin Mitchell and the Myers Brothers rounded out the evening's entertainment. The sold out benefit event was a huge success, with thousands of dollars raised for The High Hopes Inclusive Preschool and Pediatric Therapy Clinic. Event photographers were Scott Hammaker and Michael Wootten.

Rock band, Consumed By Fire, recently spent two days in the Big Boy studio recording songs for their first full length album set to be released later this year. The band partnered up with producer Trent Rhodes from Severe Records and noted engineer George Tutko. We sat down with the band and asked them a few questions about their music.

What brought you together?

Three of us (Josh, Jordan, and Caleb Ward) are brothers. We grew up playing music together. We met Ervin at church several years ago and have been like brothers ever since.

In a nutshell describe your music.

Music that is created to meet the listener wherever they are, and put them in a position to receive something they need. All of this of course being put into straight up Rock & Roll, and touching ballads.

Who/ what has inspired your music?

Jesus Christ. Family. Life. Rock and Roll. That's what matters to us and what our lives and music reflect.

What makes your band different from others?

Everything we do is based on building relationships and integrity from song writing and performing, to contracts and recording. The most defining difference would have to be in the fact that we are not just doing this for ourselves.

What is the wildest ambition for your band?

That people will still listen to our songs 20+ years from now and get something out of it. When people talk about Elvis, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, artists like that, we'd love to be mentioned in that same breath. Someone once said: "Shoot for the stars, and you might just reach the clouds."

What’s playing on your ipod right now?

Oh boy, here goes... haha. Elton John, Hall & Oates, Beyonce, Miley Cyrus, Daughtry, John Denver, Taylor Swift, Pure Prairie League, Safetysuit, Nickelback, Kari Jobe, Hillsong United, Jason Upton, and John Mayer.... A pretty extensive & diverse list indeed. lol.

If you could have written any song, what would it be?

We have a big list, trust me, but here's each of ours.

CALEB- The Pretender by Foo Fighters

ERVIN- I know it's hard to believe, but... Love of the Road by Consumed by Fire

JORDAN- The Climb by Miley Cyrus

JOSH- Benny and the Jets by Elton John

The Sound Kitchen recently held a piano "Microphone Shoot Out" with our interns last week, to help them better understand the differences between the different types of microphones. Sean Shannon, SK Chief tech, had them mic up the C7 Yamaha piano in the Big Boy studio, with stereo pairs of Nuemann U87's, AKG C414's, AKG 452's, Audio Technica 3528's, Neumann TLM 170's, a PL20 underneath the piano with a Senheisser MD 421 on top and a pair of Milab microphones. The microphones were going directly into the API legacy console. No compression or EQ was added. Take a listen to the examples below. Which do you prefer?








Get Your Own Free Hypster.com Playlist.

Award winning Southern Gospel trio, The Booth Brothers, have been working on their forthcoming album with Gospel Music Hall of Fame producer Lari Goss. The Booth Brothers are spending their time in Studio E, working on vocals with recording engineer Ronnie Brookshire. All I can say is they sound amazing. Their new album is scheduled for release later this year.

Sound Kitchen Studios congratulates Taylor Swift on her astounding Grammy wins this past Sunday evening. Taylor took home the show’s biggest honor, nabbing Album of the Year for 2009’s best-selling LP, Fearless. At 20, Taylor is the youngest musician to win Album of the Year. Her other Grammy awards included Best Country Album, Best Country Song ("White Horse") and Best Female Country Vocal Performance (“White Horse”). Taylor recorded portions of her album at Sound Kitchen Studios with producer Nathan Chapman and engineer Kenzi Butler.