5 Producers
Dann Huff
Blackbird Studio
Nashville, TN
Huff’s first production project was Chris
Ward’s One Step Beyond with James Stroud
in 1996. His latest feat: producing three
new albums—Keith Urban’s Defying Gravity,
Rascal Flatts’ Unstoppable and Martina
McBride’s Shine—in nine months, for releases
one week apart. His dream session: U2.
Website: None (three albums in nine
months—who has time for a website?)
What is your studio setup? What are
some key pieces of gear you use for
recording guitars?
Our acoustic sounds are really good; they
usually involve three mics that I know as the
skinny and wide mics. With any engineer I
work with, I always emphasize: If you ever
default to anything, it’s a moment rather than
the technical side. I stress being sensitive to
the flow. I would rather take a less-defined
sound than the other way around. I’ve seen
those moments go because of an engineer or
producer having to adhere to some technical
credo. The truth is that someone in Kansas
can’t tell the difference between mics. Sound
is obviously a big part of the deal, but when
it comes down between the two and Keith
[Urban] does a vocal and a part is mic’d for
an acoustic instrument, nine out of ten times I
just lower the vocal mic to the guitar. Content
is king with us.
I have a glorified closet in my house that
I call my studio, but people love coming
here. It’s good because my family is here
and people enjoy that. I have a vocal booth,
we can do some guitar work, and I do a
lot of editing here. I’m usually at Blackbird,
John McBride’s studio. My signal chain…
we have a haphazard approach to doing
guitars: whatever is there at the moment.
There’s a Royer involved, a Shure 57—that’s
easy to remember. Those two seem to be
the two food groups I can’t get away from.
They encompass the body of all sound in any
combination. Each one seems to get what
the other doesn’t. Preamps: Neves tend to
be my choice. An API situation is fine, too.
Distressors, any assortment of dbx160s to
whatever is in the room. Fairchilds, if they’re
in the room. We do a ton of acoustic guitars,
and I never remember the names of the mics.
For the guitarist’s home studio on a bud-
get, where should he invest his (or his girl-
friend’s) money?
For the home studio, I’ll go the sacrilegious
route. There are companies making virtual
guitar stuff that’s stunning. We use it all
the time. The Line 6 POD Farm. I’ve used
Amp Farm since it came out. POD Farm is
