Stephen Melton Review Posted on Nov 22, 2011 at 05:59 PM

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to the people in my wonderful hometown of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. My name is Stephen Melton. I am the longest surviving recording engineer and mixer in the Shoals. I’ve been in the studio more hours than anybody in town. I now live just outside of Washington D.C. and work for the State Department. I never thought I would be living and working in the D.C. area. I would like to take a minute to say I know where you can get one of the best recordings I have had the privilege to work on in my 40 years in any studio! Earlier in the year, Jimmy Johnson called me. Jimmy is one of the famous Muscle Shoals Sound Studio Rhythm Section members and also a great producer. Jimmy asked me if I would come home, engineer and mix a great new artist that found him and asked Jimmy to produce his CD. Jimmy also asked if I could find him a studio where we could record the drums and a couple of instruments on tape, and record the rest of the instruments digitally on Pro Tools. I knew just where to go. Having worked at Abbey Road Studios in London I knew of only on place in the U.S. that could give us the sound we wanted and had all the gear we could possibly ever want or need. Jimmy sent me the rough demos and the songs and artist literally blew me away. I mean blew me away! I took Jimmy and Jason Bertrand to Black Bird Studios in Nashville, The studio belongs to John McBride. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, Martina’s husband and one of the nicest people on earth. John was Garth Brooks mixer on the road and co-owned Claire Brothers a very famous live sound company. Jimmy hired some of the best musicians and engineers in the country to play on Jason’s record. It just so happens that the console I found was a 96 channel API. The largest of it’s kind in the world. Yes ladies and gentlemen, we had the engineers, equipment, producer, players and songs together. Obviously, one of the secrets to this project is Jason’s writing. This is the first project that I have worked on in forty years that I loved, or liked all of the songs on the CD. Did you hear me? Let me repeat that. Jason Bertrand’s CD is the first CD in decades that I have loved or liked every song on the CD. You can’t even begin to imagine how many great songs I worked on or heard in my career. The songs have fire, passion, humor, and soul and I’m just getting started!. Ladies and Gentlemen if you want a great record, with great songs, a great artist, awesome players and sounds great too! This is it. It will be in your collection for the rest of your life. Get Jason & The Haymakers, “True-Original-American-Country!” You’ll get your stocking stuffed! You can get Jason’s CD at www.jhaymakers.com.

Everyone have a great Christmas! Love, Peace, and Happiness! Stephen Melton