It is hard to believe that we are over halfway through 2012, so we would like to catch our breath and let you know what we have been up to at the studio.

The stu­dio opened its doors to a long time favorite of ours pro­ducer, label exec­u­tive, and artist 9^th Won­der. 9^th Won­der locked out the stu­dio for a week to work with the entire Jamla Records crew, includ­ing artists Rap­sody, Actual Proof, and Big Remo. The stu­dio was bump­ing all day and all night with a bunch of famous faces com­ing through like NFL super­star Torry Holt and producer/engineer Ter­race Mar­tin. It was a great to have so many tal­ented and nice peo­ple in the stu­dio and we hope to have them back very soon.

As spring rolled on our friends in the Hunters dropped by the stu­dio fresh off their tour with The Kills and Jeff The Broth­er­hood. The Brooklyn-based band brought their brand of heavy, catchy, and noisy rock into the stu­dio to record new tracks for their upcom­ing EP. The band came in with their pro­ducer, the leg­endary gui­tar player James Iha, who was on hand to direct them through a long day of track­ing. Be sure to catch Hunters on their sum­mer tour with A Place To Bury Strangers.

The stu­dio shifted gears this sum­mer as we got ready for the return of the avant-garde jazz/rock band Big Five Chord. The band, led by gui­tarist Jon Lund­bom, came in to record and mix their new album “No New Tunes” that is being released on Hot Cup Records. This is the third album the band has com­pleted at Fire­place Stu­dios and it is always a plea­sure to be sur­rounded by such great musicians.

Some other notable men­tions include pro­ducer Wizz Dumb who cut his teeth under the tute­lage of renowned artist/producer Tim­ba­land. Wizz locked out the stu­dio for sev­eral days to work on a slew of new tracks. We also wel­comed back our friends from Solid Music in Swe­den, includ­ing pro­ducer Jason Gil and artists J-Son and Tima who spent a week in the stu­dio writ­ing tracks for Tima’s upcom­ing album. The stu­dio gained a new client in super­model and singer Jes­sica White who came to the stu­dio for sev­eral ses­sions with promi­nent song­writer Andrea Mar­tin. We also con­tin­ued to work with Sara Quin of Tegan & Sara who used the stu­dio as a home away from home to write tracks for the group’s soon-to-be-released album.

2012 con­tin­ues to be a ban­ner year here at the stu­dio and we would like to thank every­one who has played a part.