Composer, producer

“To say that the Useful Arts dual mic pre revolutionized my recordings is an understatement. I’ve gone through dozens of mic pres including just about every 500 series, tube and class A design on the market and came to the conclusion that no “holy grail” existed. Several years ago I paired down to a few of my favorite flavors and ended my search. To be honest, the thought of demo-ing any more mic pres made me queasy. 
 

But when Peter called to tell me about a new mic pre he had developed, I was intrigued. Peter had built me some phenomenal pieces in the past so I knew his stuff was top notch. Upon receiving the unit I called a few friends and organized a day of recording with tempered expectations. 

I threw up a couple of mics and was immediately blown away. The SFP-60 had a quality that I gave up searching for years ago. The recordings had a three dimensional quality that I’ve never been able to achieve, especially since switching to a DAW many years ago. I could hear the air in front, to the sides and behind the recorded sources. The difference was astounding, like going from black and white to technicolor. Everything sounded so much better, acoustic and electric guitars, vocals, piano, percussion. The other thing that struck me was that my not so perfect room just sounded fantastic.  To sum it up the SFP-60 just sounds “correct” to me. It dawned on me that I had finally found the pre of my dreams. 

The most interesting component of the SFP-60 is the color knob. On low settings the quality is more modern and transparent. Things get very interesting on the higher settings with a more “classic” sound reminiscent of the golden age of recording. Suffice to say the color knob lived on the higher settings for the recordings. 

These days the SFP-60 is the heart of my setup. EVERYTHING goes through that machine and my recordings have never sounded better. It has really re-invigorated my passion for recording, i couldn’t recommend it enough.”