Studio owner and producer, Scott Smith has augmented his long-standing home studio, The Wood and Stone Room with the new Audient iD48 audio interface. A staunch Audient fan – he’s got both ASP800 and a vintage Mico mic pre in his toolkit – the addition of iD48 is part of a deliberate effort to create a “lean and mean” workspace where he’s been operating for a staggering 24 years.
Audient caught up with him recently to find out what he’s been doing since he and his partner Jennifer Ferguson Smith – together they are music group, Naked Blue – released their Jack Reacher inspired album, Just The Clothes On My Back, as well as how his setup has developed over the years.
But first we had to ask how he was getting on with his latest Audient acquisition, iD48.
I replaced the iD44 with the brand new iD48. Something every Audient fanboy/fangirl has been hoping would appear. Obviously Audient was listening and delivered in spades. I’ve definitely streamlined my setup the past year. The new acquisition gave me the impetus to tear everything apart, do a complete rewiring/re-configuring, and quite frankly de-cluttering of the space. Realizing I do most of my work in the box these days allowed me to build a lean and mean work space.
“iD48 is just a fantastic piece of gear” – Scott Smith
I’m really enjoying the clean and sparse current setup. The great thing is that if I change my mind and want to add a rack of external gear again, I’ve got great options for implementing into the current setup due to the iD48’s beautiful in/out scheme.
How has your setup evolved?
As a kid my setup started out in the tape world… actually 2 tape machines with awkward bouncing maneuvers to get my overdubs. From there the starving musician option was the Fostex and Tascam cassette 4 tracks. A quick jump back to 1 inch tape, onto the ADAT form, and finally the advent of an affordable digital option.
“a full featured studio interface for beginners to pros”
Flash forward and I’ve been firmly embedded in the ProTools world for years now. Although I often reflect on the simplicity, and the “not having so many damn options” of yesteryear. There is something to be said of having to make decisions early on, and focusing on the performance rather than thinking of how you may fix something later on down the road. I try to find a good balance of using and not abusing the technology now available. It’s a fine line sometimes, and I’m glad I’m old enough to have experienced both.
Ultimately, my first question is “Is this song even worthy of recording, and can we do anything to make it better before we even push the button?” So far it’s been serving me well.
What does iD48 bring to the party?
The iD48 is just a fantastic piece of gear. The preamps alone are worth the price of admission. But, add in the mixer/cue/monitoring features, plus the advent of the 8 ins and outs coupled with a digital “patchbay” and you have a full featured studio interface for beginners to pros. Something that won’t become outdated and irrelevant in a couple of years.
“everything syncs and clocks perfectly and runs as smooth as glass”
And, honestly… I’m so glad Audient hasn’t gone down the road of adding internal effects to your products. To me that just dates a piece of gear, and sort of paints you into a corner by making things easier to do rather than letting your imagination roam free.
The digital inputs allow me to expand my setup as big as I need to. Everything syncs and clocks perfectly and runs as smooth as glass on bigger sessions. I also love the clean, uncluttered look of the box. It fits in perfectly with my new ‘less is more’ setup and philosophy.
How easy has it been to fit iD48 into your workflow?
It was a seamless transition as I was already using the iD44, and well versed in the mixer/monitoring features. Initially I thought I was really going to miss the desktop form of the iD44, but racking the iD48 up allows me to keep cable management under better control. I only had to adjust to the physical locations of the buttons which quickly happened.
“the preamps alone are worth the price of admission”
One huge plus for me has been the inserts available across all the channels rather than just the two of the iD44. I have the option of using 8 separate pres/compressors/EQs/etc for both tracking OR mixing without ever having to touch a cable. That’s brilliant.
Additionally, I’m currently using some of the separate out onlys to run to an independent headphone amp that allows me easy access to a ‘More Me’ mix for players. It’s a fast way to grab one knob and make a bass player happy rather than pull up the cue mix in the heat of a performance.
Do you and Jennifer both work and play in this studio? Does she have any thoughts about iD48 and your latest setup?
We do! It’s in our house, so there’s really no excuse to be lazy. If I’m busy producing another artist, she gets to hear everything that happens leaking up through the floorboards. She also guest sings, plays, and lays down the occasional cello track on other projects I’m working on.
The current setup is so streamlined that I flip on one switch, and everything is up and ready to go. She loves the efficiency of that as do I. There’s nothing worse than having to wait for something to be cobbled together, or wait for something to be wired up when inspiration strikes.
What have you been working on most recently?
The thing I’m most excited about is our new Naked Blue record. We thought we were only going to release singles from this point forward just because of the nature of the current music industry. A fan insisted that we make a full length record, and we thought: “Why not?” It’s fun to look at a group of songs as a whole, and to make a bigger piece of art. And while we’re not so much about chasing the industry this time for any reason, we can just approach it as art for art’s sake. It feels good. No pressure, our own timeline, and no motive other than hoping somebody out there finds it pleasing as well.
“humans are flawed and imperfect. Let’s keep that in art”
Recently I’ve also been trying to track as much live performance as I can. My room is small, with no real separation, but it’s my favorite way to track. I’ll gladly sacrifice some bleed noise for the capture of real humans playing music together at the same time. There’s magic that happens there that no plug-in could ever emulate. Things have gotten so perfect and flawless due to technology.
And, AI is coming for all of us… so I’m railing back with imperfection and rawness whenever I can. I’m really hoping that the next generation can hear and feel the difference, and stop the monster from completely taking over. I mean, it’s amazing what Suno can do, but I sure hope that that doesn’t become what music is. And I hope I don’t come off as a guy just ranting about ‘the good old days’. I like technology, and it’s certainly helpful in my music and production. I just think it would be a shame to lose the human connection in any of the arts. And humans are flawed and imperfect. Let’s keep that in art.
That said, I recently did the live recording for a video production for ‘Speakers of The House’. Four guys in a room playing beautifully together in one take:
Another track that was recently recorded mostly live and put to video was Wyatt Easterling:
Since releasing your collection of songs written with best-selling crime writer Lee Child, do you have any other collaborations with thriller novelists in the works?! [read more on that on the Audient website here]
Ha! not yet… but there was a cool little documentary about the Jack Reacher Project that just came on all of the streaming platforms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmeXDSB4XK4 It’s a fun look at the making of that record, and how songwriters and a novelist were able to come together and create a fun batch of songs.
We just recently played a show at Bouchercon 2025 in New Orleans which is a huge mystery writer’s convention, and met a lot of famous writers… so you never know 🙂
We look forward to hearing how that unfolds, then! Thanks, Scott.
Find out more about the formidable songwriting and recording duo, Naked Blue here. Visit The Wood And Stone Room studio here and see what Scott’s up to on Instagram here.