GUITARIST/PRODUCER DOUG HAMBLIN INSTALLS DAKING COMPRESSORS IN THE DUGOUT

Hamblin, who has led his own band and also performed, written and/or toured with Southside Johnny Lyon, Stephen Stills, Johnny Rivers, Bruce Willis and Ivan Neville, is utilizing the two Daking FET Compressors in the mixdown signal path from his digital audio workstation.

"I'm using them to go from my digital multi-track to my mix bus, mixing down to tape," explains Hamblin. "I am always trying to get the mixes to be more punchy and warm, and less of that digital thing. It seems to me that with these Daking boxes and going to half-track tape it pulls everything together just right."

Hamblin, who began busking as a teenager in the streets of San Francisco, continues, "As a musician/producer, as opposed to an engineer/producer, I guess I'm partial to the vintage gear and analog stuff. I've tried to marry that to digital technology and use what's good about both. I have this theory that the more knobs an amp has, the worse it sounds. I like gear that's straight up, and does the job, and has some character to it. That's how I ended up with the Daking compressors."

Hamblin happened upon the Daking FET Compressor/Limiters while researching the optimal units to install in his mix chain, as he recalls. "I had an idea of what I was looking for in my sound chain and I was reading an interview with Chris Lord-Alge where he mentioned these Daking units. He was raving about them. I thought, they sounded pretty good, so I gave them a shot. And, you know, I'm glad I did. They sound fantastic!"

The Daking FET Compressors are getting a good workout at The Dugout, where Hamblin is typically found busy juggling several client projects along with his own solo recordings. "I'm currently co-producing an album of roots music with Johnny Rivers. I've worked with Johnny on the road, writing, in the studio, for years and years. We started out just sort of kicking ideas around, almost demo style, but the vocals and guitar sounds we were getting were just so good, we had to finish them. We called Jim Keltner in on drums, and two tracks finally ended up on the 2-CD Secret Agent Man Anthology, released last fall on the Shout Factory label. "I was at Capitol when JR was doing the remastering - from the original vault tapes - of "Secret Agent Man," "Poor Side of Town," and the others. It was encouraging to hear how my tracks stacked up alongside them!" Other musicians featured on the Rivers project include Chris Hillman, Herb Pederson and Bob Glaub. "Tweaking the room and the mics is an ongoing process, and I'm feeling really good about the way it's sounding," says Hamblin. "I think the Daking compressors have definitely taken the quality of the mixes up a level."

Hamblin has also been working on some jingles with Bobby Hart, formerly of Boyce & Hart, the songwriters, performers and producers behind the early Monkees albums and TV series soundtrack. For the past 15 years Hamblin has also played with Bruce Willis' band, The Accelerators, touring with him worldwide, and now and then supplying guitar for Willis projects such as "The Whole Nine Yards," and the animated "Bruno The Kid" series for Film Roman. "I've also cut some back porch style blues tracks with just myself on Dobro and Bruce on harmonica, that is so cool. It shocks people, when I tell 'em who it is. Who knows, maybe someday he'll decide to release it!"

"I'm really impressed with Geoff's product, and with Geoff," comments Hamblin. "I think that the customer support is excellent and he is very personable. Maybe its because he's a musician himself, so he 'gets it'. It's not like some of these companies where you can't get hold of anybody on the phone."

Hamblin first recorded in 1977 with the late Bay Area blues man Stu Blank, and the new wave band, Jo Allen and The Shapes. After a stint in New Orleans, he became a fixture in the Bay Area blues circuit and, in 1988, he teamed with vocalist Jan Fanucci and released a critically-acclaimed debut album of blues originals that reached Billboard Magazine's Top Ten Radio charts, receiving a BAMMY nomination for Blues Artist of the Year in the process. Doug relocated to L.A. in the early 90s. In 1998, he served as music director at the 4th Annual Blues Foundation Lifetime Achievement Awards, backing R&B legends Ruth Brown, Bobby 'Blue' Bland and Ray Charles. Hamblin's original score for POV documentary, "Tobacco Blues," received a 2002 New York Times Critic's Pick.

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