Arch Audio Hosts Milestone Session

Chattanooga, TN (May 26, 2026)—Arch Audio, established by engineer and producer Mark Hutchinson in 2017, has become the first studio in the U.S. to host a commercial tracking session with SSL’s new Oracle analog mixing console.

The two-day project comprised a tracking date with country soul artist Tyson Leamon and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Willie Kitchens, former lead singer of The Impressions, plus a full band. Hutchinson, a 35-plus-year industry veteran, said “I was just getting the tones that I liked.”

Oracle’s instant recall capabilities offer digital control over its fully analog circuitry. ​“We did two full songs; there were big differences between them, but the instant recall just kept us in the zone,” said Hutchinson of the sessions, which Arch Audio hosted in late March. “You don’t have to worry about any of your analog settings—everything just pops right back up. The recall really is a big deal; it significantly enhances how the artists, engineer and studio interact with the console.”

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Hutchinson also made note of being able to bring the channels that he needed to work on to the motorized faders in front of him without ever leaving the sweet spot between the monitors. Each of the two 8-channel bays can be switched to control a different bank of inputs, and they don’t have to be contiguous.

“Having that flexibility, I could have the drums on channels one through eight, for instance, and on the second fader bank have, say, channels 25 to 32. There are two completely separate sets of banks of faders. DAW control could even be assigned to one of them, if I want ITB control on one side, and full analogue control on the other; that’s very powerful,” he noted.

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​As for the sonic performance, he added, “I’ve got a C7 grand piano and I can tell you for a fact, that’s the best that piano has ever sounded. But everything—the guitars, the vocals, everything—really turned out pristine, which is a good word, and just right for that console.”