I read and enjoy every one of your emails – you always make sense – and sometimes I agree so emphatically that I must respond.

Blackbird Studios is a work of art. I have spent hours there with John, swapping my Beatles stories for proximity to (and use of) his EXTRAORDINARY collection of instruments and equipment. Like the ultimate sonic sommelier he will recommend a rare East German Neumann valve microphone, a vintage Martin or a particular Fairchild limiter for a specific task – and he is always right. What John has done may turn out to be the equivalent of the monks ensuring that certain vital illuminated texts survived the dark ages.

I have had the ineffable pleasure of recording at Blackbird several times, most notably producing a duet with Martina McBride and Raul Malo (two of the best singers in the world) on a song by Randy Newman (certainly one of the best songwriters in the world), "Feels like Home". I like my job.

I have only a very few friends or acquaintances whom I could confidently describe as a genius. George Massenburg is one of them. His room at Blackbird is quite extraordinary. I once asked him whether the length of the wood refractors you describe was random – he responded that it was much more random than that! Listening to music in that room (let alone the joy of mixing in it) is a revelation.

Don’t get me wrong – I love digital technology, embrace every new trick and am not any kind of Luddite; but the conception and practice of (how shall I put it?) "High Fidelity" is a very valuable one. And it SOUNDS so good!

Thanks Bob.

Peter Asher