About Ira
Ira Merrill has been a singer/songwriter, musician, and all-around recording nerd for years in the Seattle music scene. Over time, he’s lent his voice, guitar, and general sonic obsessiveness to bands like Common Heroes, Pris, Run For It Marty, Super Deluxe, The Finger Guns, Rain Light Fade, and Crashdown Butterfly. These days, he plays with Americana folk-rock outfit The Oh Wells. Ira also founded OrangePants Records—a lovingly tongue-in-cheek “record label” where his many musical projects go to quietly gather digital dust (and the occasional listen).
All that said, this chapter is about helping you make great music. So throw on your singer/songwriter hat—and let’s get to it.
Studio Tour
Our studio is a small room in a house, but it’s all we need. Here’s a (very) short tour!
Hardware
- Macbook Pro M4 Max w/64 gigs RAM
- Yamaha HS5 Powered Studio Monitors
- Daking Mic Pre One
- Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
- PreSonus BlueMAX Smart Compressor
- JoeMeek ThreeQ Optical Compressor
- Sterling SHA4 Headphone Amp
- M-Audio Oxygen 61 Key MIDI Controller
Software
- Logic Pro X
- Plugins by Waves, Native Instruments, SoundToys, Universal Audio, Kazrog, Kiive, IK Multimedia, Arturia, Mastering The Mix, Valhalla DSP, Safari Pedals and more, along with countless virtual instruments
Microphones
- Shure SM-57
- Shure SM-58
- Shure SM-7B
- Sennheiser E-835
- Sennheiser MD 421
- AKG Perception 120
- AKG C-414-B ULS
- Warm Audio WA-14 Classic
Headphones
- Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro X Limited Edition Studio Headphones
- Sony MDR-7506 MDR-7506 Professional Stereo Monitor Headphones
Acoustic Guitars
- 1990 Guild D-30 Acoustic
- 2024 Epiphone “Inspired By Gibson” Hummingbird Acoustic
- Banjitar I borrowed from Brian and refuse to give back 😉
Electric Guitars
- 2002 Danelectro U-2 Reissue
- 2005 Fender Telecaster
- 2024 Gretsch Center Block Electromatic
Bass
- 2005 Fender P-Bass
Percussion
- Tambourine: LP151 Cyclops, Steel Jingles, Red, Hand Held
- Shaker: Latin Percussion LP441 Soft Shake, Black
Studio Cat
