For the 50th Anniversary of Frampton Comes Alive! and Beyond, Peter Frampton talks Creative Process and Controlling the Session with SSL U Series DAW Controllers

11/12/25

Nashville, Tennessee, December 11 – As the 50th anniversary of the release of the classic 1976 live double album Frampton Comes Alive! approaches, Peter Frampton is finishing up a new full-length album of original material to mark the momentous occasion. Similar to several of Frampton’s recent releases, the project was produced using Solid State Logic equipment, from the 64-channel SSL 4000G at The Studio Phenix, his personal facility, to the U Series DAW controllers favoured by his good friend and longtime collaborator, award-winning producer, engineer and mixer Chuck Ainlay, and at Frampton’s home studio.

Frampton acquired three SSL U Series controllers — a UC1 plug-in controller and a pair of UF8 eight-channel advanced DAW controllers several years ago. Around the same time, Ainlay was outfitting his home facility for Dolby Atmos mixing, saw how Frampton was creating a virtual SSL console, and decided to incorporate a UC1 into his setup. Ainlay subsequently used the UC1, multiple UF8 eight-fader controllers and SSL’s 360° software to create, in collaboration with Frampton, the immersive mix of Frampton Comes Alive!, sourced from the original stereo production master recorded in December 1975 by Doug Sax and released in March 2024.

Composing and arranging with the UF8

Since his diagnosis in 2019 of inclusion body myositis (IBM), a degenerative muscle disease that can affect his dexterity, Frampton will often work at home to craft guitar and piano parts using his UF8 controllers. “They are in my music room, which is basically my second studio,” he explains. “Because these days, with all this beautiful equipment, you can do so much at home. I have a very nice amp closet. My grand piano is in the ‘piano room,’ as I call it; it’s actually my living room. But I realized that my guitar sounded really good in there, too, so I’ve done most of the solos in there and piped them through to my music room.”

Frampton doesn’t do as much mixing as Ainlay, he says. “But I will send a rough mix to Chuck to give him an idea of what I’m hearing. He’s got those magical ears and is just phenomenal. He’s my favorite, and so great to work with. I have done a lot of the pre-mixing on this album, and he’s included me as an engineer and a mixer in the credits on this album — I was blown away!”

Managing multiple tracks and processing

The UF8’s Channel Encoder, a multi-purpose rotary knob that enables the user to quickly bank between tracks in the DAW, is of particular use. “We’ve got so many damn tracks these days,” he says, and using the mouse to scroll through tracks takes you out of the zone. “Being able to scroll is so great. It changes the way I interact with the session.” As for processing, “Thanks to SSL, I now have every plug-in known to man, which is wonderful. The main ones that I use are the Bus Compressor 2 and the 4K E and 4K G Channel Strip plug-ins as they recreate a sound I am very accustomed to.”

Tracking is a more time-consuming process these days than in the past, Frampton says. “I pride myself on being a first-take guy, but sometimes now it’s taking a little longer because of my muscle disease. It’s all about the moment with me, because I don’t contrive solos; they come out of thin air. I’ll do six takes and have lunch, come back and choose what I like out of those takes, then chop and move things about. I’ll have a cup of tea or coffee and do six more takes, and I’ll do a comp of those six. I usually end up with three or four comps of six and then put that together. But a lot of the time it’s one track — it’s just THE moment.”

The inspiration for the new material came during sessions for Frampton Forgets the Words, an album of instrumental covers that he released in 2021, which was recorded at Studio Phenix in Nashville’s Berry Hill neighborhood and at Frampton’s house. “I had written a couple of songs because I was so inspired by what we were doing,” Frampton recalls, “so we recorded five or six tracks for this album, of which three will be used.” The new project, Frampton’s 19th studio album and the first to comprise all-new original songs since 2010’s Thank You Mr. Churchill, was co-produced by Frampton and Ainlay.

Making a world of difference with SSL

“I don’t go near the computer until I’ve got something on guitar or piano; I write very analog. And I don’t use a drum machine, because that locks you in sometimes,” he continues. “For this album, I’ve gone back to writing mainly on acoustic and electric guitar, or piano. I’ll start arranging it in the computer and I’ll either play the part all the way through or I’ll arrange it and play different sections. It made a world of difference, having those SSL U Series controllers.”

The musicians would then record their individual contributions in the studio, replacing the parts in the templates that Frampton produced at home. A couple of the songs were completely live takes by the band in the studio, he reports. “I used my band on some songs, and I used other players just to mix it up. There’s some incredible playing; it’s very exciting,” he says. “I’ve been working on this project for over six years now, so it better be good!”

The album, to be called Carry the Light, will be released on April 10, 206, the 50th anniversary of Frampton Comes Alive! reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The double live album made Frampton a household name almost overnight and sold eight million copies in just the first year, remaining in the charts well into 1977. Voted Album of the Year in Rolling Stone’s 1976 readers’ poll, it generated three enduring hit singles: “Show Me The Way,” “Do You Feel Like We Do” and “Baby, I Love Your Way.” Frampton Comes Alive! remains one of the best-selling live records of all time with reported sales of over 17 million worldwide, at least half of those in the United States.

In 2007, Frampton won a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album for Fingerprints in 2007 and in 2014 he was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame. He received the Les Paul Innovation Award at the TEC Awards at NAMM in 2019 and the following year was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. His autobiography, Do You Feel Like I Do?: A Memoir, written with Alan Light, debuted on The New York Times bestsellers list when it was published in 2020. In 2024, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Thanks to Astin Lord for the images of Peter Frampton.

For the 50th Anniversary of Frampton Comes Alive! and Beyond, Peter Frampton talks Creative Process and Controlling the Session with SSL U Series DAW Controllers

Composing and arranging with the UF8

Managing multiple tracks and processing

Making a world of difference with SSL

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