Live From Smoking Nun: Alex Cutler’s Art of Live Recording

The music world has become obsessed with perfection, flawless vocals, programmed drums and studio silence so clean it feels computer-generated. The audiophiles with their spotless mixes seem to have won in the listening experience wars over the old-school purists who miss the hissing and buzzing. Where did all the live albums go? Surely NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert isn’t this generation’s MTV Unplugged — and it never could be, because Tiny Desk Concerts don’t have Katy Perry singing her best version of “I Kissed a Girl” in her pre-space-travel days. But in a Midvale basement, owner of Smoking Nun Recordings Alex Cutler gives bands a chance to offer their listeners an alternative experience that captures who they are in a way that a studio album or music video never could.

“The process adds a ton of depth and space to the record and makes it feel like you’re at a live show.”

An Ohio native, Cutler began as a musician before learning to record himself and later training at studios in his home state. After interning at the renowned Prairie Sun Recording in Cotati, California, he moved to Utah to be with his partner and start fresh. He now splits his time between his home studio and the Smoking Nun mixing room inside Church & State in downtown Salt Lake City, fine-tuning projects once the sessions are completed. “If I wanted to be as good as I could be, I needed to have my own space to work every day,” he says. “Regardless of whether there’s a session happening or not, just messing around and learning as much as I possibly could.”

“I want every band that comes through here to sound like themselves.”

The Live From Smoking Nun series came later, born from Cutler’s appreciation for the natural happenings when musicians play in real time. “Bands love to play live, and that part of recording is usually the most fun,” he says. “I wanted to make it its own thing.”

Though Cutler is a meticulous audio engineer by trade, the series allows him to showcase the technical clarity of his craft while creatively preserving the purity and honesty of live performance. To recreate the atmosphere of a live show, Cutler takes an unconventional approach once the performances are over. “I’ll individually blast the drum mics through my PA system into room mics, and I’ll re-record a PA version of all the drum tracks. Then I’ll do the same with the guitars and the vocals,” he says. “The process adds a ton of depth and space to the record and makes it feel like you’re at a live show, getting blasted in the face by a PA.”

“I’d love to look back one day and know that I was a positive influence for young engineers.”

When I ask about standout performances, Cutler hesitates to name favorites, saying each performance feels part of a larger project. Across its two seasons, Live From Smoking Nun has hosted a diverse lineup of Utah’s underground acts and touring artists. “The goal was never to focus on one sound,” Cutler says. “I want every band that comes through here to sound like themselves.” Recent episodes have featured Plumeria, a Utah-based heavy-psych band whose session opened the new season, alongside names like JACK, Mortus and most recently, Patrick Spitzer.

As the series and business continue to grow, Cutler says he’s still thinking about what’s next for Smoking Nun and his own career. “Mentorship is extremely important in this industry,” he says. “I’d love to look back one day and know that I was a positive influence for young engineers.” Cutler has a clear goal for what he wants to contribute to the recording world, which is to preserve the humanity that technological advancement often waters down. “I’m trying to keep the human element alive in music,” he says. “There are 10 billion ways to make a record, but the only thing that matters is if you feel something when you hit play.”

Check them out at smokingnunrecordings.com, follow @smokingnunrecordings on Instagram and watch every single episode of Live From Smoking Nun on YouTube.

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