Joss Stone, Lonestar, Maroon 5, Story of the Year and others performed for Sessions@AOL at Avatar (NYC) with engineers Greg Thompson and Anthony Ruotolo. Elliot Scheiner and producer Bobby Columby recorded Sting's vocals for a Chris Botti track, while Glenn Rosenstein came in to produce an album for Livingston Taylor with engineer Joe Ferla. Los Lonely Boys recorded an acoustic version of “Heaven” with engineer/A&R man Angelo Montrone…Speaking of LLB, their label, Or Music, chose the Cutting Room (NYC) to remix a song for jam band Particle. Others on the cutting room floor include actor/R&B artist Will Smith, rock band Orange Park and indie acts Kay Slay and the Bran Nubians…Cheap Trick stopped in PIE Studios (Glen Cove, NY) to track a song, while post-punk band Reunion Show (Victory Records) came in to record drums with producer Bill Wittman and engineer George Fullan…Sound on Sound (NYC) reports another active month, with Quincy Jones working on mixes for Universal International's “We Are the Future” project with producer Mark Ross and engineer Paul Logus. American Idol fave Fantasia also tracked her J Records album with producer Swizz Beatz and engineer Steve Conover…“Breakthrough” band Breaking Benjamin tracked and mixed their sophomore release, We Are Not Alone, which features co-writes with Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan, with producer/mixer David Bendeth at Mirror Image Recorders (NYC)…Tony Bennett wrapped up his new album at his son's place, Bennett Studios (NYC), with producer Phil Ramone and mix engineer/studio owner Dae Bennett. On a much different note, Franz Ferdinand worked on an MTV special in Bennett's video production suite…The New York Philharmonic kept Manhattan Center's (NYC) Grand Ballroom hoppin' when their 102-piece orchestra came in to rehearse…Gateway Mastering (Portland, ME) reports recent sessions with the Brian Setzer Orchestra, SheDaisy, J.D. Natasha, Lara Fabian and Keith Urban, among others…Lynyrd Skynyrd performed their pronounced ‘leh-’nerd ‘skin-’nerd album at XM Satellite Radio's (Washington, D.C.) 60,000-square-foot facility for an upcoming “Live at XM” Series. Steve Cross mixed…*Nsync's Chris Kirkpatrick recorded solo material with producer/SR-71 frontman Mitch Allan and engineer Scott Spelbring at Dragonfly Studio (Haymarket, VA). Spelbring also engineered Allan's forthcoming CD, Clawing My Way to the Middle.

Catalyst Recording (Charlotte, NC) welcomed rock band Grand Society, who recorded a five-song EP with producer Rob Tavaglione; Tavaglione also engineered a six-song EP for alt-country act Stephen Fell Asunder, which was produced by Steve Smith; meanwhile, nu-metal band Joshua's Whisper tracked 10 songs in nine hours…Cleveland-based country trio Treble Bay visited Cartee Day Studios (Nashville) to record material for their debut album with producers Jeff Ronay and Steve Crowder Ronay.

The Jim and Kay Mabie Performance Studio, located in the Chicago Public Radio complex, stays busy with in-house and outside projects. Jazz pianist Marian McPartland recorded shows for her NPR Piano Jazz Series with guests Ramsey Lewis and Jodie Christian…Paragon Recording (Chicago) welcomed Sun Records legend Hayden Thompson, who recorded a project for St. George Records. Blues guitarist Charles Hayes also tracked tunes for the St. George label, and was produced by George Paulus; Jack LeTourneau produced songs for local acts Trading Brains and The LaVellas.

Producer/Talking Head Jerry Harrison, engineer Eric “E.T.” Thorngren and assistant Matt Cohen recorded 10 shows in 11 days for guitar whiz Kenny Wayne Shepherd's forthcoming CD and 5.1 DVD release; they're mixing the project at Harrison's studio, Sausalito Sound (San Francisco). Harrison and Tommy Lipnick produced and mixed ex-Candlebox vocalist Kevin Martin's version of the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic “Sweet Home Alabama” for an upcoming Skynyrd tribute album. Thorngren engineered and Cohen assisted…San Francisco Bay Area-based singer/songwriter Brad Wolfe completed his debut album, which was recorded with producers Adam Rossi and Joey Muller at Bay View Studios (Richmond, CA), Coast Recorders (San Francisco) and Studio 880 (Oakland, CA).

Dan Lavery of Tonic was in at Westlake Audio's (Los Angeles) Studio A recording a song for an upcoming Windup Records compilation inspired by The Passion of the Christ. Lavery produced, while Jeff Powell engineered.

Gary Hickinbotham broke in Syntaur Productions' (New Braunfels, TX) new Sony DMX-R100 console to mix a live CD for the Center for Texas Music History, which features Ray Benson (Asleep At the Wheel), Sisters Morales and Chris Wall, among others…Singer/songwriter Tody Castillo is recording his full-length debut at SugarHill Studios (Houston) with engineer Steve Christensen.