Every Studio Needs a DFA Fader
Every studio used to have one — the legendary DFA fader.
It started as a bit of an in-joke in recording sessions. You’d get the over-enthusiastic A&R person dropping by, keen to “add their touch” to the record…
“Can we bring up the guitar a bit?”
The producer, without missing a beat, would gesture toward the DFA fader.
The A&R would lean in, push it up…
The band would nod approvingly.
Everyone looked happy.
Nothing changed.
Because DFA stood for: Does F** All.*
And Then There Was the DFA Pedal…
The late, great Mo Foster had his own take on it.
Back in the day, session guitarists could earn double fees for “doubling” — often just by adding a simple effect pedal into the chain.
Mo, understandably, had enough of that.
So he invented his own solution: the DFA pedal.
A pedal that, you guessed it… did absolutely nothing.
And with that, he started charging doubling fees too.
A small piece of studio folklore — and a reminder that sometimes, perception is everything.
