Meet Fruity
Founder & chief engineer, Fruity Smooth Productions
Steven Heinz (Fruity Smooth) AKA Fruity is a veteran guitarist, bassist, and recording engineer with over four decades of deep-rooted presence in the Pacific Northwest music scene.
It started in the early 1980s with the bands Obsession and Polytechnique. In 1984 the members built a custom 8-track recording studio, Big Fish Studios, and that's where Fruity cut his music production and engineering teeth.
Later, Fruity’s band Strange Cause for Gladness opened for Seattle club acts featuring members who went on to form Screaming Trees, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden.
Today, as founder and chief engineer of Fruity Smooth Productions, he combines decades of live performance instinct with digital mastering precision in Cubase—delivering premier recording, engineering, and audio production for modern digital platforms.
The path so far
- 1981Starts playing guitar and bass in Obsession, which grows into Polytechnique.
- 1984Builds Big Fish Studios, an 8-track recording studio, with Polytechnique.
- Strange Cause for GladnessPlays guitar and bass in the Pacific Northwest scene, opening for acts whose members went on to form Screaming Trees, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.
- TodayFounder and chief engineer of Fruity Smooth Productions, recording, mixing and mastering in Cubase.