Secrets Of The Mix Engineers: David R Ferguson Inside Track: Johnny Cash | American VI: Ain?t No Grave Sometimes the simplest-sounding music takes the most work to get right, and so it was with Johnny Cash?s posthumous hit album American VI: Ain?t No Grave. Engineer and mixer David R Ferguson was on hand at every stage of Rick Rubin?s production. Paul Tingen David R Ferguson and Johnny Cash. David R Ferguson and Johnny Cash. Photo: Martyn Atkins H earing Johnny Cash singing the gospel classic ?Ain?t No Grave (Gonna Hold This Body Down)? more than six years after his death is an arresting, evocative experience even for those who never knew the man personally. For those who knew and worked with Cash, the effect was even stronger. David R Ferguson, one of Nashville?s most respected engineers and a long-time collaborator with the singer, was lead engineer and lead mixer on the recently released sixth instalment of Cash?s Rick Rubin-produced American Recording series, American VI: Ain?t No Grave. The engineer recalls: "John was gone and here he was singing ?Ain?t No Grave? to us. When we started mixing that song, everybody on the project literally got goose-bumps on their arms. It was really kind of spooky." The mix sessions took place in the spring of 2006, at Akademie Mathematique Of Philosophical Sound Research, no less -- better known as Rick Rubin?s studio in Los Angeles. They occurred at the tail end of several months of elaborate recording and mixing sessions, during