With assistance from Dan Russell and Chuck Long, Fingerprint Records and studio were born. Heard began to produce albums for a number of artists including two albums for Randy Stonehill, Jacob's Trouble, Pierce Pettis and 1992's Vigilantes of Love album, "Killing Floor", which he co-produced with R.E.M.'s Peter Buck. Stonehill's "Until We Have Wings" includes a song co-written by Heard, "Faithful", although the CD liner notes credit the song to Heard's pseudonym, "Giovanni Audiori". In 1988 Heard collaborated with Randy Stonehill and other well known artists on "Phil Keaggy and Sunday's Child". In addition to writing and performing credits, he helped with the engineering.