Disclaimer    -- --     Date 10/29/26  5:04

It is well known that human memory is unreliable, especially after a long time.  Furthermore, no two people will see or hear the same thing in any given situation.  This memoir is not intended to be the absolute truth of what happened a long time ago, but rather a picture of what I experienced at the time.  I have tried to limit my writing to events that I experienced firsthand.

If you know any of this stuff to be inaccurate, please leave a comment.

Instructions: Click on text to display the table of contents.

                          Use Ctrl+click to follow links.

Background

I am a 13th-generation American born in  Massachusetts.  My interests are a combination of business, science, and art.  I am a lifelong entrepreneur, and it was always my dream to design and make products. I have lived in many parts of the U.S.A. as well as England and Holland.

Moving around a lot influenced my development: I remember one incident that changed my life: when I was too young to go to school, I was playing in the backyard of our house somewhere
in Illinois, when my mother opened the back door and said, "Better come in now; we have to move again".
I immediately said to myself, "That does it! I'm never going to make friends with anyone again,
because as soon as I do, we have to move away and break my heart!
As it happened, it prevented me from getting close to people for the rest of my life. I like people, and
can get along with anybody, but I don't have close relationships with human beings. Small incidents
can have life-changing effects on small children

The one talent I had was that I could read. I don't know how or where I learned to read, but at that time, Massachusetts was known for their good schools. My father was a reader, and the first book he gave me was the biography of Eli Whitney, a Massachusetts inventor in the 18th century. Some of his inventions literally did change the world.

When the family moved to California around 1953, I was in second grade, and I was baffled by the fact that the kids in California couldn't read. I actually thought there was something wrong with them, like some kind of a disease.

I like to think that any success I had was because I knew how to read.

My career as a dilettante...

At age 12, I wanted to become a  nuclear physicist and industrialist.  In college, I majored in physics, and my heroes were Buckminster Fuller and Bertrand Russell, but now I'm just a dabbler.

So from 1967 to 1970, I dabbled in making records.  From 1968 to 1975, I dabbled in making equipment for recording studios, and in 1985, I started developing products for optical disc manufacturing.

I also like to think of myself as a sort of "Forrest Gump" character, just drifting through life whichever way the wind takes me.  More of an observer than a participant.

Music

At about age 8, my parents took us to a Tchaikovsky concert at the Hollywood Bowl.  It was a wonderful warm summer night with perfume in the air, and when they played "Waltz of the Flowers" I swear I felt something snap inside my head!  The experience had an effect on me.  I didn't know what it was at the time, but I think I wanted to capture the feeling I had that night.  I got a record of "Nutcracker Suite" and wore it out!

I don't know where I heard about tape recording, but from that time forward, I wanted a tape recorder more than anything else.  I'd never even seen one, except in the Sears Roebuck catalog, but somehow I felt that it could capture feelings like that night at the Hollywood Bowl.  I wanted to "capture lightning in a bottle".  I also wanted to build a dream recorder. Wouldn't that be fun?

Around age 9, I took up the violin.  I loved the sound of it; so expressive!  I did OK for a while, and even played first chair in a community orchestra for kids.  But by the time I was 12, other 12 year-olds got better, and I didn't.  Should have practiced more!  Anyway, at age 16, I took up the alto saxophone.  My sister introduced me to Dave Brubek and Amad Jamal, so by now, I was mainly listening to Jazz.

A few of the saxophone players I admired were Paul Desmond, Johnny Hodges, and Hank Crawford.  Johny Hodges was Dute Elinton's alto player and played so sweet and simple.  I liked Hank Crawford (Ray Charles's alto player) because he played just like Ray Sang.

Chapter 1 -- Skyhill Drive

A Trip Down Memory Lane...

In 1962, while driving home from high school, “Green Onions” by Booker T. and the M.G.s came on the radio. It got me right away, and I remember saying to myself, “That’s what a record ought to sound like!” Besides the fact that the music was way cool, it was also the sound and the arrangement. It was so clear and open and punchy. No ambiguity or confusion.  Ever since then, Booker T. & the M.G.s has been my favorite band!  Little did I realize that 5 years later I would be recording Booker T. & the M.G.s at STAX Records in Memphis!

Several years later, I found out that UCLA had an on-campus radio station, which broadcast just to the campus. I thought it might be fun to become a disk jockey; just sit around all day and play records! The perfect job!I I quickly found out that being a disk jockey was entirely different than I imagined. But I also found that people in the music business are not technically oriented. So, I quickly became chief engineer of the station because of my background in physics. Around this time, I figured out that recording music in digital format would eliminate many of the shortcomings of recorded music.

So ever since then, it had been my ambition to build a digital tape recorder capable of recording high-quality sound in real time.

Not long afterward, I was in the UCLA Job Placement Center, and I found a notice on the bulletin board:  "Recording Engineer; will train." Call Mr. Russell". It sounded like the perfect job, so I called up and made an appointment. The studio was in a house on Skyhill Drive in Hollywood, and “Mr. Russell” was Leon Russell, who was a top studio session player at the time.I never aspired to become a musician or recording engineer, especially not as a career.  I was just interested in tape recorders, and recording music was fun.

Leon wanted someone he could train himself, because he didn’t like the way regular studios operated.

This was about 1966, and the '60s were a transitional period in the music industry.  Not only was the music changing, but the way records were made was changing too, and much of it was experimental.  Leon was somewhat of a pioneer in record production, like Phil Spector or Brian Wilson.

Leon Russell

I was fortunate to learn how to make records from Leon. He was an amazingly talented guy.

The first meeting was very different from what I expected. I was told that Leon had a recording studio in his house, but I didn’t expect a full-blown professional setup. That was very rare in those days. It was not fancy, but it was as good as almost any serious studio in Hollywood at that time.

The entire ground level was taken over by the studio. The decor in the house was "early hippie." Bare linoleum floors with no rugs, and various walls spray painted black or neon green. Nothing was ever finished: walls were typically partly painted or otherwise unfinished. There was a Steinway grand piano and a couch in the living room, and nothing else. Leon’s bedroom had a bed and a dresser. I don’t remember any other furniture. But it was perfect for the intended purpose. It was clear that Leon was serious about what he was doing.

I think I got the job because of my experience at the radio station, the fact that I knew who Jim Keltner and  Korla Pandit were, plus I had some of Leon's obscure records that he produced.

At that time, Leon's hair was shoulder length, and he had the beginnings of a mustache and beard.  He typically wore blue jeans, cowboy boots, and a western-style shirt with snaps instead of buttons.

Leon had a peculiar walk and pose.  He limped and held his right arm like it was in a sling.  At first, I thought it was an affectation, but he later told me that he had polio as a child, and his right side was partially paralyzed.

At that time, he drove a big, black Cadillac with a phone so he wouldn't miss a call for a recording session.

I was also blown away by the sound in the control room. I’d never heard anything like that. It not only sounded like "live," but it was better! The room was fairly small, probably 10’ x 12’. Mixing position was probably only 5’ from the speakers, and in those days, we listened really loud just because it sounded so good.

Leon was very nice and treated me very well.  He took me to Capitol Records and RCA studios to witness recording sessions with people like Sonny & Cher and Wayne Newton.  We also used to eat at a sidewalk hamburger stand on Vine Street, directly across from the Capitol Records building.

Leon was not only a great piano player but also a great bandleader and arranger.  He was the arranger and conductor on the Wayne Newton session, with a live 40 piece orchestra.  Leon rehearsed the orchestra briefly while waiting for Wayne to appear.  While running down one  song, Leon stops and says, "Third violin—at bar 79 that's a b-flat."  It blew my mind that he could hear that, although I suppose any good orchestra conductor could do that.  To me, it was magic!

Leon told me that he had a "photographic" memory for sound.  He claimed he remembered every sound he heard, and if you slammed a car door, he could tell you what key it was in.  I don’t know if that's true, but he certainly had an ear for music.

There was a constant stream of musicians coming and going, all interesting, talented people, so I was having fun. Leon was a member of the legendary group of Hollywood studio musicians that was known as “The Wrecking Crew.” These were some of the best musicians in the country, and probably the world. They were in demand for recording sessions because they could play anything at sight in one take without mistakes and therefore minimize the expense of the recording session. In those days, it took big money to make a record. Now, anyone can make a record in their bedroom with an Apple laptop.

Leon once told me that for a gag, he wrote a guitar part that was physically impossible to play. But Tommy Tedesco played it at sight in one take without blinking!

The Skyhill “house band” I remember at the time was Leon Russell, Ed Davis, Bill Boatman, Chuck Blackwell, John Gallie, and Carl Radle. I really enjoyed working with that band.

I was a full-time physics student in my senior year at UCLA at the time. The schedule at Skyhill started at 1PM and continued until maybe 1AM. I don’t remember how many days a week I worked, but I remember I made $75 a week.

After a while, Leon invited me to come live at Skyhill. I accepted and moved in. I got the biggest bedroom (except for Leon’s), and poor Mark Benno had to live in a closet! I still feel bad about that…

After I moved in, I just quit going to school. I didn’t notify the school or anything; I just quit showing up. By now, it was clear that I wasn’t going to make a living as a physicist. I was more interested in practical applications. I studied physics only because I wanted to know what the laws of nature are. I figured that if I just knew the laws of nature, everything else would follow.

In retrospect, I guess that plan more or less worked out. My father was an inventor, and that’s what I wanted to be. I also discovered, starting with the UCLA radio station, that the majority of people in the music and audio business didn’t know anything about physics (sound, acoustics, electronics, etc.)! So that gave me a big advantage over most others.

One of my first projects was the Delaney & Bonnie “Home” album. I remember that one well, especially “Piece of My Heart.” My recollection is that Bonnie sang it live in the living room, so she was somewhat isolated from the band in the studio. I just remember that it was a moving experience!

It was the Delaney & Bonnie record that allowed me to work with Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn. It worked out pretty well for the band too, as their next album caught the attention of the likes of Eric Clapton and George Harrison.

I also remember Lenny Waronker, who asked me every 5 minutes, “Is this any good?” I was shocked that the president of Warner Bros. Records was asking me if it was “any good.”

Leon and I got along really well. Leon was very kind to me, and at one time, we were like best friends, or at least as close to "best friends" as I can get. But I do have to explain that at that time, I was very shy and had no social skills whatsoever (and still don’t). I like people and can get along with just about anybody, but I don’t have relationships. I don’t “hang out” or socialize in any way.  I suspect that Leon suffered from the same affliction.

I also really liked the guys in the band.  I thought they were all really nice people.  I especially liked Carl Radle and John Gallie.

Most of the band and artists were friends of Leon's from Tulsa.  I remember seeing a letter he sent to his buddies in Tulsa, saying, "You all should come out to California, and we can make records".

I don’t recall having any serious discussions with Leon about anything. I was awed by musicians with his level of talent, which was all a mystery to me. We once had a deal where Leon would teach me music, and I would teach him electronics. Didn’t last long, though.

Leon worked the band really hard. In my opinion, he was a great bandleader. I always thought he should have taken advantage of that more. I remember sessions where the band could barely walk to the door; they were so tired, and hearing someone say, “Gee, I didn’t know I could do that!”

I also remember that he had an almost telepathic connection with the band and crew.  He could just look at you, and suddenly you would know what to do.

Leon was not into drugs or partying at all as far as I knew. He didn’t smoke or drink in my presence. The only drug I ever saw him do was marijuana, and not much at that. He drank a lot of water. I stayed out of his personal life. I just tried to do my job and keep my mouth shut.  I've always considered that to be a secret to success.

I was introduced to marijuana at Skyhill. I had never smoked or tasted alcohol until I was 21 years old.

If you are interested in the kinds of studio gear used in a 1960s state-of-the-art recording studio, click here.

Donna Washburn

Donna Washburn was Leon's girlfriend at the time.  I assume he met her through his work with Gary Lewis & the Playboys, as she had been  engaged to Gary Lewis, and Leon was arranger of his records.  When I first met Donna, I was stunned. She was beautiful and flashy, like you would imagine a movie star. Quite stunning. I did get to know her pretty well, and really, she wasn’t what I imagined at first. She was very nice and actually pretty conservative.

Donna was from San Marino, a wealthy suburb north of LA.  Her home there was a mansion I would describe as just like the one on the "Beverly Hillbillies" TV show.  Her father owned the 7Up bottling company of Los Angeles and died young.

I saw an article in the LA Times about how Donna's mother owned the two most expensive houses in California: the San Marino house and one in Newport Beach.  Donna went on to have a successful career in music as a backup singer with Leonard Cohen, Mad Dogs & Englishmen, Dillard & Clark, Jennifer Warnes, and others.  The perfect fantasy: young, beautiful, talented, and rich!

After a while, Leon and Donna were engaged to be married.  Leon moved in with Donna in her house on Woodrow Wilson Dr. in Hollywood.  I recorded some of Leon's improvised piano pieces in Donna's living room that I felt could have been a record.  Wish I still had that tape...

One day, while sitting on the couch in Donna’s living room, I noticed a stack of sheet music next to me on the couch.  I started looking through it and saw that it was all old 19th-century popular tunes.  I was curious about what he was doing with this stuff: was he looking for song ideas?  It looked like all the sheet music was probably in the public domain due to its age.  Never did find out.

Rita Coolidge

I can brag that I lived with Rita Coolidge, ha ha! We both lived at Skyhill at the same time for a while. I don’t think I ever said much to her the whole time. I was very shy, and it seemed like she was too.

Laurel Hunter

Laurel was the proverbial "girl next door".  She was living with her parents across the street from Leon's house on Skyhill Dr.

It seems that she was walking home one day, when Chuck Blackwell, who  was on his way to a session at Skyhill, spotted her and gave her a ride.  He introduced me to Laurel, then went to "work" in the studio.  Chuck had a reputation as a "ladies man",  was a rock & roll drummer, and looked like Robert Redford!

My recollection is that she was 19 years old.  She was quite wild and adventurous, and I was not.  We were "The Owl and the Pussycat".  I have no idea what she saw in me, but she was hot!  So we were soon lovers.  We lived together for 7 years, and although we never married, I now refer to her as "my first wife".  This was my first experience living with a girl.

We eventually moved into an apartment in North Hollywood and then moved to Memphis, where our son Chris was born.  Laurel taught me a lot about life.

Well, I certainly learned a lot! Leon taught me everything I know. One thing I learned was that there were few people who knew anything about making records. Learning from Leon was a blessing.

Having learned record production from Leon, I suddenly became a “genius.” Leon was so respected by those in the music business that they figured I must be a genius too. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this at the time and didn’t take advantage.

There was always a steady stream of people coming to Skyhill from all over the world to meet Leon. Although he was not yet a household name, he was well known among musicians.

Some of the people I met or worked with at Skyhill:  I wish I was writing the biographies of these guys because their lives were much more interesting than mine.  Follow these links to meet some interesting people:

Jerry Allison
Mark Benno
Chuck Blackwell
Bonnie & Delaney Bramlett
Gary Busey
J.J. Cale
Rita Coolidge
Steve Cropper
Ed Davis
Duck Dunn
John Gallie
Jim Gordon
Jim Horn
Plas Johnson
Jimmy Karstein
Jim Keltner
Bobby Keys
Sandy Konikoff
Taj Mahal
Jimmy Markham
Buddy Miles
Don Nix
Don Preston
Carl Radle
Gordon Shryock
Dean Stockwell
Lenny Waronker
Donna Washburn
Bobby Whitlock

Jerry Allison was the drummer with Buddy Holly and the Crickets. At Skyhill, he showed me a letter Buddy Holly got from John Lennon back in the day. I saw it with my own eyes. John wrote, “We here in Liverpool are big fans of the Crickets. I have a band too. We call ourselves The Beatles, after the Crickets”.

Jerry also introduced me to amyl nitrite.  What a rush!

Leon took Gary Busey & me to see “All the President’s Men" at the Cinerama Dome.  Leon told me that Gary had a "cooking show" on community access TV in Tulsa that Leon saw and called Gary.  Gary became a drummer in Leon's band, although I don't know what they did together.  If you know, leave a comment.

Asylum Choir

Most of the time was spent on the "Asylum Choir" album, Leon's first record as an artist.  I got the feeling that Leon felt that as a session musician and arranger, he was doing all the heavy lifting, and the "artist" with his name on the record was getting all the money and credit.  So I think Leon wanted to become the "artist". Leon had a bad case of "stage fright," though, and described it to me as sitting on the toilet in front of 50,000 people.

He was also very private.  He never told anyone what he was trying to do or let anyone see the real Leon.  He wanted to be a mysterious figure like Bob Dylan or Korla Pandit.  I wish I had recorded some of the "real Leon" at the time.  I think that he thought that the real Leon was too boring, and he had to put on some kind of act to be accepted.

We did make some 16mm movies, but I don't know what happened to them.

He was terrible at interviews too.  I know the feeling:  If I open up and tell all, I'll sound like an idiot. and ruin the whole show.  It's easier to put on the clown suit and stay away from the public.

I recall spending a lot of time, as Leon played all the instruments himself, and so it involved a lot of overdubbing. I thought the music was pretty weird, considering what I knew he could do. I guess Leon & Marc had a concept, but I never really knew what it was. The one song on the album I really liked was “Death of the Flowers,” a Greg Dempsey composition.

At that time, The Beatles were a big influence.  It was a contest to see who could be more psychedelic and more unique.  The fact that the Beatles were English was a big advantage for them: the Beatles were just doing rock & roll and R&B but were just different enough to make them interesting.

While working on the Delaney & Bonnie "Home" album, I had the pleasure of working with my idols Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn.  Steve seemed to like the way I worked, and said that if I came to Memphis, I might be able to get a job at STAX.

After the Asylum Choir record was released, we continued working on songs for the second album.  The first record got some airplay and attention, but it was too much like pulling teeth.  Everything took so long that I got tired of it, so I decided to move to Memphis.

Arriving in Memphis in the middle of the night,  I opened the door to exit the airport terminal, and I immediately thought I accidentally opened the door at the bottom of the ocean!  I had never experienced humidity like that!  I immediately got sick, as moving from a dry climate to a humid one, often makes me sick.  It happened in Singapore as well.

Anyway, Don Nix was kind enough to let me stay in his apartment and took care of me while I was bedridden for a week!  Later, I moved in with Duck Dunn, his wife June, and kids.  Duck even let me use his Corvette!  After recovering, it seemed that there wasn’t much for me to do. So Cropper got me a job at Chess Records in Chicago.

Chapter 2 --  Chess Records

Chess Records was a legendary blues record label, with artists such as Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James, Bo Diddley, and Little Walter.

When the Rolling Stones first came to America, the first place they went was to Chess, as they were big fans.

While there, I worked with Etta James,, Willie Dixon, Shakey Horton, John Lee Hooker, Phil Upchurch, and many others.

Chess was a pretty big operation. It was interesting because they had an extensive library of authentic Chicago blues from the 1940s and 1950s.  Some of that stuff was positively electrifying; listening to those old tapes made my hair stand on end!  It sounded like they were recorded in somebody's bedroom, and you could hear people talking, chairs being knocked over, and bottles breaking in the background.  Fender reverb amps with reverb and tremolo turned up to #10!

I think my favorite was Little Walter.  Leon once told me that if I could play the saxophone like Little Walter played the harmonica, I could make millions!  I got a record and gave it a try, but I'll be damned if I could figure out what he was doing!

Marshall Chess

Anyway, Marshall Chess (son of co-founder Leonard Chess and founder of Rolling Stones Records) told me about how they got started:  The Chess brothers had a nightclub in South Chicago (a tough neighborhood), where they hired bands to entertain.  Marshall told me that Leonard had scars up and down both arms from taking knives away from patrons.When the gunfire started, he would throw Marshall behind the bar!

At some point, the brothers decided that they could make some money by recording the bands they were hiring.  So they called up the local Ampex dealer and bought a tape recorder.

Since they had no experience, they had the guy from Ampex come out and show them how to work the recorder.  According to Marshall, the brothers misunderstood the instructions about the VU meter, and thought that the needle was supposed to stay in the red!

Tape saturation is very different from clipping.  The iron oxide saturates gradually, which produces a less objectionable distortion than outright clipping.  My recollection is that the standard was that 0 VU corresponded to 3% harmonic distortion. Anyway, apparently much of the early stuff was recorded with the VU meter pegged.  It turns out that worked well for the extremely raw, harsh music they were recording and became part of their signature sound.

*  I can't swear that this is true, but it's what Marshall Chess himself told me firsthand.  And I guess he should know.

Chess was a pretty big operation.  Probably many times the size of STAX.  It was interesting because they had an extensive library of authentic Chicago blues from the '40s.  Some of that stuff was positively electrifying.

I did have the opportunity to sit in on some of the "Fathers & Sons" Muddy Waters album, which was conceived as a handing down of the blues power to the new generation of young blues players.

My friend Duck Dunn played on it, and I recall that he was disappointed in the result, although I don't remember why.

I had a clock radio that woke me up to the news each morning. Every day, there were stories about a 12 year old gunning down a 13 year old on the street! It was a pretty tough town! The gangs used minors to do their killing, because they knew they would not get a long sentence if caught. Two of the gangs I remember were the "Cobra Stones" and the "African Snipers Gangsters Den". I thought "Cobra Stones" was a cool name; kind of poetic. But "African Snipers Gangsters Den" was a little too scary.

Buddy Guy & Junior Wells

Besides Marshall, one of my few friends at Chess was Tom Swan. He was a harmonica player from Boston who hung around Chess trying to become a record producer. I never did figure out if he worked there or just hung around. He had black curly hair, a 1940s-style pencil-thin mustache, and one set of clothes. It was a black suit with a purple lining in the jacket. I never saw him wear anything else. He could fit right into a Blues Brothers movie.

One night, Tom Swan invited me to go with him to see Buddy Guy and Junior Wells play at a local south side nightclub. I don't remember which club it was, but it might have been "The Blue Flame". When we walked in, all the patrons turned and stared. We were the only white faces in the place (and probably for miles). I'll never forget the look on their faces: "Uh-oh... Here comes trouble!"  Everyone in the audience was terrified.  I imagined that some were going for their guns!

At the first break, Tom introduced us to Buddy & Junior. Junior got right up in my face (luckily, I was taller) and said, "I don't like you!" Those were his exact words. I was completely flustered, having never experienced anything like that before. I didn't have any idea what to do, so I just said, "Well, I'm not such a bad guy once you get to know me". That changed everything. Suddenly everything became normal. It seems that everyone thought that we came there to start a fight. I imagine that many of them were going for their guns. When they saw that we weren't going to start a fight, they were greatly relieved. I guess Junior figured that if we're going to fight, we might as well get started.

One of my favorite things about Chess was their tape library. They had tapes going back to the '40s of authentic Chicago blues. Tragically, they were all recorded on acetate tape, which is all that was available in those days. Acetate tape disintegrates with age, so many, if not most, of the tapes were unplayable. One of my jobs was trying to salvage them. I'd end up with a 10" reel of tape with splices every six inches. A lot of that stuff is lost forever. I don't know if anyone ever solved that problem.

That music from the old days was the most intense music I ever heard. Most of the stuff sounded like it was recorded in somebody's bedroom, with sounds of chairs falling over, bottles breaking, and people talking. Some of those recordings would make your hair stand on end!! Reverb and tremolo are turned up to 10.

Another job I had was to audition tapes and records that people sent in wanting to get a record deal. Of course they were awful, but there was one I recall: It was called "Switchblade Blues" and was recorded in one of those "telephone" booths that you put quarters in, and it makes a record. Just like the ones that take 4 photos for a quarter. I remember it because it was so primitive and raw and honest. I could just picture some South Chicago teenager singing & playing his heart out. Meanwhile, in Hollywood, there was no emotion in music at all...

Rev. Jesse Jackson

He had a bunch of activities to raise money for his cause, and one of them was the "Operation Breadbasket Choir". It was memorable because it was the largest live session I ever recorded: a 40-piece orchestra and an 80-piece choir! The studios at Chess were very large, as they were built when everything was live; there was no such thing as overdubbing, etc. I don't remember how many microphones I used, but the mixing board in Studio B had only 8 inputs.  and it went straight to 4-track tape: Orchestra Left & Right and Choir Left & Right.

Phil Upchurch

was the bass player for the Chess house band and played on many of their records. The thing I remember about him was that he would show up to work with an 8-foot snake around his neck! It was just part of his everyday outfit. Interestingly, the snake was very well behaved, and was no trouble. The loud music didn't bother it a bit. I don't recall anyone ever saying anything about it.

I wish I could remember more about what I did at Chess.  It was something different every day.  I didn't make a note of what songs they were or anything.  I wasn't there very long, but I did get to work on quite a few songs, as in those days, it was somthng different every day, and it was comon to work on more than one record in one day.

 

Biographies:

Wikipedia does a better job than I would, and I'm too tired to fill in the details. Moreover, I was not working at Chess for very long, so I didn't get to know many of the artists.

Follow the links to meet some interesting people.  Some of the people I met or worked with at Chess Records:  Etta James,, Willie Dixon, Shakey Horton, John Lee Hooker, Phil Upchurch, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, and many others.

=================

Chapter 3 -- Stax Records

STAX was a mom & pop record shop run by a brother and sister in Memphis in the '50s.  The name was the combination of the first two letters of their surnames: STewart and AXton (the sister used her married name).

The record shop attracted local musicians who wanted to make a record, so it morphed into a recording studio and record company.  I came to STAX in hope of working with Booker T. & The M.G.s.

When I was there, most of the acts were produced by either Steve Cropper or Isaac Hayes.

Some of the artists I worked with at STAX :

Booker T & The M.G.s, Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, Mavis Staples, Rufus Thomas, The BarKays, Black Oak Arkansas, Billy Eckstine, Luther Ingram, Mitch Ryder, Marvel Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, and many others, but to my disappointment, I never got to record Albert King  or Otis Redding.

Thanks to Wikipedia, I don't have to write the story of each of these people, so do follow the links and meet some interesting people.  I will throw in my 2 cents and any anecdotes that might be intersting.

Booker T. & The M.G.s

It was Booker T. & the M.G.s that brought me to STAX.  I fell in love with the band in 1962, and I consider them one of the greatest bands of all time.

Mainly because they were able to capture a feeling, which is why I was attracted to music.

Booker T. Jones

Most of the people at STAX were poor southerners, who were self-taught.  I once asked Cropper where he learned to play the guitar, and he replied, "In my bedroom..."

As far as I know, Booker was the only one at STAX who had a formal education in music.  He told me he had a degree in music from Indiana University, where he played the trombone. He was a great musician & composer.  There was no one like him.  He was very quiet and calm.  He seemed like a real intellectual.

Everything they accomplished was by sheer, raw talent.

Steve Cropper

Steve Cropper was a really talented guy. He was also very well organized.  He always came prepared and knew exactly what he wanted to accomplish.

That enabled him to become the most prolific and best record producer in the country.

Duck Dunn

Donald "Duck" Dunn was a good ol' boy.  Always happy and easy to get along with.

One thing I liked about his bass playing was that it was melodic: throughout the years, I can remember recording sessions where I would solo the bass track, and it would sound like just random notes.

Duck's playing was melodic, like real music.

Al Jackson Jr.

Al was a great drummer.  I think it was Ron Capone who told me that when Al started hanging out at STAX, they didn't let him play on sessions because his timing was not tight enough. Apparently he went home and practiced until he could hold a rock-steady beat.  I think the secret was keeping it simple. Simpler is better.

Isaac Hayes

I worked on quite a few records where Isaac was the producer/arranger/composer/sideman but never with Isaac as the artist.  Isaac was a really talented guy, as were all the people at STAX.

Ron Capone told me that when Isaac started hanging around STAX, he worked in a slaughterhouse!  He never had  a pair of shoes until his girlfriend's parents bought him a pair for high school graduation.

I was there shortly after "Hot Buttered Soul" was a hit, so Isaac was a star.  He always dressed nicely, as befitting a star.  I don't think I ever saw him wear the same thing twice, except for his mink boots, which were very cool.  He was easy to get along with and had a great voice.

I enjoyed the sessions with Billy Ekstine, who is not so well known today but was a big star in the big-band era. Plus, he had an incredible voice.

At the time I was there, we were making the "Shaft" soundtrack.  His sessions were all night affairs, and I remember the wreckage the next day: empty bottles, broken mic stands & chairs.  I missed all the action!

We Three

Homer Banks, Raymond Jackson, and Betty Crutcher  were songwriters at STAX who penned many of their biggest hits.  They got together as a team and dubbed themselves "We Three".

Homer could only wear bedroom slippers because he never had a pair of shoes when he was young.  He accepted a GRAMMY award in a tuxedo and bedroom slippers.

Raymond Jackson was a pretty low-key guy and guitar player.  He also met a tragic death: he was plagued with gophers in his yard at home.  If you've ever had gophers, you know how infuriating they can be.  After numerous attempts to get rid of them, he poured gasoline down the hole and lit a match.  The flames had nowhere to go but up and out of the hole, and Raymond was fatally injured.

Black Oak Arkansas

One of the STAX artists I worked with was "Black Oak Arkansas". They were pretty amusing too: they were genuine hillbillies, and none of them had any front teeth! They told me that they

got them knocked out by pool cues during barroom brawls in New Orleans. Once in a while, for a gag, they would remove their false teeth and grin into the camera. Five hillbillies with no front teeth!

I had forgotten all about it until recently, when a video about the band appeared in my YouTube feed. So out of curiosity, I watched it. I didn't realize how popular they were!

I didn't get any credit because I left STAX to return to California after recording just a couple of songs. At that time (~1970), everybody was leaving Memphis for California. Rock & roll was now where the money was, and a small R&B/soul record label couldn't compete. So STAX and many other small record companies decided that they needed to get into the Rock & Roll business.

When the band was first signed to STAX, they were called "Knowbody Else". They did release one album, but  I didn't have anything to do with that album, and I don't know how well it did. So they changed their name to "Black Oak Arkansas" (the name of the town in Arkansas they were from) and started a new album with me.

Their music wasn't really my cup of tea, but I did admire their intensity and stamina. They could jam for days without a break! Some of their songs were pretty good and the leader, Jim Mangrum, had a great voice.

When I returned to California, it turned out that the band arrived in L.A. at the same time. I met Jim Mangrum at the DMV, as we both needed new license plates for our cars. I never hung out with them before, but they invited me to their house in Chatsworth. When I got there, the place was littered with spoons, candles, syringes, and white powder. At that point, I decided that I didn't want to get involved with that, so that was the last I ever saw of them.

Apparently they left STAX too, as the record came out on ATCO, not STAX.

Several years later, I mentioned the band to my friend George Mihalakis. He told me that they were the biggest concert draw in the U.S.! I had no idea and didn't think about it again until seeing them on YouTube, playing to audiences of 300,000 in the early 1970s. Another "Forrest Gump" moment!

Number One Records

The only records I worked on at STAX that became #1 hits were "Funky Chicken" by Rufus Thomas and "I Don't Want to Be Right" by Luther Ingram.  Rufus was known for his novelty records, like "Walking the Dog", and "Funky Chicken" was the latest.  You never can tell...  But Rufus was actually quite talented and creative.  He made some very good records.  But he is mainly remembered for his novelty records.

Luther was a KoKo Records artist.  KoKo was a New York record label headed by Johnny Baylor.  and Luther’s record was produced by Johnny Baylor.  When Johnny first came to STAX, the rumor was that KoKo was a Mafia record label, and Johnny was a former prizefighter and Mafia hitman.  So I like to tell people that I worked with a "mafia hit man."  Luckily, we got along fine...

Bobby Manual, who was also an engineer at STAX while I was there, also had an embarrassing success: he produced a record called "Disco Duck" that was a big hit.  It was not a STAX record; he made it as an independent producer.  After it became a big hit, he feared he would never live it down!  You never can tell...

The STAX studio was a former movie theater.  So it had a sloped floor.  The control room was where the stage had been, behind the movie screen.  Originally, the control room monitor speaker (mono) was an Altec "Voice of the Theater", which was the original movie theater speaker.

Ron Capone

Ron Capone was the chief engineer at STAX.  Originally, it was Ron Capone, Jim Stewart, and Steve Cropper who did all the recording and mixing.

When I was there, the engineering staff consisted of Steve Cropper, Ron Capone, Bobby Manual, and myself.

They all learned recording from Tom Dowd of Atlantic Records, who distributed the STAX label.

Tom had a formula that the STAX people adhered to. I don't remember the specifics, but it was basically something like drums on the left, guitar or piano on the right, and bass and vocal in the center. Everything was recorded in mono (one track) and panned left or right in the stereo mix.

Ron Capone told me that the Green Onions record was a jam that took place while waiting for the artist they were supposed to be recording.  Jim Stewart heard it and turned on the tape machine.  He said that the original lasted about 30 minutes, but Jim edited it down to 3 minutes and released it as a B side.

I recorded two M.G.s albums while I was there: "Melting Pot" and "McLemore Avenue", which was an M.G.s version of "Abbey Road".

When I first landed in Memphis, as far as I could see, I was the only guy in Memphis to record  in stereo. They had 16-track recording, but everything was just one track panned between L and R. They never used two mics from different positions. Al Jackson Jr. was the drummer, and I recorded him in stereo and also tuned his drums.

When "McLemore Avenue" was finished, Al told me that I got the best drum sound he ever heard! As a big fan of the M.G.s, that was a high point of my recording career!

Tragically, Al was later murdered by the Mafia. The internet tells it a little differently, but this is how Cropper told it to me: Al had worked on a record produced by a Mafia-owned record company and didn't get paid the $100,000 he was owed. He told the producers that if he didn't get his money, he would go to the police. In the next scene, he is found in his home tied to a chair and shot in the head. Very tragic; he was a great drummer!

Sandy Kay

Sandy was a keyboard and organ player who hung out at STAX.  He would get occasional gigs, including filling in for Booker T. on some live performances.

Sandy was a little guy and a little wild. He used to carry a revolver in his waistband at work.  One day at STAX, some of the crew took it away from him, which was a good thing, as someone could have gotten hurt.

The last time I talked to him, he gave me a video of him shooting a Thompson submachine gun.  He claimed he had changed his name and was in the federal witness protection program.

Phil Ramone

Sandy and I took a road trip to New Jersey to visit Sandy's family.  On the way, we stopped to visit Phil Ramone's studio in New York.  He was a big-time recording engineer specializing in jazz, and I was hoping I could get him interested in my digital recording idea.

Unfortunately, Sandy was a little scary looking, and with a pistol in his belt, Phil probably thought we were going to rob him!  So Phil was rather uncomfortable and not too anxious to hear about digital recording.

After the passing of Sandy's wife, Rebecca,  I have never seen anyone so broken up by her death.  Sandy spent hundreds of hours making an elaborate wooden urn for her ashes.  It was really quite touching...

Tina Turner

Sandy moved to LA about the same time as I and was playing in Ike & Tina Turner's band.

He invited me to Ike & Tina's house in Baldwin Hills, where Ike had a small studio.  When I got there, I rang the bell, and Tina opened the door.

I was shocked to see that she had practically no hair, and what there was was white!

ELVIS

Elvis's story is very different. He was very friendly and calm.

I lived just a mile or so from Elvis's home in Graceland. If you've never lived in the South, you need to know that "Southern hospitality" is a real thing. People are so friendly and treat you like family. Very different from LA or NY!

This was in 1968, and in those days, Elvis would open the gates each Sunday and allow the public to come in and hang out. One day, Laurel & I did so. The way I remember it, there were fewer than a dozen people there. Today, it's like Disneyland! You couldn't go in the house, but you could wander the grounds. After a few minutes, Elvis came out the front door and greeted the people. I was shocked to see that he had a cast on his leg, from knee to ankle, and walked with a cane.

I asked him what happened to his leg, and he replied that he fell off his horse and broke his leg. I had no idea he had a horse or knew how to ride. Or maybe he didn't know how to ride, ha ha.

Anyway, Elvis was a very generous person. He did have an entourage and bodyguards when out in public, but it was all very casual. He didn't socialize outside his group of "homeboys." Southerners are extremely loyal and suspicious of outsiders.

Chapter 4 -- Return to Hollywood

The music at STAX was fantastic. It was all about the feel. There were never any charts; pretty much everything was made up on the spot.

We used to joke that if a record didn’t have at least three mistakes, we wouldn’t release it.

I returned to California because there wasn't much opportunity to do the things I wanted to do, like build recording consoles, digital tape recorders,  etc.

Shortly before I left Memphis, Ron Capone (chief engineer at STAX) brought some literature back from an AES convention in New York. I spotted this sheet from "Creatronics," an outfit in LA that made a rather futuristic looking multi-track tape recorder. So when I got to LA, I called them up and talked to Keith Olson, the leader of the outfit, thinking they might be interested in my digital tape recorder idea.

It turned out they never made the tape recorder, but I thought they had some good ideas.

Since 1968, my goal has been to make a digital tape recorder. I perceived that the two weakest links in the audio chain were the loudspeaker and the tape recorder. It occurred to me that if the sound was digitized and recorded in digital format, many of the tape recorder’s shortcomings would disappear. No tape noise, unlimited dynamic range, and lossless copying were a few.  Furthermore, in digital form, it could be manipulated by a computer, opening up a whole new world of effects.

========

Sound City

Things were very different in LA. After working with The M.G.'s and Isaac Hayes, the music in Hollywood seemed really soulless.

Everyone was concerned with everything being in tune and technically perfect. Just the opposite of Memphis.

Although there were digital tape recorders, used to store computer data, their recording density and speed were inadequate to record music in real time.  I did some research and came up with a scheme for high density magnetic recording, using "perpendicular recording" which later became the standard for magnetic disk drives..

I pitched this idea to a few manufacturers, including Scully and 3M, as well as one company that made digital tape recorders. I pitched it to John Scanlon, founder of Transaction Technology, who was one of the inventors of the Automated Teller Machine and builder of the largest computer network on earth (Quotron). He was very pleasant and listened patiently to my pitch. But then he said, “Well, if it were possible, IBM would have done it by now.” Being an idiot, I never argued. It’s a shame I don’t like to argue; I could have made millions!

Inventors always figure that the benefits of their invention are so obvious that if you don’t get it, there’s nothing to be done about it.

It was while working at Sound City that I got the itch to make recording consoles.  I wanted to have real products that could turn into a real business.  Making a digital tape recorder was beyond my resources, but building a recording console was possible.

Kieth was an ambitious guy, and we dreamt about all kinds of fun businesses.  At one point, Kieth discovered that Canada had passed a law that required a certain percentage of all music broadcast on the public airwaves to be recorded in Canada.

We shopped for real estate in Canada that we could make into a recording studio.  It was to be a "destination" studio where clients could live for weeks or months at a time while making their album.

We even shopped for an airplane.  We went to the airport and looked at a twin-engine, 8-passenger craft.  It was a great fantasy, but it never happened.

Kieth's friend Curt Boetcher was introduced to me as "The Bubble-Gum King."  Apparently he had made some successful bubblegum records.  He, in turn, introduced me to "Angel Dust" (PCP).  Strong stuff, and nobody told me what it was we were smoking.

It was a genuine spiritual experience.  I spoke directly with God and he told me two things: firstly, that "everything is gonna be allright".  I found that to be very comforting.  Secondly, he told me that I would someday live in Acapulco!  That sounded pretty good too.

Keith was working at Sound City so he got me a job at Sound City. I don’t remember what I did there, except for the Curtis Brothers.  I think they may have been introduced to me by my neighbor, Reggie Fisher.  They were previously members of Neil Young's band "Crazy Horse"  and had one of their songs on Fleetwood Mac's first album.

I met Steve Moffat there too, who later got me a job with the Beach Boys.

Meanwhile, Kieth Olson made a deal with two people looking to make a record. Keith got them a deal as “Buckingham Nicks,” but apparently it didn't sell. At the same time, there were a couple of English guys in the studio called “Fleetwood Mac.” They were an English blues band who already had a record deal in England, but no songs and no band. Kieth managed to hook them up with “Buckingham Nicks,” who had songs, but no record deal. It was a perfect matchup, resulting in one of the biggest selling acts in history!

Many years later, my friend Mich Benoff introduced me to Ken Callait, who produced several Fleetwood Mac records.

It appears that Fleetwood Mac was dissatisfied with Keith as a producer. Keith was a smart, talented guy but didn’t treat people real well. This is a common problem in all businesses, but in the arts, you really have to have a strong bond with the talent.

Ken was working as an engineer at Wally Heider Studios in Hollywood. It was a top-tier studio, and Ken was easy to get along with and accommodating to the artists. So Fleetwood-Mac decided to use Ken as producer on their next album, which turned out to be the biggest selling record of the entire 1980s!

Paramount Studios

Needing a job, I went around to all the recording studios in Hollywood begging for a job. Brian Bruderlin, owner of Paramount Studios on Santa Monica Blvd., liked the fact that I had worked at STAX, and gave me a job.

One funny anecdote I remember is that the console only had equalizers on the first two or three inputs. All the equalizer knobs on the other channels weren’t connected to anything except a screw through the panel. So I always put the vocals or other things I thought might need to be equalized on the first few inputs.

One day, the producer of the band I was recording said, “Gimme more bass on the bass.” The bass was on an input with no equalizer, but I reached over and turned the knob, and the producer said, “Much better, great!”

One of the biggest problems in the music world is that people don’t understand that all of our senses are subjective. No two people will hear or see the same thing. That’s also one of my pet peeves: audio manufacturers sometimes take advantage of this to defraud their customers.

I don’t remember whom I recorded there, except one band (Orleans) produced by Chuck Plotkin.

Chuck Plotkin

Chuck Plotkin seemed to like my style and approach to music. I don’t think he knew who Leon Russell was, but he was impressed that I worked at STAX.  He wanted to build a studio so he could have unlimited studio time.  At Sound City, I got the itch to design and build a recording console. I had some ideas that I thought would be revolutionary.  Chuck seemed to like this idea, plus the idea that I could do it cheap. I proposed that I could build a 24-input, 16-output console with a 16-track monitor mixer for $10,000. ($77,120 in today’s money)

We scouted out a few buildings in Hollywood, and Chuck made a deal on a building on Santa Monica Blvd. Near Vine St. As it happened, it was right across the street from Paramount Studio, where Chuck & I first met.

I don’t remember how long it took, but it was quite an ordeal building and installing the console. I designed it at home and built it in my garage in Sherman Oaks.

Because of its unusual architecture, I had to handmake many components.

============

Chapter 5 -- Clover Systems

I formed Clover Systems in 1971 with the purpose of designing and manufacturing professional audio products.  The sale of a recording console to Chuck Plotkin enabled me to form a real business.  Of course the $10,000 price barely covered the cost, so it wasn't much of a business.

At least I had a real working product that I could demonstrate, so I went to some big dealers of professional audio equipment in Hollywood.  Nobody wanted to deal with some guy making stuff in his garage, so I had no luck.  But somehow I met David Miller, who was working at Tascam at the time. He was interested if I could make a high-power stereo for cars, which was a popular product at the time that he felt he could sell.

Johan Van Leer

I wasn't too enthusiastic about that, but he introduced me to Johan Van Leer, who was a Dutch inventor and engineer also working at Tascam.  Tascam was, a Japanese manufacturer of semi-pro audio equipment (a spin-off of TEAC).

Johan had worked at Philips in Holland, and was the inventor of the moving magnet phonograph pickup.  He had many good ideas and patents for audio products and wanted to see them manufactured.

One of his patents was for a variable decay reverb.  At the time, I was interested in making a digital reverb because that was one of the simpler audio processes that could be done with digital electronics.  EMT in Germany had produced such a product but wasn't very popular primarily because of the high price.

Johan had formerly worked at Hammond Organ, the inventors of the so-called "spring reverb", but Johan's Variable Decay reverb was a simple and a very clever improvement.

In any enclosed space, sound is reflected from the walls and is contained in the space until eventually absorbed by the air or whatever materials are in the space. With Johan's design, you could adjust the amount of absorption of an echo chamber, usually measured as “decay time”.

Reverberation turns out to be a very important component of music. Anthropologists speculate that it may be because humans evolved in caves, where there is a lot of reverberation and so the space sounds contained and safe, as compared to outdoors, where the sound dissipates immediately and is exposed.

Johan's design was a clever and simple way to vary the decay time, and he received a patent on the design.

It looked to me like it had great potential, and I thought it would be a way to get money to develop a digital reverb. But the variable decay reverb was rather beyond my means too, as it required some molded plastic parts and I had no money to develop it.

But Johan had another idea for a reverb with 4 transmission lines that could be built in my garage.  I called it the R-500. I figured that selling R-500 reverbs could raise money to build the variable decay, which could raise money to build the digital reverb!

It's tough being an inventor: just ask John Delorean.

Johan was Dutch, but grew up in Indonesia, where his father was a chemist for the sugar company. His brother was a blind astronomer.

In WWII, Dutch Indonesia was occupied by the Japanese, and Johan ended up in prison camp. The Japanese were notorious for not feeding the prisoners, so they had to fend for themselves. I’m sure that inventing ways to escape, smuggle food, etc. p;ut Johan on the path to becoming an inventor. You had to be clever to survive in Japanese POW camp. He told me many stories of clever smuggling schemes.

My first product was designed in my bedroom and built in my garage in Sherman Oaks. After having some success with the R-500, I moved to a shop on Pico Blvd. I was just starting to get some success, making 25 R-500s at a time.

But to pay for the rent, the parts, and a helper, I needed some money. Chuck Plotkin, my first real customer, had a partner Michael Leone, who I believe Ehuck met in College, and had made a couple million in real estate.

Michael offered to put of $5000 for a piece of the businness. to get things rolling. Michael had an assistant Marcus (?) Young, who claimed to be a direct decendent of Brigham Young. Michael set up Marcus as a full-time employee to “oversee” his $5000 investment.Marcus graadully took on more and more responsibility, ehich I felt was not helpful.

Then, one day, I get to work and my key doesn’t fit in the lock. Hmmm… time to start worrying. This is a common problem: The “investor” takes control of all the assets in order to protect their investment. Then they try to learn the rudiments of the business, so they can take it over, and justify it by saying “Gordon wasn’t running it properly; I can do it much bttter. “Plus, he was dishonest and an idiout. And of course his name is on the lease, and the bank account,. I’m curious what they told the guy taking over the manufacturing.

Micaael obviously saw that this business was working, and he could just take it oveer and make some money.

Leone and Young formed a new company “Horizon Electronics”, put their name on the Work in Progress and tried to sell it.

As far as I could tell, they didn’t have any success, as they didn’t have any idea of how the thing worked. They must have had som help from someone, and they hooked up with some guy to run it.

The heartbreaking conclusion was at the next L.A. covention of the Audio Engineering Society, they showed a re-branded R-500. But they didn’t have the guys or the decency to show their face.

Clover Recorders

My motive was to build a recording console from scratch, incorporating some of the ideas I had about how I could build a better mousetrap.

I also wanted to make it into a business.  I envisioned a manufacturing empire of professional audio equipment for recording studios.

I decided on the name "Clover Systems" while driving down the street near my old High School.

As I was passing an empty lot, I caught a glimpse of a field of clover, similar to the Microsoft Windows logo.

At the time, businesses that had anything to do with technology tried to identify with electricity, aerospace, or computers. I wanted to identify with natural beauty.

Apparently, Chuck liked the name, and decided to call his studio Clover Recorders.

I designed the console from scratch at my home in Sherman Oaks, and built it in my garage.

The Clover Systems recording console was just the second in the world to use integrated circuits throughout.

I was also the first to use transformerless differential inputs and outputs at every stage.  That way I could maximize the dynamic range and immunity to interference.

I also figured out that the gain structure used by everyone else was not optimal.  First you have an amplifier (typically 50 dB) to boost the small signal generated by the microphone up to a useful level.  Then they have a fader, which is necessary to be able to control the signal level in real time.  The typical average loss of signal going through the fader is 20 dB.  More gain means less dynamic range, S/N ratio. and distortion.

The Clover Console used a variable gain amplifier instead of a fader, so you only had to use the minimal amount of gain.

One drawback was that a normal potentiometer that uses a logarithmic "audio" taper, is unusable.  You need a different taper.  So I had to make my own "faders" to properly control the gain.

It was definitely ahead of its time...!

I didn't do much recording at Clover Recorders, but I did meet a few people there.

Robert Appère
Robert was the chief recording/mixing engineer at the studio.  Chuck hired him away from A&M records.  He made a lot of good records and later went on to record movie and TV sound, where he won 2 Emmys.

Groupies
In all my years in the record business, I only saw groupies once. They never came to recording studios, and I never went to concerts.

Across the street from Clover Recorders in Hollywood was "Studio Instrument Rentals" (SIR), which rented musical instruments to studios. They also rented rehearsal rooms to bands from out of town who needed a place to rehearse. One day, the Rolling Stones were in town for a concert and were rehearsing at SIR. Outside on the sidewalk were about 10 gorgeous young girls hoping to meet the Rolling Stones. To my surprise, they were beautifully dressed, and groomed. Really classy. Not like the image many people had.

Iron Butterfly

One day at Clover Recorders, a guy showed up to visit the members of Iron Butterfly.  I don't remember if they were recording there as a band or what.

Anyway, he presented Iron Butterfly with 5 very nice bibles with genuine pigskin binding, gilt edges, and each of their names embossed in gold on the covers.

After a little chit-chat, the guy left, and the band tossed all the bibles into the trash!  I'm not religious, but I thought that was a terrible thing to do; they could have at least given them to someone who cared.  I fished the Bibles out of the trash and still have 3 of them.

 Spinal Tap

The activities in the studio were always entertaining.  I always wanted to make a real-life documentary film about the goings-on in the recording studio.  It was just like the movie "This is Spinal Tap".  I'm not exaggerating!

Robert Appere had a tape someone made of hilarious moments in the recording studio.  One of the best was the Troggs, trying to count off a song.

On the very first note, one of the members stops the band, and starts shouting "didn't I just tell you not to do that"!  After several minutes of shouting, swearing, slamming doors, etc.  To make a long story short, this repeated several times, and they never did get past the first note!

If anyone knows where that tape is, leave a comment.

One issue is that there is a tremendous amount of pressure on the artists.  Their entire career and potentially millions of dollars, depend on the success of their record!

====== spell check ens here =====

I partied with Keith Moon...

Keith was the epitome of rock & roll excess. The wildest man ever. Sounds really exciting, but there's no good story to go with it. It was the mid to late 1970s, not long before Keith died. Steve Cropper invited me to a party at Lee Householder's home. I never did figure out why, At the time, Cropper was working on a Keith Moon record at Clover Recorders, and I guessed that he wanted me to meet Lee, who was a record promoter of some sort. I showed up, and the only person I knew there was Bonnie Bramlett, who was drunk and hanging all over Keith. I decided not to say "hello" to Bonnie, even though she was a fan of mine, as it was embarrassing.  It really was rude of me.

Interestingly, Keith was seemingly completely sober and was very calm. I never did meet Lee and left early as I didn't know anyone there who was sober, and I am a professional party-pooper.

 

Linda Ronstadt

One day, there was a knock at the door of the studio, and when I opened it, it was Linda Ronstadt.  This was around the height of her popularity, so I was a little surprised.  She was alone and wearing bib overalls and no shoes.

I couldn't help thinking, "Gee, they really fixed her up", as I thought about her publicity photos.

It seems she was visiting her friends from her old band, the "Stone Poneys", who were recording there.

Karen Carpenter

Another time, I ran into Karen Carpenter at the studio,

She was really tiny and quite friendly.  I noticed that she wore a drum key (used for tuning drums) around her neck on a chain.  I interpreted that to signify that she was more proud of being a drummer than a major singing star!  She was a hell of a singer, though, as was Linda.

Average White Band

Many good records were made at Clover Recorders, but the only two hits that I remember from when I was there are "Pick Up the Pieces" by the Average White Band, and "Laughter in the Rain" by Neil Sedaka

Neil Sedaka.

Neil told me that he had written over 3000 songs and had 100 of his songs recorded and released.

========

 Peter Ivers

=========

 Electra Records

I worked briefly at Electra Records in Hollywood, the home of Judy Collins and The Doors.

One day at a staff meeting, one of the producers suggested that we should paint the inside of the echo chamber yellow.  Everyone was a bit confused, and asked, "Why?"  It seems that this producer had worked in some studio that had a great-sounding echo chamber, and it turned out that the inside was painted yellow!

I tried to explain that color could not possibly affect the sound, and furthermore, there is no light in the echo chamber, and therefore, no color.  Remember: all of our senses are subjective.

Robb Royer

While at Electra, I met Rob Royer, the co-founder of the band "Bread", and oscar winning songwriter who had some big hits.  The other founder was David Gates, who was a buddy of Leon's from Tulsa.  I don't think David and Leon were ever good friends, but they were both very talented.

I became good friends with Robb and built a console for his home studio in Brentwood. I also built for him a "dynamic processor" that was a combination of a dynamic expander, compressor, and limiter.  The effect was controllable for each volume range: the expander works at a low level, the compressor works at a medium level, and the limiter works at a high volume. The range of each effect was extreme,so it could be used as an effects box as well.

I engineered a few small sessions there, and we worked well together, so Robb suggested we form a production company titled "GRRR" after our initials.  That never happened, but it could have been good.

================

Other Random Encounters

=== Experience With the Law===

Over the years, I have developed a great respect for our legal system, as a result of my experience.

==========

IRS -- I also had an educational experience with the IRS:

It seems that I owed the IRS $750 on my income taxes.  I didn't give it much thought, all I knew waw I didn't have $750 (if I did, I wouldn't have bald tires on my car), so I can't pay you today, but I will pay you just as soon as I am able.

Then I receive a request to come visit their Van Nuys office, which I did.  I calmly expained that I didnt have $750, but will gladly pay as soon as I am able.  The agent then says "How did you get here?"  I reply "I drove".  He then says with his hand held out  "Oh, you have a car???"

Suddenly everything is chrystal clear.  I managed to convince the agent I could borrow the money, and excaped with poor Laurel's Buick.

I was able to borrow $750 from my neighbor Reggie Fisher, and l learned a couple of valuable lessons.

Inventing is a tough business!

==========

Spherical Sound

The Trial

LBR Trial

Chapter 5 -- The Beach Boys

After completing the Clover Recorders console, I was sitting on the couch in my living room  trying to decide what to do next when the phone rang.  It was Steve Moffat, who I knew from Sound City, a recording studio in L.A.  He said " How'd you like to go to Switzerland with the Beach Boys?"  I quickly replied: "OK".

The idea was that the Boys were sick of LA and wanted to make a record in some other environment.  They were going to rent a castle in Switzerland, set up a studio, and make a record. Soon, the plan changed from Switzerland to Holland.  Attached is a booklet that Warner Bros published that will explain the situation. You really should read this first, so you can see the scope of what we were up to, and also so I don’t have to write a lot.

Before leaving for Holland, I visited Brian's house in Bel-Air.  It was a beautiful house.  Single-story Spanish revival style.  Entering the house, the entire floor of the house was ankle-deep in cables.  He had set up a home studio (just like Leon), but the difference was that he had microphones in every room, including the bathrooms.  My analysis was that he made fame and fortune as a songwriter, so he was paranoid about having a song idea and then having it slip away before he could record it.  I witnessed this in Holland too.  He was obsessed with recording every song idea that popped into his head.  He also liked to experiment with different recording techniques.  In the early '60s, Brian and Phil Spector were the only people innovating in making records.

Warner Bros. published this booklet about the adventure, which may give you an idea of the magnitude of the project.

The Holland album was quite an undertaking.  I designed and built a recording console from scratch in a couple of months.  When it was time to move to Holland, getting Brian to Holland was a challenge.  The story I was told was that on the first try, Brian got up out of his seat on the airliner and walked off the plane at the last second.  My recollection is that that happened a second time, so on the third try, they handcuffed Brian to the seat of the airplane.

I had very little interaction with Brian.  I'm not sure anyone did, as he was practically catatonic.  My main interaction was with Carl and Dennis.  I never even met Mike Love or Al Jardine.  The three brothers were quite different from the typical rock stars.  They were very down-to-earth regular folks.
Dennis was the most naive person I ever met.  I mean that in a good way.  You probably know the story of Dennis and Charlie Manson.
One thing that surprised me was that they were the biggest act in show business and earned tons of money, so one would expect they would marry supermodels or movie stars.  But I considered the fact that they didn’t a big plus.  They were not the shallow, aspiring rock stars you typically see in Hollywood.

I was never a "fanboy," so I didn't know much about them.  But I found them to be refreshingly normal, down-to-earth folks.  I used to say, "If they weren't huge stars, they would be pumping gas in Hawthorn."

At this time (~1972), Brian was declining.  I heard that he once spent 6 months in bed, never leaving his bed. Anyway, it seems like a sure sign of depression.  He obviously didn't particularly want to go to Holland; I think the brothers felt that a change of scenery would help.

Brian was a pretty big guy, maybe 6'2" or 6'3".  He would look around the room like he didn't know where he was.  He would wander off and get lost too: one night we're recording some tracks in the studio, and there’s a knock at the door.  I open the door, and there's Brian and two cops.  The cops said, "Do you know this guy?"  We answer, "Uh... Yeah."  He would wander off and didn't carry identification or money.  I think he made it back to the studio only because he was famous and people knew who he was.

As I mentioned before, it was clear that he was obsessed with capturing his song ideas.  One night, the band is in the studio recording rhythm tracks, about 2AM, when Brian walks in.  He walks into the studio while tape is rolling, oblivious to the fact that there is a band recording.  He sits down at the piano and starts playing something entirely different.  The band stops, and in a moment starts playing along with what Brian is doing.  My take was that he was completely unaware that there was a band playing in the studio.

 Brian Wilson’s Birthday Party

Brian had a birthday while we were in Holland.  The Boys had an entourage of advance men, publicity men, etc., who arranged a party.  Travel by canal is common in Holland, and the country is filled with canals.  Amsterdam has a main canal with glass-topped tour boats.  They rented one of these tour boats for a night, and we all went for a ride on the canal.  The advance men are pretty good at arranging things, and they somehow hooked up with this local guy "Christian".  He had a suitcase, which was filled with hash pipes of all sorts, and a chunk of hashish the size of a softball to go with it.  Marijuana was pretty much unavailable in Europe then, but hashish was fairly easy to come by.  Although not legal, smoking hash and marijuana was tolerated by the authorities in certain places in Amsterdam.

Brian’s Birthday Party

Anyway, Christian got us all stoned out of our minds!  We had "English Joints", which are made from about 6 rolling papers and filled with a mixture of tobacco and hash.  One popular version was a fat joint about 6" long, with a hole in the center.  You light both ends and suck through the hole in the center.  Two giant hash joints at once!  Even better was the electric hash pipe: it was made from a small battery-operated vacuum cleaner hooked up backward, with a funnel in the input where the input hose would normally go and a mouthpiece on a hose at the output.  Christian put a huge piece of hash in the funnel, and it could pump a year's worth of smoke into your lungs!!
By the way, Brian never showed up for the party.  He probably got lost on the way!

Dr. Landy

The most interesting Beach Boys story is about Dr. Landy.  That story has already been pretty well documented, including a couple of TV movies.  But it's a great story!  It's basically the story of Svengali, who takes over the life of a young girl with the promise of fame as a singing star.  This seems to be a common story in real life, where people succumb to the promise of fame and fortune.

Even in 1972-3, Carl and Dennis were very worried about Brian's condition.  He was really a basket case.  One day, Laurel asked Carl and Dennis, "What happened to Brian?"  I probably wouldn't have had the nerve to be that blunt.  They answered in unison, "We don't know!!  We took all the same drugs; we did all the same things; it's a mystery!"  But they were sure that if nothing were done, Brian would surely die.  And I think they were right.

So after returning from Holland, this led to the hiring of Dr. Landy, a psychologist who claimed he could cure Brian. His strategy was to just force Brian to behave.  Forcing him to act normal would make him normal.  I guess he figured that Brian's ability to do whatever he pleased led to a disconnect with reality.

Dr. Landy hired people to watch over Brian 24 hrs / day.  One guy's job was to sit in a chair all night and watch Brian sleep.  At dawn, Brian would be physically hauled out of bed, dressed, force-fed breakfast, etc.

Eventually, he was forced to write songs, record music, participate in TV shows, etc.  I remember one TV show that was supposed to be the "Return of Brian".  Brian was so miserable it was heart breaking!

Brian's life was completely taken over by Dr. Landy.  He made Brian write songs, record them, etc.  Gradually, Dr. Landy's name started appearing on songwriting credits, bank accounts, etc. You can find the details elsewhere, but the beauty of the story is that on the one hand, Dr. Landy did a terrible thing, exploiting Brian for financial and personal gain, making him miserable, and ruining his life, but on the other hand, everyone agrees that otherwise, Brian most certainly would have died!  He ruined his life and saved his life at the same time!!

Eventually, the family got rid of Dr. Landy, but it's a great story!!

Kangaroo Boots

--  On my way back to California from Holland, I stopped in London to visit my old home in Cambridge.  I was in my hotel and figured it was time to get ready to head to the airport.  I was sitting on the edge of the bed, putting on my socks, when suddenly I was hit by lightning!  Many of you may have had a similar experience of sudden and severe back pain.  I collapsed on the floor and couldn't move!  Now I'm lying on the floor thinking, "What am I gonna do?? I can't even get off the floor, much less somehow make it to the airport, and then a 12-hour flight to Los Angeles!  I figured that even if I can make it to the airport, I'd better not get on the plane, because if I have another attack on the airplane, they will have to turn around and return to London.  What a dilemma!

Slowly, the back pain receded some.  After a while, I figured I could probably make it to the airport and can decide the next step when I get there.

When I got to the airport, it turned out there was an airline strike!  No flights could take off!  The strike lasted another 12 hours or so, and the terminal was jam packed with people, so all I could do was lie down on the floor!  It could be that lying flat on the floor may have helped my back... but it certainly was uncomfortable!

Brian’s Autograph

Eventually the strike ended, and flights could resume.  I was still debating whether I should get on the plane, though, because if I have another attack, I'll be rolling on the floor screaming in pain, and the plane will have to turn around.

As it happened, I took a chance and was able to get on the plane, and my back gradually improved over the next 12 hours.  A very close and scary call!  It turns out the worst thing about it was  that I was in such a panic to get to the airport, I left my Kangaroo cowboy boots in the hotel room in London!  They were really good boots too...

=========================

Brian at the Clover Console

=====

Brian at the Clover Console
1. John with “English Joint”
2. Carl Wilson
3. Blondie Chaplin
4. Ricky Fatar

Laurel & I relaxing in our Heemstede Mansion

 

Brian’s Autograph…
This was a down payment on a $60,000 recording console.  ($474,000 in today's money).

Brother Studio in Santa Monica

My Shop in Arleta

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Chapter 6 -- Digital Audio

While at UCLA, I figured out that recording and storing music in digital format offered many advantages over the tape recording we had now.

It became sort of a crusade for me to build a business around digital recording of music, so I was always looking for people who could help me promote this revolution.  I was always shocked at how few people ever expressed any interest.

Transaction Technology.

Since 1968, I have always been trying to promote the idea of digital music.  One of the first people I pitched it to was John Scantlin.

In 1970, I saw a classified ad in the Los Angeles Times saying "Design Computers in Bel-Air"  I didn't know anything about designing computers, but who could resist such an offer?

I responded and was granted an interview with John Scantlin of Scantlin Electronics, who indeed had an office in Bel-Air.  I told him about my idea to record music digitally, thinking he might be open-minded enough to listen.

It turns out in the '60s Mr. Scantlin had built what was then the largest computer network in the world, the Quotron network, which transmitted stock market quotes all over the world.  Every stockbroker in the world had a Quotron terminal on his desk.  I find this interesting because it mirrors the first big success of Thomas Edison.

The New York Gold Exchange in those days, used teenage boys as "runners" who carried slips of paper with the current price of gold to brokers in the city.  Someone had the idea to replace that system with a network of telegraphs.  It would be faster and cheaper than the current system.

The trouble was, it didn't work reliably.  By this time, Tom Edison had built a reputation as a young man who was well versed in telegraphs, and they hired him to try to fix the system.  I don't remember what the problem was, but Edison was able to fix it, and earned a $5,000 reward!  In the 1890s, that was a huge amount of money and the beginning of Edison's fortune.  I wonder if Mr. Scanlin got the idea from Edison?

 

When I met him, he was forming a new company, Transaction Technology, Inc., with backing from CitiBank, one of the largest banks in the world.  Their mission was to create a network of automated teller machines, so he was one of the inventors of the ATM!

Although he was very hospitable and we had a good talk, at the end of our meeting, his exact words were, "If it were possible, IBM would have done it by now."  I didn't argue about the feasibility because I didn't want to be rude, but it was clear he didn't get it.  I guess the music business wasn't as attractive as the banking business...

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Insert the popup "Feasibility Study..." here

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Digital Audio Workstation

In 1985, I connected with MicroTechnology Unlimited, a company formed by David Cox and Hal Chamberlin to develop and market microcomputer and digital audio products. Hal Chamberlin had written a book, "Musical Applications of Microprocessors," that was quite popular. A lot of people started to realize that computers could be used to make music.

I had not been especially  interested in computers until I discovered that computers could be used to make music. I even put together what I called a "Computer Music Studio" in the Paradise Records facility where I was working at the time.

It consisted of a multi-voice Emu synth, and a DEC LSI-11 computer.

With the rapid advancement in magnetic disk drive speed and density, suddenly my goal of a digital tape recorder became obsolete.

I somehow hooked up with David Cox, and became a re-seller of the DS-16 A/D, D/A converter.  At that time, I believe it was the only 16-bit converter that you could actually buy.

I designed and made an ISA bus card for the IBM PC, which would interface with the DS-16 and record 16-bit audio directly to disk.

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================

SoundStream

5/1975 -

When I was making Clover R500 reverbs, I hired Greg Hanks, whom I knew from Electra Records, to help me,.  That venture was eventually a bust thanks to Michael Leone, our investor, who absconded with all the assets. I could have made a lot of money!!

But Greg introduced me to Cynthia

Steinberg, who worked at the business consulting firm of McKenzie & Co., the top business consulting firm in the U.S. I guess I told Cynthia about my desire to record music digitally, so she introduced me to Randy Cole, who

worked at the USC Information

Sciences Institute (who then actually ran the ArpaNet, later to become the internet) and who introduced me to Prof. Tom Stockham, the head of the computer science department at the University of Utah. 

The USC ISI was an interesting place: they occupied the top 2 floors of a fancy building in Marina Del Rey.  One of the floors was completely filled with DEC PDP-10 computers, which at the time was DEC's most powerful computer.  At that time, it was the hub of the ARPANET, which later became the Internet.

It was there that I saw a laser printer for the first time.  It was made by Xerox and was 6' tall, 3' wide, and 8' deep.  It printed about 2 pages per second!  I don't remember if they were double sided, but it looked like it could print an entire book in about one minute.  Never saw anything like that since.

Turns out Prof. Stockham was doing the same thing I was; trying to raise money to develop digital recordings of music.  Finally, I found someone who had the same goal as I!  He did eventually hook up with some backers, one of whom was  Malcolm Low, co-founder of KLH Audio, a well known audio manufacturer.  Prof. Stockham had just formed Sound Stream, Inc. in Salt Lake City. 

I've always said that Tom Stockham was the smartest man I ever knew. Tragically, Prof. Stockham died of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 60!!  I like to think that he used his brain too much and wore it out!

Dr. Stockham hired me to drum up some interest in his plan.  He had already built 2 16-bit A/D converters, which at the time may have been the only ones in the world.  He also made a demonstration tape at the university to demonstrate the spectacular sound quality.  He gave me a cassette copy of the recording to demonstrate to people in the record business.  Apparently, I was the only connection to the actual record business that SoundStream had.

Unfortunately, I am the world's worst salesman.  Most people are happy with what they already have.  They can't visualize the advantages of a new way of doing things.  Although I knew some people who might have an interest in this, most of them didn't have the wherewithal to help found a serious business.

Some of the people I contacted were The Record Plant, George Martin, and Leon Russell.

Record Plant

seemed like a good prospect, as they had two locations: one in Hollywood and one in Sausalito, and they had an influentual clientel.

Chris Stone, Gary Kelgren

They were well known in the music business and had many big clients.  They flew me up to Sausalito to discuss some kind of collaboration.  We didn't discuss all the advantages of digital recording, but instead, they pitched the idea of SoundStream installing a system in one of their studios in Sausalito, California.  Chris Stone was a marketing guy, and my feeling was that they thought it was a gimmick that could be used to attract customers.  And well it should have.  But they wanted it as a free trial, and Dr. Stockham didn't go for that.  Both sides needed to generate income.

Gary Killgren was Chris Stone's partner and a colorful character.  I guess he was a good recording engineer, as he had many important credits.  But his real talent was in creating a pleasant environment for the artists.  At the Sausalito studio, he had one studio where Gary and his console were at the center of the room (no glass wall or control room), and the band was distributed around him.  I interpreted it as a desire to be "the center of attention".

Another quirk of Gary's was that he could not go two minutes without snorting cocaine.  It was embarrassing in the presence of Prof. Stockham, the head of a major department of a major university. No one really cared; it's just that Stockham and his partners may have asked themselves if this is a guy they want to get involved with.

Tragically, a few years later, Gary drowned in his own swimming pool.

George Martin

Pam Bishop, who was the studio manager at Clover Recorders, had some contact at George Martin’s office in Hollywood and set up an appointment for us to talk to him.  Prof. Stockham, Bob Ingebretson, and I went to his office and had a nice conversation. He was a real gentleman, and was very nice to us. Not at all like the typical Hollywood record producer,or the folks at Record Plant. He listened politely to our pitch, and afterward said, "That sounds great, but I'm just a musician, and I don't even know what you're talking about, so I don't know how I can help you". Those were his exact words, and my favorite part is "I'm just a musician". That really made an impression on me. I guess the problem in those days was that musicians were not really interested in radical new technology.

Judy Garland

SoundStream also had an audio restoration process invented by Prof. Stockham. It was a process he called "blind deconvolution".  It was an incredible process, and was also used to restore images.  NASA used it to enhance photos from the moon.

Convolution is a sort of filtering process.  If you know the filter characteristics, you can "undo" the filter.  "Blind deconvolution" is a process where you can undo the filter without knowing what the filter process is.

Prof. Stockham used this technique to restore some Enrico Caruso (mechanical) recordings for RCA. These recordings were made before the invention of electrical sound recording, so they were quite noisy and distorted.

So, I was trying to promote this as a restoration service as well as the digital recording. Someone at my studio introduced me to Sid Luft who was a Hollywood movie producer and Judy Garland's third and last husband. He was looking for someone to restore some old Judy Garland records.

I met with Sid at his apartment on Wilshire Blvd. and tried to explain what we could  do. His apartment was pretty ordinary but in a good neighborhood. He had a vintage Mercedes-Benz cabriolet, which was pretty cool. He had only a few Judy souvenirs, which surprised me. The only pictures on the walls were of horses!

He had a gorgeous, young, tall, slender wife, who was very nice to me and even made me dinner. I asked Sid how he met her, and he told me he met her while standing in line at a Las Vegas show. I didn't say anything, but she was obviously a Las Vegas showgirl.

I also asked Sid how he met Judy. I can't swear this story is true, because I wasn't there, but it's believable (this was around 1950), and straight from the horse's mouth: he said he was in some nightclub, and he spotted Judy at another table with some guy. He decided to talk to her, and walked over to her table and introduced himself. After some casual chit-chat, he pulled a revolver from his pocket, put it to the guy's head, and said, "Why don't you take a walk?" And the guy did! And Sid ended up married to Judy!! I guess she liked that sort of thing...

Judy's official biography omits the gun part, but who knows? All I know is what Sid Luft told me.

Demos-

I never got to do any live digital recording, but I did get to the world's first digital multi-track mixdown.

I took a 16-track Beach Boys master to Salt Lake City to experiment with.  As well as a James Last master given  to me by Record Plant, so see what we could do.  Bob Ingebretson made a Digital Audio Processor program that ran on their DEC PDP-11 computer, and could mix 16 tracks of music, but not in real time.  That was the greatest limitation at t the time.  In the analog world, you can make dozens of adjustments per second.

I also recorded a James Last mix that I got from Record Plant.

Chapter 7 Music Video

Moorpark College

Steve Moffit (from Sound City) introduced me to Jorjana Kellaway, wife of Roger Kellaway, who had a cello quartet.  She was involved with Moorpark College in Moorpark, CA, north of Los Angeles.  The college was originally an agricultural college, but due to its proximity to Hollywood, it had a rather good program in media arts.

Jorjana got me hooked up with Moorpark College to create and teach a music recording course.  It was fun teaching young kids about recording music.  I suspected that most visualized a life of glamor and Lamborghinis, but there were a couple that were seriously interested in a career. and did well.

I found it a good exercise for myself too:  I was paranoid about telling these poor kids something that was not true, so I went out of my way to make sure everything I taught was correct.

At the end of the course, I took the class to the Beach Boys' studio on 5th St. in Santa Monica.  It was a nice studio, and my Clover Console was installed there.  I think they enjoyed that.

Class field trip to Brother Studios

GTE

One of my students at Moorpark College was Dick Jones, who was manager of a TV studio in Santa Monica, owned by GTE.  He enrolled in the class to learn more about his studio.  He was also having some trouble with an audio recording (voice-over) studio, and Dick hired me to see if I could fix it.

The problem was a design error in the console, and was easily fixed.  But it illustrated how GTE was duped into paying a lot of money for bogus equipment, which is why an accountant was put in charge of the studio.

So now Dick hired me as a technical director for the whole studio.  It was a real professional film/video/audio studio with a huge sound stage, video and film editing equipment, a voice-over/studio, and remote video recording and broadcast.

They produced training films, documentaries, and television commercials.  I learned a lot about video, and worked on many interesting projects.

One nice thing about GTE was they had money.  GTE (General Telephone & Electronics) was a huge enterprise.  The studio in Santa Monica was media support for the rest of the company.  They produced training films and videos, promotional videos, and TV commercials.

 Paradise Records

Paradise Records ---  Director of Technical Services

Around 1975,?? While I was promoting SoundStream and digital recording, one of the people I thought to approach was Leon Russell.

I worked with Leon on & off for 10 years, so I thought to call him up and pitch my digital recording idea. I went to his house in Encino, where he had a studio, to play a tape for him that was a (16-bit) digital recording of drums that prof. Stockham made at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. This recording had the most presence of any recording I'd ever heard.

Roger Linn had toured with Leon as a guitar player, and was now working as the "house engineer" at Leon's home studio. The same position I had in '66-68, so he was also there. Leon had an amazing array of musical instruments and sound synthesizers.

One thing I learned from the sound synthesis business is that sounds in real life are EXTREMELY complex. Even the most complex and intricate analog synths could not really create a decent violin or trumpet. It was now my premise that it would be easier and more effective to play back a recorded sound than to try to synthesize it. There were several instruments that tried to do that, but they used tapes, and were such poor quality that they had limited usefulness (I also contributed to the design of the Chamberlin organ, around 1971). and started to build an organ with recorded tapes while at Skyhill.

I like to think that my demo influenced Roger to try digital drum sounds.

Leon also had a PIAA programmable drum machine that was the first programmable drum machine that I ever saw. It was pretty amazing, and sold as a kit for $69. Its only shortcoming was the analog sounds. As I recall, Leon once made an entire album using that drum machine (or maybe it was a Roland?). Anyway, after that, I went to work again for Leon, building three studios.

Another Sea Change...

Leon wasn't interested in my digital tape machine, but he did like the fact that I had experience with video production from GTE, so he hired me as Director of Technical Services.

Leon had just disassembled his record company, Shelter Records, in Tulsa, which included a lot of video equipment.  Leon figured out in the early '70s that video was the future of music.  This was long before MTV or anything like that.  Leon worked on the Shindig TV show, and knew that TV was a powerful thing.

This was shortly after Leon's successful Joe Cocker tour "Mad Dogs and Englishmen," so he was flush with cash.

Leon soon moved out of his Encino home / studio, and moved to a house in Toluca Lake.  He also bought a building in Burbank to house all his "stuff", which was plentiful.

He had enough stuff to build 3 studios, plus a touring sound system, antique cars, antique furniture, etc. etc.

The plan, as I understood it, was to build a new studio, form a record company, and make some records.

So I failed to sell the digital recording business, but Leon sold me on joining his record company, "Paradise Records".

Leon already had a design for the studio, made by a well known studio acoustics designer.  It was a good design, and all ready to build.

But Leon had a funny way of doing things.  I knew from the start that he could never do anything the normal way, but I could never figure out what his plan was.  I don't think anyone else could either.  Leon never told anyone what his real plan was.

Leon was like the Winchester woman, who believed that if she ever stopped building her house, she would die.

We eventually ended up building 4 studios, and 2 remote trucks.

And the plans changed every 5 minutes.  Just as I was preparing to put together Studio A, Leon decided not to use the original plan, but instead cobble together a crude control room in the warehouse and use the whole warehouse as the studio.  Then he decided it needed a stage.

We built a stage at one end of the warehouse that was raised a foot or more.  We bought a set of theatrical lights with a control panel and set it up.  But with the stage, there was inadequate room for the lights.

Leon had a touring sound system consisting of Peavy gear.

He also had two recording consoles: an API. board that was pretty conventional, and a Helios console that I presume he bought in England when hanging out with the Beatles.

Jim Mankey and I spent a lot of time re-commissioning the Helios board that was eventually installed in the warehouse.

Leon insisted on footlights.

Studio A

Studio B

Woodbridge Studio

Studio C

 My Office

Jack Jester

I knew Jack Jester from GTE.  He was an experienced "Outside Broadcast" guy who had a lot of equipment of his own, and had broadcast John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1960.

I figured that his experience would be invaluable, and hired him to organize our video buses and studio.

Leon liked everything to be portable.  So we built two mobile studios:

80-track recording
6-machine video recording & edidting

===================

Willie Nelson

Around 1979, we recorded and videotaped 107 songs with Willie Nelson and his band, in two weeks.

It was great to record real music in real time with no overdubbing or even second takes.  I don't know what ever happened to those tapes...

It took place at the Woodbridge studio, as that was the best studio at the time.

One thing I remember about Willie was that he would sing any song, anywhere, anytime.  It seemed like  all he wanted to do was sing and play the guitar.

We had Willie's whole band and entourage, including two drummers and a full-time cook.  He had a whole self-contained traveling operation.

I don't recall using two drummers on any of the songs.  The deal was that at some point, Willie decided that he wanted a different drummer.  But he refused to fire the old drummer, so he kept both.  Another example of southern loyalty.

I also remember Mickey Raphael.  I was always a fan of harmonica players, so it was a treat to work with Mickey.

I remember being a bit disappointed, though: I felt like he was playing the same thing on every song.  But some time later, I heard a Mickey Raphael record that was the most imaginative harmonica playing I ever heard! I guess he was playing what Willie wanted, which is good.

Some that I met or worked with at Paradise:

Willie Nelson
James Caan
George Harrison

Mickey Raphael

James Caan -- At the end of the two week recording session, Leon invited some people to the studio to celebrate and maybe find an outlet for the recording, and James Caan was one of the attendees.

I don't know what happpened to those tapes; if you know, please let me know in the comments.

===================

Chapter 8 Other Random Encounters

 

Bob Hope

Taluca Lake, where Leon's home and the "Woodbridge Studio" were located was a nice neiborhood. It was conveniently located near the TV studios, but kind of hidden away from the rest of the world.

Leon had some interesting neighbors such as Bob Hope.  Leon's property backed up to Hope's property, so Leon's back yard was attached to Hope's back yard.  I remember that when there was a big rainstorm, Hope's back yard would turn into a pond!

I only saw Hope once, as he was rarely home.  At the time, he was probably the most popular guy on the planet, and was constantly touring or working.  Furthermore, he had a fancy house in Palm Springs too.

The one time I saw him was one morning when I was driving to the Woodbridge studio, Hope was putting out the trash barels in his robe and slippers.  I found it comforting that such a wealthy and p;opular guy has to take out the trash just like anybody else!

Johnathan Winters

Leon's neighbor on his left side was Johnathan Winters.  I never met him, but I heard that he would go down to the liquor store on Magnolia Blvd. and put on an act to entertain the customores.  A born entertgainer.

Doug Cameron

But more interesting is Johnathan had a nephwe or some sort of relative living at his house.  His name was Doug Caneron and he played the violin.  He would comve over to the Woodbridge studio occasionally to see if we needed a violin player.  I always felt bad that I had to tell him "We don't have much call for violin players here becasuse of the kind of music we do".  Now I feel like the proverbial record exec who passed on the Beatles!  Years later, I heard on of his records, and it was fabulous!  Just like the episode with Mikey Raphael...

 

Charlie Manson

When I met Laurel, her parents had recently moved to Skyhill Drive from Cielo Drive in Beverly Hills. Laurel told me that they lived next door to the house where Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, and Abigail Folger were murdered by Tex Watson and Manson's Girls.  She said that she knew the pool boy who found the bodies the next morning.

The day after Charlie and the girls were arrested at the Spahn Ranch in Chatsworth, Laurel and a friend went out to the Spahn Ranch to look around. She brought back this book that I still have. It seems that Charlie had quite a stash of philosophy books that he would read and then re-regurgitate to the girls, who then thought he was a genius.  Too bad he didn't write his name in it; it might be worth something!

It wasn't well known at the time, but what was really going on was that Charlie wanted to murder Terry Melcher, who was Doris Day's son.

Manson was an aspiring singer/songwriter and had auditioned for Terry, who was an A&R man at Columbia Records. Terry turned him down, which apparently pissed Charlie off. He wrote an address down on a piece of paper, and gave it to Tex Watson, telling him, "Go to this address and kill everyone there". Unbeknownst to Charlie, Terry was in Europe, and had rented the house out to Roman Polanski and his girlfriend Sharon Tate.

The five unluckiest people in the world!

Rod Stewart

Around 1979, I worked for a time at Cherokee Studios in Hollywood. It was interesting in that their client list read like the Hot 100. I don't know how they did it, but they attracted many of the top recording stars in the business.

One of them was Rod Stewart, who made some great records. I never worked with him, but I did witness some of the aftermath of his sessions.

In addition to breaking a lot of microphones and other stuff, he covered the walls of the studio with huge felt pen drawings of penises. All sizes and shapes; some were as much as 5 or 6 feet long. Dozens of them. I know this is true 'cause I saw it with my own eyes. Strange guy; he seemed to be obsessed.

The one drawing that caught my attention, though, was only a couple inches tall, and had a caption:

"My Sister Pulling Up Her Drawers"

I thought that was quite odd, and I remember it to this day.

Interestingly, Rod Stewart was one of the few male singers that I liked!  His records were great!

Out of all the big name acts recording there at the time, the one that caught my attention was The Cars.  Ric Ocasec

They had one tune, which was one chord all the way through, then, on the fade-out, it resolved!  I thought that was pretty clever.

John Belushi

Steve Cropper invited me to a Blues Brothers session at Cherokee Studios one day.  I had worked with that band at STAX, so it was kind of an "old times" event.  But it was very different from the old days.  This was 1979 or '80, and Blues Brothers were a big deal.  The studio was filled with all kinds of movie studio people, so I took a seat in the back of the control room right next to John Belushi.  I never got a chance to introduce myself (not that I would have), because all he did the entire time was talk on the (landline) telephone.  I remember this because at the time, I thought that was really strange behavior.  He didn't seem to have any interest in what was going on in the studio.  It also didn't seem to be a friendly call.  This is all just my impression, but my experience was that celebrities often do this to avoid anyone talking to them.  I also got the impression that he felt like a fish out of water.

"I terrified Steve McQueen..."

In the mid-'70s, I was living in Sherman Oaks in LA. One day, I was headed to some shop on Ventura Blvd. in my  E-Type Jaguar. In those days, it was my "daily driver". Anyway, I parked at the curb, and as I got out and stepped up on the curb, Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw came out of a liquor store right in front of me.

We were face to face, literally an arm's length from each other. I immediately recognized them, but didn't say anything. I could see a look of terror on his face and a "thought balloon" over his head like in the comics, saying, "Oh no, please don't say anything!"

Steve was very protective of Ali, who didn't even see me. He shielded her from me, while she just stared at the ground the whole time.

Another example of the horror of being a big star.

Larry Hagman

Around 1980, my friend Pam Bishop invited me to a filming of the "Dallas" TV show.  It was in a local soundstage, but I can't remember which one. Could it have been Warner Bros.? This was pretty much at the peak of Dallas hysteria, as the most popular thing on TV.  It was a really big deal.  It was so big that it practically ruined his life.  He couldn't go out in public, or have any real life.

As I entered the sound stage, there was a doorman inside, who said to me, "Whatever you do, don't look at Mr. Hagman."  I was surprised and a little confused.  I wasn't sure how to interpret that, but I guessed that it meant don't stare at or make eye contact with Mr. Hagman.

I quickly learned that no one was allowed to speak to or have any interaction with Mr. Hagman, even the crew!  There was no direction by the director or any of the crew.

As a result, the whole thing was pretty boring, so I left after one or two scenes.  Just before I left, the scene ended, and Hagman headed out of the sound stage to his dressing room without a word, like all big movie stars do.  I was standing right next to the door, so Hagman walked right past me, just a foot away.  I looked him right in the eye, and he looked at me right in the eye. I thought, "Uh-oh, I'm not supposed to do that", but nothing happened.  I imagine he was checking me out to see if I had a weapon, and was going to assassinate him!  Probably the most paranoid person I ever saw.

The Girl at the Post office

Entering the post office parking lot, I spotted a yellow Lamborghini parked near the entrance.  I parked, then got out and checked out the Lambo.  It was rare to see anything like that in my Laguna Niguel suburban neighborhood.

When I went inside, there was a girl in front of me in line.  She looked like she was about 12 years old, and dressed in authentic 1965 hippie costume!  Her outfit included Birkenstock sandals, and a homemade leather purse, typical of the era.  I don't remember many other details, but I do remember that her costume was 100% authentic hippie!  It was absolutely Twilight Zone!

I followed her out the door when she left, and to my astonishment, she then walked over to the yellow Lambo, got in, and drove away!  She honestly didn't look like she was old enough to drive!

My best guess is that she may have been an actress who was on a lunch break from the set.  Any ideas about what was going on??

 Paul Newman

One day in the late '70s, I was driving down Ventura Blvd. in my 1962 red E-Type Jaguar.  Suddenly I see an identical car coming the other way.  Even at that time, it was pretty rare to see a car like that on the street.

As we passed each other, we both stared at each other, and I suddenly realized that it was Paul Newman!

The real shock was that he had white hair!  At that time I was unaware that he had white hair; I only knew him from the movies!

Maurice and the bald tires

While working at Clover Recorders, I had sold my Carmen Ghia, and was driving Laurel's Buick.  I had no real source of income, and I got a ticket for having bald tires on the car.

I didn't do anything about it because I didn't want to spend money on tires.  But it turns out that that is a crime, so I ended up in jail!  The holding cell in the Van Nuys jail was about 20 feet square, and had a telephone on the wall.

There were a few other guys in as well, but we all kept to ourselves.  Then in came a new guy, "Maurice".  He is freaking out and behaving very suspiciously: "I gotta get outa here, I gotta get outa here, I'm wanted for murder one!".

I'm thinking to myself, "Great, I'm locked up in a cell with a panicked murderer!"  Maurice made a phone call or two that went something a little like this: "Yeah, baby, I know I said I was gonna call, but I got busy, and..."  Obviously he was trying to get one of his girlfriends to bail him out, but they were not going for it, which I thought was hilarious!

After a few minutes of this, I couldn't stop myself from bursting out laughing!  Luckily, "the killer" had a sense of humor.

By now, I'm figuring out that his "wanted for murder" ruse is a self defense mechanism.  I presume every one in jail or prison pretends to be a dangerous maniac so that the other prisoners will leave them alone.

I remember the "Satan's Slaves" motorcycle gang in Van Nuys also tried to act tough and dangerous so people would stay clear.

I don't know how "Maurice" made out, but after about 4 hours, Laurel came and bailed me out.

Lesson learned.

 

Chapter 9 -- Evolution of the Programmable Digital Drum Machine

 Leon's house in Encino

Around 1975, I was promoting Digital Recording at SoundStream in Salt Lake City.  I had worked with Leon Russell for many years, and thought he might be interested, so I called him up and we met at his house in Encino, where he had a small home studio.

Roger Linn played guitar in Leons touring band, and was house engineer in Leons home studio; the same position I had back in 1967.

I explained to Leon and Roger what I was trying to do at Soundstream, and played a demonstration of a 16-bit recording of drums that Dr. Stockham made at the Univercisy of Utah using his custom made 16-bit A/D converter.   That recording had incredible presense and was very impressive.  I like to think that I may have inspired Roger to consider digital recordings for his drum machine.

LM-1

In trying to develop a digital tape recorder, I figured out that using a non-linear encoding scheme would allow higher performance for less money.  In a companding converter, the steps between the more significant bits are larger than between the less significant bits.  I  even built a 12-bit companding converter back around 1972.  It was crude, and didn't produce the performance I had hoped for.

In those days, there was no such thing as a 16-bit A/D converter that you could buy, and 12-bit converters were expensive, as was the memory. Therefore 8-bit was pretty much the only practical solution, so I introduced Roger to the 8-bit non-linear companding converters developed by Bell Labs

By 1979, there were 8-bit companding converter ICs available that were developed by AT&T as they were planning the digitization of the telephone network.

I gave Roger a data sheet for the AT&T 8-bit companding D/A converter chip.  This was a pretty important development for digital instruments, as it provided decent performance at a reasonable price. This scheme became the standard for all digital instruments for many years. So that was my contribution to the Linn LM-1 Drum Computer.  It's  possible that Roger had discovered these converters independently; I'm just reporting what my experience was.

Roger started selling the LM-1 around 1980. Shortly after, I was hired (with Roger's help) at Oberheim Electronics to develop a digital drum machine, which became the DMX. The DMX predated the LinnDrum, and was the most advanced drum machine at the time. The LinnDrum came out later, and was influenced by the DMX.

Here is a photo of the original DMX breadboard that was made by Anne Graham at Oberheim.

This is a photo of the original DVX protorype, which appeared in the first news releases and ads.

Note that the prototype in the photo  had two rows of drum buttons instead of the three of the production model. As soon as I sat down to play the prototype, it became obvious within a few seconds that it should have three rows of buttons! You can't anticipate everything...

After the DMX was finished and successful, Roger hired me at Linn Electronics as Director of Engineering (~1982-3).  While there, I designed the Linn 9000 and ran the engineering department.

Again, the Linn 9000 was by far the most advanced drum machine / sequencer at the time. I think my most interesting contribution to that project was the pressure sensitive rubber playing pads. Nothing like that had been done before, and I see that they seem to be a staple of all following drum machines.

The other part of the development was a board I designed and built that plugged into our GA-16 mini-computer and had the (non-linear) D/A and A/D converters I built. The software was in GA-16 assembly language. All the original DMX voices were digitized with this setup.

I always considered the drum machine to be a tool for composers. In those days, the only people who bought sound synthesizers were college professors and eccentric composers. Frankly, I never imagined that sound synthesizers would become a consumer product.

According to Roger, disco music was also a factor in the acceptance of digital drum machines: Roger said that guys like Georgio Moroder and Herbie Hancock loved it  because it could play 120 bpm perfectly FOREVER with high enough quality to use on records.

After Roger's LM-1 Drum Computer started to become successful, Tom Oberheim wanted to somehow get involved.  Roger wasn't interested in a deal with Oberheim, so instead, Tom hired me.

The negotiation between Roger and Tom was pretty funny:  Tom asked Roger if he wanted to continue with his own company, or work with Oberheim.  Roger answered, "I'd like to do whichever is going to make me the most money".  And Tom replied, "You can make more money by doing it yourself".  End of negotiation.  I was quite shocked by Tom's response, but it was the correct one.

Oberheim Electronics

I don't remember how I got the job at Oberheim, although I think it had something to do with my association with Roger Linn and his digital drum machine.  I do remember that I had a dream where I had a small corner of a warehouse where I could develop musical instuments.  Strangely, this dream came true, although I dont' know how!

Anne Graham

-- It was love at first sight.

At that time, Oberheim was located in two locations in Santa Monica; there was the main office, and there was a shop elsewhere.

Later, we combined the two into one location at ...

Tom Oberheim took me to the shop to see where they were making the products.  While there, I met a captivating blond girl, Anne Graham.  I was hooked in the first 5 seconds. She looked me right in the eye, and I was sure that she could see my soul!

I was a fool, but I was determined to make her love me.  It was actually her who made the first move, but I really liked her.

After a while, I asked her to move in with me.  She replied, "That's OK, but only if it doesn't become 'sticky.'"  I didn't really know what she meant, but I didn't care.  I could appreciate her position, and I actually like independent girls.  I didn't want to control them.  But it did eventually become "sticky".

I not only wanted to be with her; I admired her so much that I wanted to BE her.

I guess we were together for a year or two; I'm not sure.  But at the end it was devastating. Entirely myfault.  I really screwed up that time.

DMX

At first, no one at Oberheim ever mentioned anything about digital drum machines, but I suspected they might be interested.

Eventually, Tom decided to make a digital drum machine, and I spent the next two years designing the hardware and software.

(Photos of breadboard & prototype.)

 

Linn Electronics

Linn 9000

At the time, Roger connected a Radio Shack TRS-80 to a Roland drum machine, which of course was analog sounds.  But in enabled him to program much more complex rhythms than the standard drum machines. I remember that he carried it around in a cardboard box, but that may have been after he added digital sounds.

I like to think that my Soundstream demo may have influenced Roger to try digital drum samples.

After I left Oberheim, Roger hired me to develop the Linn 9000, successor to the LinnDrum.

Roger's idea was that it should be "all things to all people."  Roger specified all the features.  He was full of ideas for what it should do.

One pitfall of software controlled products is that additional features essentially don't have any cost to manufacture.  As a result, there is the temptation to have an infinite number of features.  In fact, the vast majority of software controlled product features are never used.  People want to have them, though, because they could if they wanted.

Forth

One day, Tom Oberheim caught me reading a book about the Pascal programming language.  I had an idea that it might be helpful to come up with a programming language for programming  sound synthesizers.  At the time, the only practical solution was assembly language, because of speed and memory size limitations.

Tom suggested I take a look at the FORTH programming language.  I didn't know anything about it, so I started investigating.  It was invented by an astronomer to control his telescopes.

Forth is a highly unique, stack-oriented, concatenative programming language and environment created by Charles H.  Moore in 1970. It is well-known for its extreme simplicity, minimal memory footprint, and lack of formal syntax rules. It remains widely utilized in embedded systems, real-time applications, and hardware testing.

FORTH is a little esoteric, but I fell in love with it, and it was used for the development of the Linn 9000. It was an interpreter, but remarkably efficient and could also be compiled.  I liked the fact that you could make changes and see the result immediately. That was really useful for experimenting.  Some people were put off by  the fact that it used Reverse Polish Notation (like an HP calculator).

The Trouble...

The Linn 9000 was plagued with problems.  My feeling is that the main problem was moving too fast to get the product to market.

I never understood why there was such a hurry, as the LinnDrum was doing well and amounted to easy money.

Once the cat's out of the bag, though, buyers are prone to wait for the new model, rather than buy now.

The pressure to finish became panic.

The only problem I was aware of was that it would crash randomly in record mode.  At the time, I was sure it was a hardware issue, and the software is presumably deterministic.

We rented a logic analyzer and started looking for where in the program it was crashing.

I think the consensus at the time was that it was a timing issue.  Some part of the circuit had insufficient margin for timing errors.  If we could isolate the place where it's crashing, we could modify the circuit wth faster chips or other fix.

I wasn't around to find out what the problem was.  If you know, leave a comment.

Apparently, the new regime decided that it was a software issue, and proceeded to replace the Forth code with assembly language.  It is possible that the execution speed of the software could be an issue, but I think they chose the hard way, and there may have been a simpler solution.

One problem was that Forth was not a very popular language among the mainstream.  It was a pretty specialized thing, so they figured that replacing it would be the easiest solution.

AutoCAD

It turned out that Linn Electronics was a pioneer in computer-aided design.  At some point around 1980, Roger & I attended a trade show featuring CAD tools.  Traditionally, CAD systems ran on mainframe computers and cost millions of dollars, and were primarily used by the likes of General Motors or Boeing.

At the time of this trade show, there was a revolution going on: a few companies came up with CAD systems that ran on minicomputers.  These systems sold for $100,000 instead of $1,000,000, so it was a huge advance for CAD.

But at the show, there was one little guy in a 10' booth that had a CAD system that ran on an IBM PC, and sold for $1,000.  My recollection is that he was the only one with a product that ran on microcomputers.  So this was the beginning of a revolution in CAD, and the beginning of AutoCAD, now AutoDesk, a $40,000,000 company.

Roger & I went up to San Francisco, where their office was, where the salesman told us that the creator wrote the entire software in a week!

So Roger bought a copy.  I don't remember what the price was, but it must have been less than $1000.

One thing I do remember is the serial number on the floppy disc: 0007.  So Roger was one of the first on the planet to buy AutoCAD.

In our case, it ran on a Compupro 16-bit 8086 S100 bus computer running MPM 86 16-bit multi-user multitasking, a cousin of CPM.

Yuriko

Yuriko was from Sapporo, Japan.  She was very smart, kind, and generous.  She passed away in October 2023, and I miss her awfully.  Her favorite thing was reading.  It seemed like she read a book a day.  Right to the end, it was her favorite thing.  I don't read Japanese, so I don't know exactly what she was reading, but it appeared that she mostly read world history and anthropology.

Her working experience was with Japanese banks, initially in Sapporo and Tokyo, then here in California.  Initially, she worked at a couple of Japanese banks in downtown L.A., but that was a pretty rough commute from Woodland Hills, where I was living.

I was self-employed with Clover Systems and Design Science at the time, so I figured it didn't matter much where I lived, so we moved to Orange County, where Yuriko was working at Sunitomo Bank, so Yuriko didn't have to commute so far.

 

================

Chapter 10 -- OPTICAL DISCS

LaserVideo / Disc Manufacturing

By the early 80s, I was pretty sick of drum machines, and my girlfriend Anne had dumped me.  I was quite broken up about it, and needed a new career.  It was at this time (1994) that I met Yuriko, my future wif.

I saw a classified ad in the Los Angeles Times, looking for an engineer.  I applied and got an interview with Alan Hammersley of LaserVideo.  They manufactured LaserDiscs, which were intended to replace videocassettes,  and CDs, which were designed to replace vinyl records.

I thought LaserVideo sounded like something I could be interested in, and digital audio was starting to catch on, thanks to the invention of the Compact Disc, and I already had experience with digital audio.

Compact discs were becoming big.  In fact, at the time, CDs were the most successful consumer product ever.  CDs were part of the music business, and I liked the fact that they incorporated many different disciplines, such as optics, electronics, mathematics, chemistry, servos, lasers, and music.

Alan liked that I had some experience with lasers and scanners, having once had a laser show with Mitch Benoff in Boston.  I also had some experience with micron-size features at  Protolite.  So I was hired as a contractor.

Alan told me he wanted to hook up a chart recorder to a Philips CD player to plot error rates on CDs.  This could then be used for quality control.

I investigated chart recorders, and quickly figured out that it would be cheaper and better to use an IBM PC clone to do the job.  The error rates could be displayed on the monitor and printed on any PC-compatible printer. Plus, the PC could analyze and display the data in various ways.

This was the beginning of what came to be known as "personal engineering."  PCs were getting so cheap that they could be used to make computer-controlled just about anything.

Compact Disc Analyzer

So I designed and built one, calling it a "Compact Disc Analyzer".  It turned out to be so useful that LaserVideo requested several more.  I also built a VideoDisc Analyzer to test VideoDiscs.

At the time, there was only one product that could be used for evaluating CD quality: it was made by Sony, and I believe it cost $10,000.  It was actually pretty crude and only measured Block Error Rate and UNCR.  My CDA did a lot more and cost a lot less.

The original VideoDisc players were large, heavy players that played 12" optical discs encoded with video and audio.  Interestingly, the first ones were strictly analog and used gas lasers. Only later did they add digital audio.  The Compact Disc was a revolution in technology that allowed a great reduction in size and cost, and thus the name "Compact Disc".

Later on, I built a Stamper Analyser, a Master Analyser, a Clear Disc Analyzer, and a Laser Beam Recorder.

LaserVideo by now had changed their name to Disc Manufacturing, and had sold quite a few CD analyzers either directly or through other third parties.

===========

My original CD analyzer consisted of a Philips CD100 CD player and an IBM

Philips CD100

PC.  I tapped into the error detection flags and the HF signal from the pickup and connected them to a connector on the CD100. I also designed and built an ISO bus card that fit in the IBM PC and decoded the various signals from the player and displayed the results as graphs.  We soon changed to a Philips CD950 player.

LaserVideo by now had changed their name to Disc Manufacturing, and had sold quite a few CD analyzers either directly or through other third parties.  As soon as I noticed that there was a demand for such a thing, I contemplated making it into a Clover Systems product.

QA-101 is born…

I decided to make a Clover Systems CD Analyzer, which I called QA-101. At last. I could have a real product, and a real business!

It was a self-contained unit, so the PC was optional. It originally used the Philips CD950, which I modified to add a window for an LCD, and a couple of buttons to control the software. I designed and built a circuit board that could fit inside the player and decode the signals from the pickup. It had a serial communication interface and MSDOS software so it could send the test results to a PC, where they could be displayed and printed.

After a while, Philips stopped making the CD950 player, so I had to make my own. I was able to buy the optical pickups and servos from Phillips, and I designed and built a PCB that decoded the error signals, and could fit inside the player, along with a vacuum fluorescent display. It had an RS-485 serial interface and QA-Net software that could connect up to 8 QA-101s to one PC.

Eliminating the PC made it very inexpensive, and opened up a whole new market for CD testing. Now anyone in the supply chain from manufacturer to end user can accurately evaluate disc quality.

 

CDX

The next step was the advent of high-speed CD drives designed to read CD-ROMs. These drives were configured to be installed in a PC and could read CDs at up to 40X speed. The original CDs were designed strictly for music. But the world soon discovered that CDs are ideal for any kind of data storage, and the faster the throughput, the better.

Since they required a PC to take advantage, the CD drives took the form factor of a floppy disk drive.

Higher speed was obviously an advantage for anyone testing discs; this resulted in the creation of CDX.

CDX was based on a Plextor CD drive, and required a PC to control it.

This also meant we could use off-the-shelf CD-ROM drives for our analyzer without having to make a chassis, displays, etc., as everyone already had an IBM PC clone.

Thanks to the evolution of FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), I was able to make a small PCB that decoded the error flags, attached to the back of the CD-ROM drive, and had a serial interface to the PC, so nothing had to be added to the PC.

CDX software could then perform all kinds of display and analysis.

DVX

The DVD Wars: Philips/Sony vs. Toshiba/Warner Bros?

Eventally, the CD evolved into the DVD, and the CDX evolved into the DVX.

Eventually, DVD discs came to dominate the market. DVX was configured just like the CDX and could be purchased with or without the PC.

It could test CDs at up to 48X speed and DVDs up to 16X. DVX could test all formats of CDs as well, so it mostly replaced the CDX.

DVD Wars

The invention of th DVD

There were several groups who had designs for Digital Video Discs, and hoped to dominate the market, which was presumed to be hug.e  The CD had been the most succesful consumer product in history, and it was assumed that DVD would be similar.

I like to say that as soon as tere is money involved, that's when things go awry.  And the DVD gamgle was BIG money.

There were two major players in the the bettle:  One group was Philips/Sony, who invented the CD.

The other group was Toshiba/Warner Bros. who had their own design and patents.

I remember one incident at a trade show, where Doug Carson, who made equipent for mastering of CDs, was being hounded in the hallway by the guys from Toshiba:  Their argument almost amounted to a death theat:  "If we catch you taliing to those guys from Philips, we're going to cut your balls off!"

Well, that wasn't the exact words, but it was nasty.  I myself was threatented by the Warner Bros gang:  They wanted to buy some of my equpment, but wanted a special discount.  I told them "we here are egalitarians, and everybody gets the same price no matter who you are".

they didn't like that answer, and even called me a home at 3AM to threaten me.

Please stay away from any business where there are billions of dollars at stake!!

 

AMM-1

An important part of measuring disc quality is pit geometry. The ability of the player to read the disc depends on the geometry of the pits on the disc: length, width, slope of the walls, etc.

The AMM-1 Analog Measurement Module added the capability to make pit geometry measurements on CDs and DVDs. All of our disc analyzers have the capability to make these measurements using an oscilloscope, but the AMM-1 automates this procedure and does not require an oscilloscope.
Data Recovery Player

This was a special player that could test "unplayable" discs and recover data from the disc. We sold them primarily to government operations like Sandia National Labs and the CIA.  It required modifying the player’s firmware.

ISRCView Software

This was a stand-alone software that could display the ISRC codes on a CD or DVD. It was useful for content producers to check that the ISRC was properly encoded into the disc and sold for $10.

Laser Beam Recorder

The Laser Beam Recorder was quite a project.

Optical discs are mastered the same way as the old-fashioned record lathe but way more complex.

You can see the whole line of Optical Disc Analyzers here.

Laser Beam Recorder

The laser beam recorder is a machine used to create CD and DVD masters from which CDs and DVDs are made.

Around 1992, DMI hired my other company (DBA Design Science) to develop the control electronics and software for a new LBR.

It is interesting because it requires a fantastic degree of precision and control.

I designed and made all the control electronics. and all the software to control it.

QAV

I came up with a scheme I called "Quantized Angular Velocity" where the recording velocity changes in discrete steps.  The idea was that replacing the analog circuitry with digital circuitry,would provide more accurate, repeatable results.

You can see more detals here.

Laser Beam Recorder

Laser Beam Recorder

LBR Circuit Board

LBR Simulator

 

The Trial

Disc Manufacturing, Inc. (DMI) was a major historical American optical disc pressing company with plants in Anaheim, California, and Huntsville, Alabama.

MCA DiscoVision, Inc. was a division of entertainment giant MCA (Music Corporation of America), established in 1969 to develop and sell an optical videodisc system.  DiscoVision titles included films from Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, and Disney content.

The successor to MCA DiscoVision, DiscoVision Associates (DVA), was the result of a partnership between IBM and MCA. It was hoped that the merger would provide the basis for improvement of the quality of DiscoVision pressings, but no appreciable improvement ever took hold.

DiscoVision Associates later evolved into a patent holding company that manages and licenses intellectual property related to LaserDisc, Compact Disc, and optical disc technologies, as well as other non-disc related fields.

In 1989, Pioneer acquired DiscoVision Associates where it continues to license its technologies independently.

======================

Around 1994. I helped develop a Laser Beam Recorder for DMI.  This is a machine used for creating masters, that would then be used to make molds to produce CDs, DVDs, and LaserDiscs.

I designed and built all the control electronics and all the software.  Others did the mechanical and optical design.

It required a fantastic degree of precision and control, so I decided that implementing it digitally would make it more repeatable and versatile,

It turned out to work really well, and they were used by two DMI facilities and sold through third parties.  I don't know what they sold for, but Google claims $2.5 million.  There was a lot of technology in that machine.

I considered it a big success, but DiscoVision Associates filed a patent infrigement suit against DMI.  At this time, DiscoVision Associates' main business was suing people.  Optical discs had become big business, and there was a lot of fighting between various factions.  When DVD came out, it degenerated into serious warfare!  As soon as there is money involved, that's when things go awry, and this was BIG money.

The multi-year litigation between Discovision Associates and Disc Manufacturing, Inc. concluded via a voluntary settlement without a final trial verdict. Before the settlement, the court granted DVA partial summary judgment for patent infringement on seven of eight claim elements, while refusing to dismiss DMI's antitrust counterclaims regarding patent tying and prosecution laches.

====================

Case Overview: Plaintiff: Discovision Associates (DVA), an optical disc patent-holding subsidiary of Pioneer Electronic Corp.Defendant: Disc Manufacturing, Inc. (DMI), a compact disc replication and manufacturing company.Court and Year: U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, with major rulings issued in 1998DVA alleged that DMI infringed upon its extensive portfolio of optical disc and laser/CD manufacturing patents, while counterclaims and defenses involved issues of patent validity, scope of claims, and antitrust-related defenses like patent tying.

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In DiscoVision Associates v. Disc Manufacturing Inc., the plaintiff alleged that the defendant’s intentional delay in patent prosecution was a form of fraud on the patent office and a violation of the antitrust laws. The district court refused to dismiss the antitrust claim, noting that while the defendant had obtained lawfully issued patents, it was not immune from
antitrust scrutiny of the means by which the defendant obtained those patents and their potential anticompetitive effect beyond the scope of the patents themselves.

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There was a years-long battle over the issue, and it eventually came to federal court in Delaware.  I was a witness for DMI, and it was a very interesting experience, and I learned a lot.

When I got to Delaware to testify in the trial, I discovered the magnitude of the issue.  Both sides had spent a fortune on lawyers and trial.

The two teams took up the whole floor of a large hotel.  Dozens of rooms were filled with "banker's boxes" of documents.  They even had full time (24 hrs) copier repairmen to sit next to the copy machine in case it broke down!

I don't know what the stakes amounted to in dollars, but they could be tens of millions.

I suspect that each side spent millions on the trial.

The judge in the case was a woman.  My experience in courts is that women make good judges.  It's just like refereeing a fight between 2 3-year-old kids.

I also found out about "expert witnesses".  I didn't know you could make a fortune as a paid "expert."

In court, the opposition will typically ask the witness if they were paid for their testimony.  I guess that's to question their honesty.

When the opposition asked me if I would be paid for my appearance, I replied, "I hope so" and everyone laughed. The only payment I got for the trial was for travel expenses and hotel.

But one of the expert witnesses for the opposition claimed he received $600,000 for his testimony! It turns out there is a whole industry of "expert witnesses." that make a fortune.

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https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Du3cDRGBBVXA&ved=2ahUKEwign8irzvaWAxUJKEQIHV9ICZMQwqsBegQIShAB&usg=AOvVaw2tAw7DEv9ztavoM57UQTRW

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DSEUuSEG7hb4&ved=2ahUKEwign8irzvaWAxUJKEQIHV9ICZMQwqsBegQIRxAB&usg=AOvVaw3HwSiOvotOvHgfJ5g0QgLp

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DFf1QspKnfSs&ved=2ahUKEwign8irzvaWAxUJKEQIHV9ICZMQwqsBegQISxAB&usg=AOvVaw1r6HuTlHP9f9LZLiq3AC4H

Apparently, the two suits were eventually settled (at great expense, no doubt).  I don't know what the terms of the settlement were.  If you know, leave a comment.

ACTOR

I used to complain that Leon was incapable of doing anything the normal way.  I guess some of that rubbed off on me.

The first law of computer programming is to use the highest-level language you can.  Low level languages are slow to program and prone to errors.

High-level languages are easier and faster to program, but execution speed is slower.

At Linn Electronics, I decided to use the FORTH programming language, which is a soft of mid-level language with the best features of both high and low leverl programming languages.

I decided that FORTH was a good choice because it was perfect for doing things that had not been done before.

In the development of the Laser Beam Recorder, I used two languages:  C++ for the "guts" of the machine that conrolled the hardware, and ACTOR, a high-level object-oriented interpreter for the user interface.

 

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Chapter 11 -- The Great Recession

The CD/DVD business peaked in 2000, and began a long slide to oblivion.  By 2010, there was very little demand for disc manufacturing equipment.  Many businesses were ruined, and I was forced to sell our building and move home.  Yuriko and I lost 1/2 of our life savings in that fiasco.

By 2010, there was virtually no market for our products.  This happened at the same time as the "Great Recession" of 2008-2020, so my business and many others were ruined.  We had to sell our building and move home, where I still built some DVXs for a while.  Luckily, the Dynamo Regulator and SunBook could both be made in my spare bedroom.

 

SunBook  2011 - 2013

I had always wanted to have a daylight-readable laptop PC so I could lounge on the beach while working.  If you've ever tried this, you know that it doesn't work; the screen is completely black!  I was aware of transflective LCD that could be used outdoors, but they used so much power that a laptop battery would be drained in a few minutes!

But I happened to come across a Silicon Valley outfit that invented a transflective LCD that didn't require a backlight, so I started making daylight readable netbooks in my bedroom.  I especially like this product because it is a great example of a "brilliant failure".

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I spent my life trying to make products that are useful to human beings. Sometimes they work out, and sometimes not, thus a new chronicle of "Brilliant Failures":

When I got my first laptop computer, I imagined working in the backyard or on the beach. How cool would that be? But when I got my first laptop and took it out in the backyard, I discovered that you can't see the screen in daylight!! What a bust! I had heard about "transflective displays" (both transparent and reflective) and did some research to see if I could get one for my laptop. Although such a thing existed, they used a HUGE amount of power, as you need a 200W backlight to compete with the sunlight. Therefore, they were typically powered by 110V AC and were not portable.

Meanwhile, Nicolas Negroponte established the MIT Media Lab back in the '80's, when it was at the cutting edge of the New Media movement. There were many big things that came out of the Media Lab, and one of them was a thing called "One Laptop per Child". The idea was that poor kids around the world needed a low-cost, low-power computer so they won't be left behind in the new digital age. It needed to be viewable in sunlight, since poor kits in Africa don't have a roof over their head, and low-power consumption because in many places, it would have to be charged by a hand-cranked generator.

The idea caught on and was backed by the US government and President Bill Clinton. The goal was to manufacture a portable, low-power laptop that could be sold for $100. It was to be sold only to sovereign governments. In the end, it was found that it's not possible to manufacture a laptop computer for $100.

Another of One Laptop per Child's co-founders was Mary Lou Jepsen. She was the brains of the outfit and the designer of the $100 laptop. She invented a transflective LCD screen that could be viewed in direct sunlight as well as darkness, and used very little power. It was a brilliant design and was key to making a $100 laptop.

I heard about this new transflective LCD that used practically no power in sunlight. This led me to Pixel Qi, a company founded by Mary Lou to manufacture and market her invention. I told them I wanted to convert off-the-shelf laptops to this new display and sell them to people who needed this capability.

So that's how the Clover SunBook was born in late 2010. I ultimately sold about 220 of them until the end of 2013. I paid $300 for Toshiba and Samsung Netbooks, and about $150 for the display and sold the SunBook for $750. The market was pretty small; $750 is a lot more than $300. But for certain applications, it was worth it. I made them in my bedroom here in Laguna Niguel...

I was sure that the Pixel Qi display would be a monster product! The total addressable market is every laptop computer, every smartphone, and every camera in the world!!

Although I made out pretty good, the Pixel Qi never caught on with the big boys.

Mary Lou went on to do other great things, but I was very shocked that this didn't turn into a multi-billion dollar business!

There are a couple of YouTube videos about the SunBook, and here's a review that is quite complete

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With help from various governments, they manufactured and distributed perhaps 100,000 or fewer computers, but eventually it was found that it could not be manufactured for $100. Commercial laptop computers had the advantage that they are made in quantities of about 30 million a day!

I was the first to offer a laptop PC with a sunlight-readable screen. There were soon others doing the same thing, but I was the first. Mary Lou started a company called "Pixel Qi" to manufacture and sell the screens to PC manufacturers like Apple, Dell, Samsung, etc. I suspect that they figured "we're doing just fine without it, so why increase our costs if the customers don't care?" Apparently no-one is bothered by the fact that they can't see their smartphone screen!

Dynamo Regulator  2013 - 2018

After just a few years, Pixel Qi was unable to supply LCDs, and I had to come up with another product.

I had perceived from my own personal experience that I would like to replace my XKE's voltage regulator with an electronic one, so I developed an electronic voltage and current regulator for DC generators.

It turned out that there was a market for this, so I started manufacturing Dynamo Regularos in my bedroom. It was fun, as I met many interesting car people and their collections.

In the late '60s, auto manufacturers switched to AC alternators, so my customers were pre-1970 classics, as well as tractors, buses, airplanes, boats, motorcycles, and even diesel locomotives!  I'm glad I was able to help keep antique and classic vehicles on the road.

This actually turned into a pretty good business.  Turns out there are lots of people with antique cars/trucks/motorcycles/airplanes, etc.  There were a couple other transistorized voltage regulators on the market, but the Clover product was more versatile and higher power.  Unlike the others, mine could work with any kind of DC generator.

You can see the details here, including a gallery of customers' vehicles.

 

 

Failed Products

Even as a teenager, I wanted to make music-related products.  While working with Leon at Skyhill, I made a few attempts at music-related products that were flops.

 

Phase Shifter

In the early 60s, the "phase shift" or "flanging" effect was something new and exciting.  By combining the input signal with a phase-shifted copy, you get a sort of sweeping filter effect.  It was popularized by the song "Itchykoo Park" by the Small Faces.  The first phase shift box was made by Carl Countryman and was quite successful.

It was actually quite a simple device, so I thought, "I can do that too". I etched circuit boards in the bathroom sink and packaged them in an off-the-shelf box.

Tom Oberheim himself built and marketed one too, but his was much more successful than mine, as he had some concept of marketing.

It was pretty crude, but it worked.  I sold a couple, but I really didn't have any idea how to market it.

Bass Box

Bass Box

This was an accessory for bass guitar.  The output of the guitar triggered a percussive sound generator that could be mixed with the original to give the bass a more percussive sound.

Tape Speed Controller

This was a variable speed motor controller that could vary the speed of AC synchronous motors, such as those used in tape recorders.  It enabled you to change the pitch of recorded tapes.

Pro Printer

This was an InkJet CD printer for very fast throughput.

Automated CD printers typically used a robot arm to load the disc into a tray.  This was quite slow.  My printer pushed the discs from the bottom of a stack of discs so it could load a disc in a fraction of a second.  For people who need to print  lots of discs as fast as possible, it was a big help.

ProPrinter

The QA-101 was a good example of how a mass produced consumer product could be repurposed for a new application, so I wanted to do the same with an inkjet printer.

I started with an off-the-shelf Canon inkjet printer and devised a new disc feeder and case.  The Canon electronics did not need to be modified.  I was able to tap into the needed signals to drive the new disc feed mechanism.

It worked great and was lightning fast, but just as I was getting ready to make a new enclosure, Canon discontinued that model.

That was a disaster, as their new model was very different and could not be adapted so easily.  I decided that it was not worth the trouble to start over and gave up.

Unfortunately, I spent a lot of time and money on that one...

Cyboard

I had a plan to make a keyboard that was not only touch sensitive but also controllable.  I bought an organ keyboard made from wood that was essentially identical to a piano keyboard, except without any escapement like on  a piano.  The idea was to add a solenoid to each key so it could be actuated electrically.  The solenoid would push or pull on the key.  By varying the current on the solenoid, I could control the stiffness of the key and also simulate the "escapement" feel of a piano action.

Hall Effect sensors would sense te position of thekeys, so the force could be varied throughout te range of motion.

Unfortunately, I never finished the prototype.

Digital Microphone

It occurred to me that it could be possible to make a digital microphone.  There are products marketed as digital microphones, but they are really just analog microphones with an analog-to-digital converter.

My idea is to eliminate any analog signal at all.  It uses optics and digital circuitry to generate digital data proportional to the sound pressure level.

No A/D conversion is used.  In principle, there is no limit to the sensitivity and dynamic range.

It uses a laser interferometer to generate interference fringes.  Phase comparison detects which way the diaphram is moving. Each fringe corresponds to a 1/2 wavelength travel of the diaphragm. An up-down counter provides an AC replica of the sensor pressure level.

Since then some similar microphones have been built, but...

 

Missed Boats

Eddie Harris (?)

Mikey Raphael

Doug Cameron

B52s

Lineman writer

=================

The End of the Road...

 The peak of CD/DVD sales was 2000, and then it was downhill for the next 10 years.  I quit updating the website in 2016.

Unfortunately, the Great Recession came along at the same time in 2008-2010. By 2010, our business had gone to zero. All of our neighbors were bailing as fast as they could. For those of you who weren't there, it was really miserable. People were losing their homes and their life savings. My wife and I lost half of our life savings in that fiasco.

Enterprise Court

In 2004, we bought a lovely new facility in Lake Forest, CA. It was brand new and had a really nice nature park attached. Had room to work on the cars, too!

By the end of 2010, we were forced to sell. The mortgage, and the CAM fees were just too much when no one needed CD/DVD test equipment.

Luckily, I was able to start making and selling SunBooks out of my bedroom.

At the same time, I also got the idea for the Dynamo Regulator. It's always a good idea to have a "Plan B".

By the end of 2013, Pixel Qi screens were no longer available for SunBooks, and I had only Dynamo Regulators to keep me alive. Fortunately, by 2016 I could start Social Security with full benefits.

Well, nothing lasts forever, but it was a wild ride! Now I drive to Heisler Park in Laguna Beach, sit on a bench, stare at the ocean, and say to myself, "This is the payoff! I worked my butt off for 60 years, and now today is payday!"

Poor Yuriko broke her hip in 2020 and also became demented with Lewy Body Dementia and Parkinsonism.

She passed away in Oct. 2023.

End of life story...

YouTube Video Link: https://youtu.be/Iwccfu3EDSI

Discography:

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/gordon-rudd-mn0001253469

https://www.discogs.com/artist/397991-Gordon-Rudd?srsltid=AfmBOoowGYToeMLPmmbPzmNbvd0XX64oM5Nuj2BDAGHushwx68xbdWK0

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland_(album)