By Ritchie Hardin (62.254.0.6 - 62.254.0.6) on Sunday, February 17, 2002 - 09:13 pm:

Just to get the ball rolling, here's one of mine from the Manchester studio where I worked many moons ago.

Most of our work was done during office hours, but the night-times were free for other sessions. One of our regulars wrote "library music" for the De Wolfe catalogue: off-the-peg music for films and TV. These sessions were frequently done at night, and often very late into the wee small hours.

One such session was a "guitar album" with Mel overdubbing all the parts onto the already-recorded rhythem track. It was about 2 a.m. on a Summer night, and our studio was in the basement of an old, former three-storey Victorian town house. The air was hot and we had the back loading-door open for some fresh air. This led out into a narrow back alley-way, with no passing traffic as it was a dead end.

We were sitting in the control room, listening to a playback - me, Bob the Engineer and Mel, the guitarist. Mel had a spliff the size of an ice cream cone, and a contented, half-glazed expression on his face. Suddenly, there was a loud hammering on the back door, and a voice thundered:

"Okay, you guys - this is a raid!"

There stood a six-foot policeman, truncheon raised threateningly.

Mel grabbed his shoulder-bag and rocketed out of the inner door, and clattered up the wooden steps to the ground floor, muttering "I'll put the kettle on!"

The policeman looked on, dumbfounded, then said,

"Hi, Bob. Any chance of a cuppa?"

In the meantime, Mel was flushing all of his newly-acquired bagful of ganja down the studio toilet, and liberally spraying himself with a can of air-freshener.

When he returned, (looking more like a white man than ever before in his life) he was less than pleased to discover that the "raid" was simply Constable Wilson's customary way of saying hello to his old friend Bob. It looked as if he was about to burst into tears when the winking Constable asked him if the kettle had boiled yet!

By John Lester (213.122.194.200 - 213.122.194.200) on Sunday, February 17, 2002 - 10:16 pm:

Ritchie...

I roared with laughter at that...I can picture the scene!

By phillysoulman (205.188.192.177 - 205.188.192.177) on Sunday, February 17, 2002 - 11:35 pm:

You never should have started this thread as I have many,many stories,some stranger than fiction.
Here is a good one.
In 1972, whilst in the midst of working on the album which became "The 360 degrees of Billy Paul", which included " Me and Mrs. Jones", as I turned the corner from Race street onto 12th,I looked towards Sigma and I saw a Horses' arse protruding from the entrance to the studio!!!
I thought that I had possibly not woken up from the previous night of partying , so I shook myself a little. When nothing happened, i realized that I was not dreamingThe neighbourhood at the time was kind of a skid row area on the fringes of China town. There were derilicts and people of dubious distinction always milling about. There had ben an altercation amongst to of these "bums" regarding a radio that one guy claimed the other had stolen presumably at the shelter which was nearby. Sigma had no buzzer at that time so anyone could walk in, so the "theft victim" casually walked in to take refuge.
They tried to get him to leave , but he wouldn't.
The police were summoned and the first to arrive was a k-9 unit with an Alsatian.
As I made it past the horse, I discovered the bum on the floor, with the dog's mouth taking a bite out of his arm. There was blood on the floor, the drapes,down the hall which led to the loo and in the shower stall and toilet!!!
The mounted police were also summoned , which explained the horse, complete with a cop on his back bending down to try and get into the building!!!!! He eventually got into the lobby.
The place was a f**in menagerie that day, and it was the exact day that we recorded "Me and Mrs. Jones"!!!!
That was the first installment of Bobby Eli's Sranger than Fiction---The anatomy of a hit.

By Ritchie Hardin (62.254.0.6 - 62.254.0.6) on Sunday, February 17, 2002 - 11:41 pm:

Bobby -

Amazing! That's EXACTLY why I started this thread....

Let 'em roll!

By phillysoulman (152.163.195.208 - 152.163.195.208) on Monday, February 18, 2002 - 04:37 am:

Here's another one!!
In 1979 I was at Frankford-Wayne Mastering Labs, which at the time was on the second floor front where Sigma is. I was mastering a Keith Barrow record for Columbia. There was a window facing the side of the building facing Spring street.
All of a sudden I started to hear some drumming that I didn't remember recording. First it was faint and then it got progressively louder.
I checked all the connections and couldn't find a thing. So I looked outside and saw a bloke with a full drum kit all set up, double kick and all, and he was banging away like f**n Billy Cobham on speed!!!I proceeded to go outside to enquire, and he told me that he was auditioning for a studio gig at Sigma!!
I told him that gig was already taken by Earl Young,but that did not deter him, so we had to call the cops to cart away him and the drum kit!!! And that was the second installment of Bobby Eli's Stranger than fiction...The anatomy of a hit.

By EricH (205.188.192.159 - 205.188.192.159) on Monday, February 18, 2002 - 04:43 pm:

Keep 'em comin'!!! hahaha I wanna hear about the "Electric Scrotum"...

By Ralph Terrana (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Monday, February 18, 2002 - 05:20 pm:

I wasn't there that day, but heard through the grapevine that Ed Wingate had returned to Golden World one day after a very successful day at the horse races.
A session was going on when he arrived. He stopped the session and made everyone go into the control room. He then went into the studio and began throwing all the cash he had won into the air. He said it was something he always wanted to do.

By Ralph Terrana (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Monday, February 18, 2002 - 06:58 pm:

I'm sure you've all been starting to notice the name Mike Campbell in the various threads. He was with Babbitt in Scorpion and he was a very talented writer. He also could be a little unusual. We called him Crazy Mike. I first met him wen he started hanging around Tera Shirma. He was young and cocky.During those days he started to learn to play harmonica. He would tell me he was going to be the best harmonica player in Detroit. I'm thinking..." Yeah...right kid " And he did just that. Anytime a harmonica was needed on a session, Mike got the call. I would even use him a few years down the road on the Stoney and Meatloaf album. If you are familiar with the song on the album..Lady Be Mine...that's Mike playing.

So Mike would eventually be signed to Motown as an artist / writer. After a few years kicking around Motown, Mike decided he wanted out of his contract. I don't remember the reason. I know he had plans to become an actor, which he would eventually have some success under the name Michael Champion, so maybe this had some bearing on his wishes to be released. Motown declined his request ( as Babbitt mentioned, once they signed you, you belonged to Motown ) So Mike embarked on a plan to force their hand. He started showing up daily at the Motown legal office waiting room and ( no matter who was sitting in the waiting room ) feign epileptic siezures on the waiting room floor. I don't remember how long it was before Motown changed it's mind on releasing Mike from his contract, but I think it happened rather quickly.

By phillysoulman (205.188.198.174 - 205.188.198.174) on Monday, February 18, 2002 - 08:38 pm:

The Formations, on MGM,who begat The Corner Boys, on Neptune,who begat The Silent Majority on Hot Wax, were comprised of, Johnny Bellmon, Victor Drayton, Buddy Turner and ......Atkins.
They eventually became staff writers and proders at Philly International, composing Dont let the green grass fool you on Pickett as well as many more. Johnny Bellmon was , to say the least a bit peculiar especially insofar as his ways of
"feeling the groove" was concerned.

The first time that we noticed this was when one day while were doing an Archie Bell session, I believe, he got down on the floor and cocked his head to the side and placed his ear to the floor.
Thinking that he may have had some kind of seizure or the like, we asked what the f**k was going on. So he told us that that was the way that he "felt the groove" apparrantly listening for the kick and bass frequencies as they hit the floor. I think that he hit bottom at that point!!!!

That was Stranger Than Fiction--Part 3..The anatomy of a hit.

By Davie G (213.251.162.249 - 213.251.162.249) on Monday, February 18, 2002 - 08:45 pm:

Bobby,

the other guy in the Formations etc. was Jerry
Akines. Just found out from having a look at e-bay
that "At The Top Of The Stairs" was issued in Spain - in an art sleeve - they probably couldn't find photos of the group

Maybe Johnny Bellmon was listening for the love
train coming ...

By Ritchie (62.254.0.6 - 62.254.0.6) on Monday, February 18, 2002 - 10:31 pm:

Bobby - Ralph

Thought this little snippet might amuse you...

I remember visiting an engineer friend of mine in the late seventies, and the studio he ran had just invested in a piece of new state-of-the-art equipment... an EVENTIDE DIGITAL DELAY unit. My friend Dave was eagerly putting the new 'toy' through its paces.

When I returned the next day, someone had already defaced the brand-new fascia with a black marker-pen. The name on the unit now read:


EVEN I DIG A LAY

You just can't trust some people, can you?

By phillysoulman (152.163.207.191 - 152.163.207.191) on Monday, February 18, 2002 - 11:12 pm:

Good one Davie!!!!
Here's another strange but true episode which I had previously touched on on another thread, but just to keep things consistant I will re-tell it.

When our sound began to take hold,some outside "producers" wanted to capitalize on trying to obtain that "magic fairy dust" which was the Philly Sound. Some of these producers were a joy to work with, such as Dave Crawford and Van McCoy, and we always welcomed their arrival. But there were some people who referred to themselves as producers who should have stuck to whatever they were doing before they decided to be in the biz.
For these twits,I devised a "magic box" of sorts.
The usual whine was "more balls, more balls!!!"
So I got my mischievous mind a-workin' and came up with "THE ELECTRONIC SCROTUM"
I purchased an ancient rotary attentuater, complete with a pointer and click stops.
I then went to the engravers who had a shop at 13th and Race,which was right around the corner from Sigma. I had a black plastic strip engraved in white that said, "ELECTRONIC SCROTUM"
I then got a piece of burnished aluminium and made it to look weathered and made a backing plate for the "SCROTUM" I then made a hole in the plate that would fit the knob, making sure that the fit was secure, and attached a terminal to the back with wires that were connected to it that ran under the desk, but were not connected to anything in particular, but made it look as though it was. I then made a sliding cover out of smoked plexiglas and placed the whole lot inside,so when it slid back it would read ELECTRONIC SCROTUM.
So when those "producers woild callout and whine, "more balls, more balls" we would say "We have a secret device that only few are privy to and because we respect what you are about, we will let you use it"
The sliding drawer would magically roll back and their jaws would drop and when they twiddled with the knob they would exclaim "NOW THAT'S THE PHILLY SOUND!!!" ........But wait, there 's more.
I actually saw someone "turning it down" because they thought it was too much!!!!!

By phillysoulman (205.188.198.44 - 205.188.198.44) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 01:01 am:

In 1986, in LONDON, whilst in the midst of producing a group called Funkrew,at Lillie Yard in Fulham,I had filled up 24 tracks to the hilt.
So the father of one of the lads casually strolls about the control room and looks around quite quizacally, and after intently listening to the mix and then pulls out his wad of sterling and hands over 100 quid for me to come up with a 25th track!!!! So I willingly obliged by bouncing down to a stereo mix and then the mix up to 24 and giving him22 extra tracks. His jaw dropped and thoght that I had created magic, so he proceeded to hand me another 200 quid for the "feat"

That was another installment of...Sranger than fiction......The anatomy of a hit.

By phillysoulman (152.163.204.203 - 152.163.204.203) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 05:38 am:

In the early sixties,one day while waiting for a bus after school,with my guitar in tow,an imposing Black man in a long sedan drove up to me and asked "Hey man, can you really play that thing?"
I answered back "They tell me that I can" He said that his name was Weldon McDougal the 3rd.
I thought to myself, "a Black Scotsman?? can it possibly be????"
He said that he was on his way to the Virtue Recording Studio in North Philly to do a session and he would try me out.
"Do a session"?, I thought. Try me out? What kind of session does he think he is talking about?
My mom always warned me about men picking up young boys and stuff so I was not sure what to do at this point.
So I reluctantly got into his car and he drove away up Broad street heading toward the studio.
When we got there he introduced me to everyone and told me to "take out my axe".
Axe? I said. Are we in Oregon or Philly?
I really started to get antsy when he said "axe"
Oh shit,this guy is gonna rape me and then chop my head off in front of all these people!!
Yikes,what the f**k did I get myself into??
Anyway, as it were, I started to strum along to the song that the musicians were running down. The title was called "Gossip", and the group that were recording that day were a group of young girls from west Philly called The Tiffanys.
"Talk about this , talk about that, uh huh!!", it went. Apparantly Weldon and his cohorts liked the way that I strummed and I have been his friend ever since, albeit not of a carnal nature!!!!

By Carl Dixon London (195.153.219.170 - 195.153.219.170) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 08:37 am:

Re: The Formations story. Buddy Turner told me that when the guys first went in the studio to sing, they were told to clear off and practice a little more. When they had, in one of their basements at home, they developed the harmonies we know on 'At the top of the Stairs'. They were still very young at the time. The 'B' side 'Magic Melody' is a very strange song, seeming to have the exact same ingredients, but in a different order. He also told me that there was a possible contract with Motown and they wondered where they might have been had they signed! I believe Jerry Akines lives in Detroit. I belive Richard Rome arranged the strings (of The Ritchie Family fame) and Huff was on Piano. It is very sentimental record to me - on hearing it I am transported back to 17 years old and a club in Hull. I infact, used to buy loads of the American MGM imports and sell them to all the girls!! One club never played the song, but I made sure they did. My friend and I asked as many girls to request it as we could muster and eventually they reluctantly played it. When it came on, the dancefloor filled with girls and just me and my mate!

Cheers

Carl

By Ritchie Hardin (62.254.0.5 - 62.254.0.5) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 09:01 am:

And from my 1971 scrapbook - The Formations....

By CarlDixon London (195.153.219.170 - 195.153.219.170) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 10:18 am:

Ritchie - the one and only photograph of them. It is the same on the sheet music.

By phillysoulman (64.12.97.13 - 64.12.97.13) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 06:17 pm:

There was a "producer" who shall remain nameless who was not familiar with the propper usage of studio lingo. I remember one time he came in and yelled "more eq,more eq!!! So we started twiddling knobs and he continued to shout "more eq, more, more!!! We tweaked every frequency known to man and probably invented some more and he still was not satisfied.
So we just looked at each other quizzacally and shook our heads,wondering what the f**k is he talking about?

So then I got the bright idea to crank up the reverb, and then he said "yeah mo****f*r, that's it , that's what I want!!
He thought "eq" was short for "echo"!!!!!

By david, glasgow, scotland (62.252.128.5 - 62.252.128.5) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 06:22 pm:

great stuff bobby...you're some man!

By Bob Olhsson (68.53.120.100 - 68.53.120.100) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 06:29 pm:

While I was in high school I used to hang out every Saturday at United Sound.

I'll never forget watching a mixing session when Ed Wingate asked Danny Dallas for more bass and Danny opens a small door in the rack behind us and screams "MORE BASS" down to an imaginary engine room.

By david, glasgow, scotland (62.252.128.5 - 62.252.128.5) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 06:33 pm:

bob
danny dallas is another guy we don't know much about but features a lot.

By phillysoulman (152.163.197.212 - 152.163.197.212) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 07:10 pm:

The same "producer" responsible for the "eq" story
(and by the way a member of Cashmere), came in one day and exclaimed that he wanted "more seperation" on his records, because he read somewhere that Nile Rodgers said that your records have to have seoeration. So he wanted all the drums hard left, the bass hard right, the lead vocal hard left , the bcg. voc. hard right,
keys hard,left, guitars right. And then and only then was he satisfied that he achieved seperation!!!!

Strange but true.....The anatomy of a hit

By Ritchie (62.254.0.6 - 62.254.0.6) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 07:52 pm:

Bobby

Brilliant! Keep 'em coming.

Here's another little one of mine. In the mid 70s the studio were invited to try out the DBX Noise-reduction system. The company would install the equipment on approval, in return for us being willing to help promote the product.

A photo session was arranged, with Music Week - the industry trade paper - doing an advertorial. The studio owner threw a wobbly when he discovered we were going to be wearing the DBX tee-shirts, and blew out the whole deal. In big letters across the tee-shirts was the slogan:

HISS OFF!

By phillysoulman (152.163.197.212 - 152.163.197.212) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 08:26 pm:

Ritchie, I love it!!

Here is one more.
One day I was recording a keyboard overdub in the control room, direct. As it was going down, a girl who showed up came into the control room and after awhile started looking all about, and even under the desk. I asked her what was wrong and she replied' Oh, nothing. nothing's wrong"
As I prodded her some more she whispered to me "Where's the hidden mike?" Hidden mike , I asked.
I tried to explain the concept of "taking it direct" and "direct injection"
She thought that they were sexual inuendos and said that she would have me reported for sexual harrassment!!!!!!!!!

By Carl Dixon London (62.31.40.173 - 62.31.40.173) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 09:15 pm:

This ain't quite a studio story, but...

Whilst showing a good friend of mine around BSKYB, London, one Saturday afternoon, we passed an edit suite and I saw and heard Martha Reeves singing on videotape. I thought the worst and stuck my head in and enquired. It was not what I thought, but, she was coming into the studio for an interview. I became excited and asked the editor who was cutting the story and he directed me to a lady in the newsroom. Remember, I am a white English northerner with a strong accent. My friend accompanied me to her and I introduced myself to her saying: my name is Reeves, Martha's husband. She stood up and shook my hand and said she was pleased to meet me!!! I could not believe the look in her face when I said: don't be daft luv, I'm from 'ull, up north - how on earth could I be him!! We made friends and I gave her some info about her and then I met the lady herself that afternoon. We had a great chat before she went to make-up and it made my day. My friend had his jaw trailing on the floor around the station all afternoon.

By Ralph Terrana (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 09:17 pm:

Speaking of Danny Dallas....his studio in Farmington was called Sound Patterns DXM.
For years I wondered about this odd name. One day I finally ased him what DXM was all about. He told me the previous owners of the building had the DXM after their business name and he just left it there when he took over.

By david, glasgow, scotland (62.252.128.5 - 62.252.128.5) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 09:45 pm:

you've just solved another great mystery.

thanks ralph.

there was also a sounds pattern dxm on west chicago.

i wonder of this was his previous address?

By Ralph Terrana (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 09:49 pm:

David,
Maybe that is where the original DXM came from and he just kept the name when he moved to Farmington. I was under the impression he was talking about the Farmington building, but after all these years...who knows.

By Bob Olhsson (68.53.120.100 - 68.53.120.100) on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 10:14 pm:

Danny told me it was the name of his production company and stood for Dallas Experimental Mode.

By phillysoulman (64.12.102.163 - 64.12.102.163) on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 - 12:53 am:

TONY THE GHOST Pt 1

There was a studio in Gladwynne, just on the outskirts of Philly called Kajem,which is now owned by Boyz to Men and called Stony Creek.
It is housed in a building that was built before the American Civil War, along with other buisinesses. I was getting ready to back to London, and I was starting a project with Linda Lewis and the Lewis sisters , Dee and Shirley.
On the first day of the session, which was on a cold January day, the girls came in , and there was a hallway that ran alongside the tracking room that led to the back offices and the loo.
Linda, who is "connected to the cosmos" in more ways that one, came over and told me that she thought that somebody or something was following her down the hall, and everytime she turned around , there was nothing there.
Anyway, I had mentioned it to Joe Alexander , the engineer that I was working with and he asked me
"Didn't anyone ever tell you about Tony?"
I said, "Tony who?"
He said, "Tony The Ghost!!"
I said ggggghost????? And he proceeded to tell me that the first time that he encountered him was one night when he was alone mixing a song, he saw a reflection in the control room glass of what he thought to be a fhooded fogure walking back and forth in front of the back couch. Every time he turned around there was nothing, so hit lit a joint and continued mixing and this continued for a while. Then, another night , he was lying on the couch and saw a greenish swirl sort of as in Ghostbusters!!! So he did some research at the Gladwynne hall of records and found out that in fact, in the 19th century there had been a suspicious death in the building which been a mill at the time, and a gun factory. In fact, the gun which shot Lincoln was manufactured in that very building. Tony's death was classified a suicide by hanging, but most think it was foul play, and his name was Anthony.........

By phillysoulman (205.188.198.179 - 205.188.198.179) on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 - 02:18 am:

TONY THE GHOST PT 2

As the session with Linda, we had many strange episodes, so one night Limda wanted to conduct a seance. So we all gathered in the control room and lit candles and commenced with contacting the spirits, English Style. In the midst of the seance, lights turned on and off by themself,the 24 track rewound,lights flickered on the SSL,that were not supposed to flicker, Linda took on a different voice character, and I wanted to get the f**k out of dodge!!! But I hung in there (no pun intended) and just as the seance ended everything went back to normal in the studio, but the next day the girls' rent-a- car, had a mishap, but no one was hurt real bad.
Shortly thereafter we all went back to Marquee, Mayfair, and Roundhouse, and later Lillie Yard studios, in London to continue and finish the project. I wonder if Boyz to Men ever encountered Tony the Ghost, since the studio is now theirs.

By Ritchie Hardin (62.254.0.6 - 62.254.0.6) on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 - 10:55 am:

Speaking of other-worldly matters.... our studio apparently was apparently "haunted" too.

The building was a converted 3-storey house in a Victorian-era terrace. Originally an elegant town house, it had been used by an electrical wholesale firm since the 1940s. The son of the original owner teasingly warned Bob and David - two ex-BBC sound engineers, that the place was "haunted" when they took over the premises to convert it into a recording studio. When I began working for them they joked about the supposed "ghost", and I took the whole story with a pinch of salt. Apart from the occasional reel of tape that mysteriously stored itself in the wrong place after being carefully filed away, I personally never experienced anything remotely "spooky". And I suspect the tapes that went walkabout were more likely the result of human failings than any supernatural causes!

The first arrival each day was usually Hilary Rose, the receptionist, whose first task was to tidy up the studio and control room in what had been the cellar. She lived fairly locally, while I had to drive in from out-of-town. One morning, I arrived to find her sitting in the ground floor office in a state of panic. She explained that she had opened up as usual and gone downstairs to begin cleaning. A few moments later, she heard the main front door open and close, then footsteps coming down the wooden open staircase to the control room. Assuming it was me arriving for the day, she came out of the studio to say hello, but found no-one. She had then raced upstairs and found the ground floor empty, and the front door still locked - and I arrived five minutes later. From that day onwards Hilary insisted on waiting for me on the doorstep each morning, regardless of the weather!

Some time later, Bob and David rented out the unused first floor rooms to a professional photographer, who knew nothing of the "ghost". Geoff was a tall, broad-shouldered guy built like a Rugby player, and would often work late in his darkroom. He was a totally down-to-earth guy, very level-headed. Late one night, he heard footsteps in the corridor outside his studio. As the rest of us had all left for the day - we didn't always have night-sessions, he knew he was alone in the building. His first thought was that a burglar had broken in, so he cautiously opened the door and looked outside. To his right, the passage ended in a blank wall, and to his left the corridor turned out of view, to the stairs which led down to the front door. Glancing left, he caught a fleeting glimpse of someone disappearing round the corner to the stairs, and heard the sound of retreating footsteps.

Grabbing the closest thing to a weapon that he could find - his camera tripod - he crept out and gingerly turned the corner to the stairs... which were empty, all the way down to the locked front door. There was no other exit, and Geoff could clearly see that the door's heavy bolts were still in place. He immediately fled the building, and the following day removed all his equipment and found alternative studio space.

Long after I'd left the studios, I did a little research, and discovered that for some years, the buildings had fallen on hard times and were reduced to tatty "doss-houses" - cheap lodgings for down-and-outs.

These two houses on Gartside Street, Manchester were demolished in the early 1980s and modern offices now stand in their place. Whether they too are "haunted", I have no idea!

By drums (208.251.209.82 - 208.251.209.82) on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 - 01:07 pm:

Hey Mr. Eli!!!

As you know, I've worked with BoyzIIMen and my uncle Colt is the MD for them! Now this is going to make you wonder....

The director for the movie, The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shymalian, just purchased the building that houses Stonecreek and the surrounding area!!!

Now the entire complex is empty. Maybe he is trying to get in contact with Tony the ghost to get inspiration for his next moive....



DM

By phillysoulman (64.12.107.46 - 64.12.107.46) on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 - 02:00 pm:

Daren,

Does that mean that BTM dont have a studio any more , or have they moved it?? Another link to the continuing saga of Tony the Ghost.....The plot thickens!!!!

By drums (208.251.209.82 - 208.251.209.82) on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 - 02:16 pm:

Hey Bobby!

You know, ever since they signed the deal with Arista, its like they dropped off the face of the earth!! I know that they all have their own personal studios, so maybe Stonecreek was a huge liability that they did not want to continue to pay for. Im not sure about that, though.

The new CD that they are about to release was completed before they left, though...

DM

By phillysoulman (170.115.179.106 - 170.115.179.106) on Friday, March 01, 2002 - 05:38 pm:

I HAVE TWO MORE LITTLE ANECDOTES. THE FIRST ONE WAS THAT WHEN TOMMY BELL WAS DOING "YOU MAKE ME FELL BRAND NEW" FOR THE STYLISTICS, WE WERE JUST PLAYING AWAY WHEN ALL OF A SUDDEN EARL YOUNG HIT A LICK THAT DID NOT BELONG. WHEN THOM EWNT TO INVESTIGATE, HE DISCOVERED THAT A FLY HAD LANDED ON EARL'S CHART AND EARL ACTUALLY "READ" THE FLY, THINKING THAT IT WAS A MUSIC NOTE!!!!
THE NEXT ANECDOTE IS WHEN BOBBY MARTIN WAS PRODUCING "KISS AND SAY GOODBYE " ON THE MANHATTANS, WHILE DIRECTING THE BAND HE POKED HIMSELF IN THE EYE WITH A DRUMSTICK!!!!!

By Ritchie Hardin (62.254.0.6 - 62.254.0.6) on Friday, March 01, 2002 - 08:57 pm:

Bobby -

Re the Manhattans... are you sure it wasn't on "HURT" ??? ;o)

Ritchie

By phillysoulman (152.163.204.189 - 152.163.204.189) on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 01:19 am:

Good one Ritchie!! Wouldn't it be something if that were the case??
Also, thanks again for the cd's!!!!
Truly brilliant, listening to the evolutionary process of the Detroit sound and the crudeness of some of the old recording techniques.
I wonder what they would have done with my "Electronic Scrotum?"

By phillysoulman (205.188.197.183 - 205.188.197.183) on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 02:57 pm:

Around the time that Sideshow was a huge hit, I was in the control room of studio A at Sigma. when Harry Chipetz the wonderful general manager of the studio came into the studio and said that there was a group of 3rd grade school children from North Philly who won a tour of the facility, and could they come in and meet one of the creators of that song. There were at least 30 children. So I asked them if they knew the song and they did. So Carl, my engineer set up a mike and we proceeded to record them singing Sideshow in their wonderful kiddie voices, riffs and all!! I am looking for the tape. It is precious.

By phillysoulman (205.188.197.181 - 205.188.197.181) on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 05:52 pm:

Back in '77 I did an album for TK/Silver Blue called Eli's Second Coming. It was in the vain of the then popularMFSB/ Salsoul things, same musicians but a little more creative.
On it I did a song called Hop-Scotch.
I had the bright idea to put bagpipes on it, hence the title. So I call up the session contractor, Don Renaldo, who's real name was Vincent Pignotti. He was asweetheart of a guy with a grff sounding voice with plenty of mob related stories that used to keep me spellbound.
I said " Don,you're not gonna believe this but I need TWO bagpipe players for a session tomorrow at 11 am". This was around 9 at night.
He said in his best Italian demeanor, "Where the fuck am I gonna find two bagpipe players let alone one, at this late date?" I said " Don, please give it a shot. I owe you one!"
Anyway, the next day I walk up the stairs to studio A and I hear the drone of bagpipes. He actually found them. He called around and found two guys from two different regiments!! One guy had the classic hat on as well. No kilts though although he said that if it were Summer he would worn them.
It was a cold winter day and they actually arrived about an hour before to warm up their pipes!! The song was in B flat, and pipers play between A and B flat , in the "cracks" if you can believe that. So I had to vari-speed the tape and about ten seconds before the punch they had to inflate the pipes and then punch in!! It worked!!
Don Renaldo, God rest his wonderful soul.
He really could pull rabbitts out of hats.

By Ralph Terrana (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 06:06 pm:

Bobby,
Reminds me of the story of the Scotsman who decides to invent a new instrument ( the bag pipes ) and says in his fine Scottish brogue ala David Miekle....It's time to invent a new instrument...something that will really piss them off.....

By Ritchie Hardin (62.254.0.6 - 62.254.0.6) on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 06:25 pm:

Ralph - Bobby

Not a studio story, but it does involve bagpipes...

A few years ago I was looking after a record shop as a favour to the owner, and a couple came in - obviously American tourists. After browsing for a few minutes, the guy asked if I had any CDs of bagpipe music. I'd just sorted one of the browsers, so I knew there was one - the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. He was delighted when I pointed this one out to him.

I asked if he wanted to hear any of it, and he shook his head forcefully. "Oh, no..." he said. "I don't want to listen to it - can't stand the damn things." Then, seeing my puzzled expression he explained.

"Every weekend a bunch of kids sit on my garden wall with their ghetto-blaster. I've tried everything else, so maybe if I play this very loud from inside the house, it might get rid of them!"

By Ralph Terrana (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 09:02 pm:

A well known West Coast Motown producer was rather generous according to my brother. One extremely long night session involving the producer, artist and my brother was getting tedious. The producer brought in three very attractive ladies with admirable talents of their own. The three guys, now each with one of these beautiful women, went their own ways for a while and the ladies, I understand, were quite creative.
I realze this sounds like a tough way to go, but ANYTHING for a hit record!

By Ritchie Hardin (62.254.0.6 - 62.254.0.6) on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 09:18 pm:

Ralph - wowee!

The only crumpet I experienced at our studio was toasted and served with butter :o(

By Ralph Terrana (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 09:22 pm:

At this stage of my life Ritchie a toasted crumpet and butter sounds like a pretty good studio break............NAH!!!

By Ritchie Hardin (62.254.0.6 - 62.254.0.6) on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 09:24 pm:

Ralph

Yeah - right ;o)

By phillysoulman (205.188.199.163 - 205.188.199.163) on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 09:40 pm:

There were various producers who used to receive oral pleasure from under the desk, and it was always party time.
One guy I know with hits under his belt, used to carry a loaded 38, an ounce of blow, a bag of weed and a fifth of Courvossier. That was his usual M.O. One day at Alpha-International studios I wandered into studio B to hear what was going on. There was a group of girls doing a bcking vocal. The producer who had his accoutraments with him said "You Bi***s better sing this mo***r***r right this time or I'll blow your mo***r****n heads off with this here pistol" and he cocked the trigger and waved it around like
Wyatt Earp!!! Needless to say he no longer is a preferred producer.

By Ian W (213.122.73.220 - 213.122.73.220) on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 09:52 pm:

These donors of the oral pleasure - were they trainee bagpipers? Bet they had some tasty licks!

By phillysoulman (205.188.199.159 - 205.188.199.159) on Sunday, March 03, 2002 - 10:18 pm:

You wouldn't beleive it. Some producers with the initials of Bunny Sigler and T. Life were NOTORIOUS!!!!

By mixedbyDLM (64.175.232.254 - 64.175.232.254) on Wednesday, March 06, 2002 - 08:53 am:

For the Terranas:
As I had looked at the photos of TeraShirma, I begat to think about The Automatt in San Francisco for a few moments. Why? Both building were in a similar-styled neighborhood, Both buildings were leased, and both had short lives.
To think about The Automatt (as a San Francisco Bay Area native), the place was carved out of the former CBS Recording Studios, which was a two-room facility, but another name occupied a third room... Until David Rubnison had taken over the building itself. Two Trident TSM's and a Harrison 4032, It was all his! Until 1984.
So comes the 1989 earthquake.
Unlike TeraShirma's studio A (or I may call it TS-1) is demolished, now a fueling station, the lot where The Automatt stood is now a parking lot! Francis Ford Coppla damn near lost a part of his films there in a transient-started fire.

Quite similar,
Derrald Leo Mote

By Ralph Terrana (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Wednesday, March 06, 2002 - 02:43 pm:

Hi Derrald,
I loved the neighborhood where the studios were located. Everything I needed was located in that one block area.I think I mentioned in another thread that the Cunningham's drug store across the street from the studio offered a special grilled cheese sandwich at their lunch counter called The Tera Shirma. Sidney Goodfriend, the plumbing contracter next door, would stop in and hang out with us. It was a real nice little community.

By Ian W (213.122.67.101 - 213.122.67.101) on Wednesday, March 06, 2002 - 11:14 pm:

Ralph,

Stop! The records are hard enough to find, but now I'm going to have to find a copy of that cheese sandwich!

Ian

By wolfie (165.121.214.138 - 165.121.214.138) on Thursday, March 07, 2002 - 04:50 am:

Hello Ralph,

I finally found the pictures I took of the B-Studio after our all night console installation session with Beltz, Les, and Milan. I have them as 35 mm transparancies so I'll have to get into Sue's room and scan them. I don't have your e-mail address but I'll get them to Russ as jpegs.

I had a great time reading all the stories and fondly remember Bob Olsson hanging at United. I could spend a week with Jimmy Siracuse Stories.

By the way, the Terra Shirma Studio A board was not a Gates broadcast mixer but was a Langevin board which was the purchased from United Sound. It was the original board for the big studio at United before Les Cooley and Beltz built the Class A, solid state wrap around board. The Tera-Shirma big board pictured in the shots I will send was a third generation upgrade on that board. It was also all class A and had lots of big UTC transformers with lots of iron for great bass response.

Also, as I remember your studio A mixdown machine was an Ampex 350. However by the middle 60's everyone in Detroit had 4 track Scully's except Motown. who built their own. Jimmy Siracuse much of the mechanical work on those machines.

We could probably do a whole forum on Jimmy Siracuse alone. In fact, Artie Field, who was one of Jimmy's closest friends wants to get bunch of guys together and just tell Jimmy Siracuse stories!!!

You could probably do the same with Danny Dallas.

Hey, does anyone know what happened to Gary Rubin who owned Pioneer Recording?

I could go on...but Enough is Enough

Best to All,
Ed Wolfrum

By Ralph Terrana (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Thursday, March 07, 2002 - 05:50 am:

ED,
WOW! Good to hear from you old friend! Thanks for getting me straight on my own studio. I could have sworn the old board was a Gates, but I now stand corrected.

I can't wait to see the pictures you have Ed. This forum has been the source of many surprises to me, you showing up proves that.
Stick around. There are many avid fans here that would love to hear all the stories you must have. Yes Jimmy Syracuse is a book by himself. Glad to see you here Ed.
Ralph

By Ralph Terrana (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Thursday, March 07, 2002 - 05:57 am:

Ed,
By the way, I don't know about Gary Rubin, but I stay in touch with Alan Sussman, his former partner at Pioneer. In fact in an up-coming segment of the Tera Shirma story we do a segment on Alan.

By david, glasgow, scotland (213.122.85.221 - 213.122.85.221) on Thursday, March 07, 2002 - 08:56 am:

welcome to the forum ed.

i will be tackling a united sound project in the coming months and hope to persuade ed to provide some text in the mode of the tera shirma story.

for everybody's information, ed has supplied us with some fantastic pics of a few of our forum regulars.

ed wolfrum played an important part in the detroit music scene.

i hope we hear from him again soon.

By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Thursday, March 07, 2002 - 07:51 pm:

Ed,
Speaking of United Sound...I remember while we were still in Studio A, we wanted to add an additional 4 track and Jimmy sold me a used Scully. I would then learn from Milan a few days later that Don Davis was mad at me because he was planning on buying it.I honestly didn't know at the time.

Speaking of Jimmy....do you have any pics of him? What a guy!!! I remember he would put a cigarette in his lips and it stayed there, without being removed until only the filter remained. I never could figure how he could do that and I was a smoker.

By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Thursday, March 07, 2002 - 07:54 pm:

And speakin of Gary Ruben, Ed...I remember we sold one of those Scullys to Pioneer after Studio B opened.

By david, glasgow, scotland (213.107.27.25 - 213.107.27.25) on Thursday, March 07, 2002 - 08:18 pm:

ralph
ed has provided a couple of jimmy syracuse pics.

i need to keep them for the webisode.

he looks a real character.

By phillysoulman (205.188.198.174 - 205.188.198.174) on Thursday, March 07, 2002 - 09:15 pm:

Ralph or Ed,

Can we just have a couple of "Jimmyisms" please...
huh??huh??

By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Thursday, March 07, 2002 - 10:20 pm:

Bobby,
My main memory is of him and that ever present cigarette in his mouth. I'm sure Ed has a good story or two.

David...I'll be looking forward to seeing his pics.

By wolfie (165.121.214.138 - 165.121.214.138) on Friday, March 08, 2002 - 10:01 pm:

Hello All:

I just got back ot the forum and did some catch up. I was not aware that Don wanted that Scully. In fact because of my friendship with Russ, I told Jimmy that he should sell it to you. As I remember Scully's were at times hard to come by at the time.

Regarding some Jimmy Siracuse stories... I should point out that Jimmy was the real designer behind the venerable Ampex 350 transport. That is a story in itself. But this was confirmed by Ralph Abernathey at Ampex. I will save that for another time.

The story I have to tell concerns the Issac Hays, and Billy Eckstein projects done in Detroit during the late 60's and early 70's. The "Hot Buttered Soul" project came out of this work.

These session basically tied up both United and Terra Sherma for weeks. Russ and I were very close, as were most of the Detroit engineers. We socialized together, went out on Mike McLeans boat and drank beers together. Russ and I concurred (over a beer), that the best and most efficent way to proceed on the OVD and post production on the project was to do the strings at United and the Horns at Terra Shirma. Keep the musicians at the studios and ferry the tapes. We carefully calibrated the 8 track machines as to level (Remember the 200 N/w vs. 250 N/w controversy!!! We used 250 N/w without noise reduction as there was none then, and I believe the tape was the old 3M 202 stock) The scenario was that the rhythm tracks were cut either in Memphis or here at United or Terra Shirma and assembeled and edited for an overdub. The tape would start at either at United with a string OVD and then I would call a cab to deliver the master, along with the producer (either David Porter or Ike Hayes) to Terra Shirma. Russ would be finishing up a Horn OVD and do the same thing. Whoever finished the project did the mix. We didn't care as there were certainly no ego's involved. Our job was the client.

In any case, I was working on a Saturday at United with Ike Hays in the afternoon. I think I was mixing as I don't remember musicians being around and do remember picking Ike up at the hotel.

Now Jimmy Siracuse (much like myself) liked old comfortable clothing, flannel shirts, old pants, most of the time well worn. United had a very well equipt machine shop and electronics lab in the basement. Saturdays usually found either Jimmy or myself down there working on some project for either the studio, another studio around town or for the house. Jimmy had been working down there for a couple of hours.

Now this was at the beginning of the sessions and Ike had not yet met Jimmy formally. In the middle of the mix session Jimmy came walking out of the stairwell door from the shop to the studio and walked thru the studio, up the short run of stairs to the control room and asked me how it was going. I waved at him and he smiled waved at Ike and walked up the stairs to the kitchen/coffee room at United.

After, the mix on the tune we were working on Ike looked at me and asked if that "old man" was the janitor. I laughed and told Ike that that was Jimmy Siracuse and he OWNED the place.

Ike gave me a strange look and said he wanted to meet him. I took he up stairs for coffee and we sat down with Jimmy and for the next hour he mezmerized Ike with stories of straight ahead sessions he had done with John Lee Hooker, Warrell Gray and Dizzy at United. I think Ike learned to never judge a book by its cover!!!

Dave, pass along an e-mail and I will attach the last photo I have of Jimmy at his home in Hessel, Michigan, with Sue, our dog Wally and myself. (My Dad owned a bakery in Hessel, so we went up frequently then to see him and Dad.)

Pax,

Ed Wolfrum

By phillysoulman (64.12.97.11 - 64.12.97.11) on Friday, March 08, 2002 - 10:29 pm:

Eli Here.

There was a studio in Philly called Virtue.
It was not aesthetically in the vain of most at that time and indigenous to recording tunes that were a bit , shall I say less polished than most.
Most of the Harthon stuff was done there as well as Boogaloo Down Broadway and the Horse.
Frank Virtue, the owner and main engineer(although his daughter Maryanne sometimes took the reigns) was a middle aged Italian guy with a patent leather jet black toupee and a 38 snub-nose always at his side.
He had some vintage gear such as Fairchild limiters and Langevin and other old stuff, as well as some older recorders.
One day in the mid-eighties,another youngish studio owner saw an advert that old Frank was selling some gear, so he went on up there and enquired. The other guy was interested in among other things, a two track mixdown deck, an old Scully. So Frank, said " wait a minute while I clean the heads" So he took the end of his shirt and proceeded to clead the heads with it!!!!

By david, glasgow, scotland (213.107.27.25 - 213.107.27.25) on Saturday, March 09, 2002 - 07:42 pm:

fantastic story ed.

'hot buttered soul' is one of THE albums of all time.

you can get me at d.meikle1@ntlworld.com

thanks again
david

By gmtorg (66.73.190.238 - 66.73.190.238) on Thursday, June 06, 2002 - 09:12 pm:

Ed Wolfrum...
Wow! There's a name from out of the past. In the mid-60's, I envied you and your dj work as you hosted dances for St. Dennis CYO and St. Marys, etc. You don't remember me, but I was Pres. of the CYO at the time and wanted to go into radio, influenced by Lee Alan, Tom Clay, Shannon and others. You were into sound and let me stand around and observe as you dj'd. You were also friends with the Maylones. One Friday night someone...maybe Don Maylone...convinced you to let me borrow your equipment so I could do my dj thing at a Fri. night dance. We advertised the hop for weeks. I couldn't believe it! You not only set up the system, but let me borrow most of your 45's to do the thing. I was in my glory, but also nervous as hell! I got through the evening, signing off with the Lettermen and "The Party's Over." I realized then what a lot of work and talent was needed to be successful in the business. Stuff beyond just having the voice. All of us in the CYO knew that you would be successful as a sound engineer. I see from all these threads how successful you've been. Good Luck to you.
Gary Torgerson

By 65 memories (198.109.1.14 - 198.109.1.14) on Monday, June 10, 2002 - 07:32 pm:

Can anyone give me a real perspective of the behind the scenes engineering of the great Marvin Gaye What's Goin' On LP?

By John Lester (213.1.131.115 - 213.1.131.115) on Monday, June 10, 2002 - 10:31 pm:

You might start by buying the Ben Edmonds Book What's Going On and then getting the DELUXE album and reading the sleeve notes....that's a start