By david, glasgow, scotland (213.107.27.25 - 213.107.27.25) on Friday, March 08, 2002 - 04:31 pm:

bobby writes:-
This a picture of Sigma's chief engineer Carl Paroulo which was taken in the control of studio A circa 1977, four years before it was remodelled.
Carl was the engineer of choice for many non Gamble and Huff classics such as Disco Inferno, Ten Percent, Doctor Love, This Time Baby, Sideshow, Love Won't Let me Wait, Bustin' Loose, Got to get you back, Armed and extremely
dangerous,Be thankful for what you got, and so many classics too numerous to mention.

He was so busy working with Norman Harris and myself, that he barely had the time to work with Gamble and Huff much, although he did at times.
He as not afraid to test the limits of the studio.

The desk in the photo is an Electrodyne solid state model with 24 in and 24 out, with the input faders on the left and the monitor pots on the right.

To the left of Carl's elbow out of the camera's
view was my infamous "electronic scrotum" Carl had always had a second interest in the culinary
arts, and in 1979 studio manager Vivian Abbott left to pursue their dream and open a gourmet restaurant.

By phillysoulman (64.12.97.11 - 64.12.97.11) on Friday, March 08, 2002 - 05:10 pm:

I should have mentioed that Carl lef with Vivian to open the restaurant which is located in Stroudsberg pennsylvania at the foot of the Pocono mountains. It is called "The Inn At The Edge Of The Forrest and it is par excellant!!
Unfortunately, Vivian passed away a few years ago, and Carl was devastated. I had just seen them together at the anual Sigma reunion.
I still believe that Carl has the "bug' to do some more studio work and I would love to be the one to make him do this.

By phillysoulman (64.12.97.11 - 64.12.97.11) on Friday, March 08, 2002 - 09:31 pm:

I also should have mentioned that
Carl was the first person hired at Sigma other that the studio manager.
My late wife Gigi was helping out Vivian at times and she actually hired Carl after he answered an advert for a custodial position.
At first he was a sweeper- upper and tea boy, and then a mike setter- upper, and then an assistant engineer, then a balance engineer and finally chief engineer, in a relatively short time!!

By phillysoulman (152.163.197.56 - 152.163.197.56) on Sunday, March 10, 2002 - 12:41 pm:

Looking back on that pic, Sigma and Tera Shirma had a lot in common (except that awful yellow and white wall) Very sixties even up until1981.
They never should messed with the aesthetics of the place.It's like trying to reinvent the wheel.
That studio was rockin' (thanks in part to my electronic scrotum, thank you)
Picture the cast of characters dancing around the control room!!! Priceless.

By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Sunday, March 10, 2002 - 01:32 pm:

Bobby,
I wish I could have seen Sigma.I think what was unique about recording studios during that era is they each had their own individual character. It wasn't until later on that the trend to make studios " pretty " came along. Who Cares? Give me a good hard working studio over a few potted palms any day! Need I mention Motown Studio A?

By phillysoulman (205.188.192.47 - 205.188.192.47) on Sunday, March 10, 2002 - 10:01 pm:

I have been in situations where someone has said to me "hey man, that studio is beautiful, and we would sure like to record there.So when I saw it I thought "this place looks like a f***n funeral parlor, potted palms and all!"( a certain North Jersey studio comes to mind)
All you need is a dummy coffin where they can hide the body under the eulogised one beneath a draped cover. (Jimmy Hoffa comes to mind)
I almost heard the soft organ music playing in my mind.(sounded like our own Ralph)
Needless to say, the owners were gentlemen of dubious distinction.The place did have a Neve VR desk and loads of goodies, but as they say "you can tune-a fish but cannot tune a room!!!!
On the other hand< Sigma was a rectangular room about 40 by 20 witha 17 foot ceiling with two rectangular columns with mike inputs on the botom of each one. The walls were acoustical tile that was painted varios color combinations at times, for some aesthetic reason.
There was a vocal booth at the back to the left of two double dors, about 6 by 9 with a droped ceiling, and carpeted in chocolate brown.(soulful , eh??)
Along the right side, early on was a live chamber the length of the studio and at the same height, with hard plaster walls, with a decay time at about 3 seconds and a frequency response at about 4-6 khz.There was an RCA 77dx mike at the far right end on a high boom and an Altec Voice of three theatre speaker cabinet at the other end.
They sometimes put a Neumann large diaphragm condensor mike up there, but rarely.
The delay time was done with a 10 and 1/2 inch reel constantly turning at the rear of the control room set at 110-120 ms. for ballads, and 40 -60 ms. for the faster ones and maybe 20-30ms for the ADT (doubling)effect.
The control room was about 10by 20 with a 12 fot ceiling with Urei monitors. Early on they were Altec big reds althoughthey were in blue cabinets!!
There was a hi-fi type speaker in the middle for center channel buildup and mono mix comps.
The experience was better than any "Recording Workshop" could ever be!!!!!!

By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Monday, March 11, 2002 - 12:21 am:

By the way Bobby, after 2 days in the studio I finally got what I was looking for with the B-3. And where did you get the idea I play softly??

By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Monday, March 11, 2002 - 12:22 am:

OOOPS...something didn't post...I had thanked you for the tour Bobby. I now know Sigma Sound quite well.