The Tera Shirma Story
Making Changes 

Ralph Terrana, Ahmet Ertegun (Atlantic Records), Milan Bogdan
(picture courtesy Ralph Terrana)

I now had to assess what it was I owned, but it wasn't much, a struggling studio. 

The first thing I did was get the place cleaned up. It just looked so much better with the floors polished etc. Then improvements were made to the reception area, where a leather couch and a coffee table sat. Some simple things were added, like pictures on the wall.

The control room was also a little shabby. That was the next order of business.

We refurbished the walls with nice wood panelling and did some other cosmetic things. Even though we didn't add any new equipment, I had Milan, my engineer, add a large panel to the equipment rack that had various coloured lights. Some would blink on and off at various times and it looked impressive but, in reality, it did absolutely nothing.

Milan brought his wife along after a few weeks and she commented on how the place was looking more professional, and it was, it was looking pretty good.

There wasn't much business at that time, however. We'd get a little demo session from time to time, but not a lot of money coming in. I think the rates for studio time were $25.00 per hour.

It was now the time for a bold move, especially now that the control room was looking better, and I decided to raise the rates for leasing the studio.

I gulped and put it up to a whopping $40.00 per hour.

It was now May 1966.

Notes thanks to Ralph Terrana

 


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