Confessions of a Studio Rat

  C onfessions of a Studio Rat One mans journey through a world of recording studios and musicians in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s – without a net! LONDON  (1975-76?) : Back in the day, there was a studio named Basing Street Studios in London. If memory serves, it was owned by Island Records. There were two great sounding recording rooms, and featured wonderful “wraparound” Helios consoles. I loved the place, and would work there whenever I could. I remember at the time the studio manager was Muff Winwood (Stevie’s brother), who was a great guy and went on to do great things in the business. Someone in the organization thought it would be a great promotional gimmick to award the Studio Manager title to the studio cat, named Morris Dolby. They even went as far as to produce a glossy full color studio brochure featuring Morris on the front. According to the brochure, Morris would hang out with you in the studio during the session, digging the vibe, but if he left the room, you ma...

   Confessions of a Studio Rat One mans journey through a world of recording studios and musicians in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s – without a net! HAZARDOUS DUTY BUDAPEST: There are times when travelling on business in a foreign country can be challenging. Coming home from Budapest, Hungary is one example. At the time, the Berlin Wall was still firmly in place, and many people were trying to defect to the West. In fact, the international airport at Budapest was regarded as one of the more popular portals to escape through, and there were military (seemingly teenagers) armed with automatic weapons everywhere. I was travelling back to London with my friend Pete, having completed our work on the Locomotiv GT album. It had been a long, strange trip and we couldn’t wait to get home! The passport I was using at the time had a picture of me that was taken at the one time in my life when I had permed hair; tight little curls, completely unlike the hair style I normally wore or was w...

  Confessions of a Studio Rat One mans journey through a world of recording studios and musicians in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s – without a net! BUDAPEST (1983?): I got a call one day from a producer friend of mine named Pete with whom I was doing a fair bit of work. Pete had been asked by EMI Records if he would be interested in travelling out to Budapest, Hungary to record one of the country’s most famous bands, called Locomotiv GT. He asked me if I’d like to join him for the project. Of course, I jumped at the chance- what an adventure! The band were hugely popular behind the Iron Curtain, (they were described to me as “Eastern Europe’s Led Zeppelin!”). It would be the band’s 10 th album, so it was considered a special one, justifying bringing in an English production team. Remember, this was 1983, before the Berlin Wall came down. Budapest is architecturally a beautiful city, but the economy was clearly not strong, and poverty was evident everywhere. Things were pretty auster...

 Confessions of a Studio Rat One mans journey through a world of recording studios and musicians in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s – without a net! NEW YORK: We recorded several film soundtracks at A &R Recording. This particular session was unlike anything I had ever experienced, before or after. I can’t remember many details, as it was back in the 1970s. I was a Second engineer- assisting the main guy, in this case the engineering duties were alternated between Brooks Arthur and Dixon Van Winkle. The film was called Holy Mountain, directed by Alejandro Jodorowski. The movie was dark, psychedelic and to my young eyes, very, very weird. The “orchestra”, if you will, were a collection of about 20 people I had never seen before. No trace of the regular session guys who would normally show up for these dates. These folks sat on rugs on the floor, mostly, and I don’t remember music stands or sheet music being involved. I remember bottles of water, and lots of incense (as well as other sub...

  Confessions of a Studio Rat One mans journey through a world of recording studios and musicians in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s – without a net! Boot Camp (1970??) It seems a very long time ago when I began my journey to becoming a Recording Engineer. In those there were no schools teaching it. If you wanted to succeed in the studio environment you would need a fairly complex skill set that cannot be taught in school. Recording schools came much later, but they were never a substitute for on-the-job experience. What we’re talking about here- music engineering- is such an esoteric craft; it’s a blending of science and art, but coupled with great ears, great patience and above all, a great sense of humor. These were all part of the ingredients list a candidate would need. I was one of the lucky ones. I was brought on by some of the best engineers in the business, in a very well-known studio: A+R Recording, in New York City. We were routinely handling projects with some of the greate...