Monthly Archives: January 2006

I can remember my first visit to Heider’s LA. It was the early 70′s…watching Joe E. Covington laying down tracks for his Fat Fandango album in Studio 3. Peter Granet was at the board. As a young teen and an aspring drummer…it was a huge thrill to sit behind Joe’s drums and help them get their sound. My uncle was the production coordinator for Grunt Records at the time. That availed me to many visits to Heider’s LA and San Francisco.

A couple of years later, I began working at Heider’s LA answering telephones and helping in the studios whenever I could. Within a few short months, I began assisting on sessions with the likes of Rod Stewart, Angel, Loggins and Messina, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, The Crusaders, Rare Earth, Tony Orlando and Dawn…just to name a few.
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Reprinted from MIX magazine February 1978
Special Thanks to Heather Johnson for finding the article and
Tom Fine for proofreading and correction.

The Story of
Wally Heider Recording

by Wally Heider With Terry Stark

When the words independent recording studios are used, the first name that comes to mind ’ is Wally Heider. Phrases like “institution”, “a legend in his own time”, “the grand old man of recording” invariably follow. Wally is still very active in the recording industry, both as an independent producer-engineer and as consultant to Filmways/Heider Recording, the company he sold to Filmways some nine years ago.

The following are some excerpts from a rap session held in Terry Stark’s office. Terry is the president of Filmways/Heider Recording and started in the recording industry with Wally some eight years ago.

Terry: How did you get started in this business, Wally?

Wally: Well, I was practicing law up in Oregon, but I really didn’t like what I was doing. I came down here to talk to Bill Putnam at United Recording Studios; Bill said he wouldn’t hire anybody from out of town because he was afraid that he’d be responsible for their moving down here and then things wouldn’t work out, but he said that if I wanted to come down he’d be more than happy to talk to me. So I moved my family down here and we rented a house.

I went to work for Bill at United as a part-time apprentice. I had some tapes that I had recorded of Terry Gibb’s band, live. Bill played them back in the studio and when he heard them he said “I’ve got myself a part time apprentice.”

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