Heider’s LA – mid 70′s
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.
The management, engineers and assistants were all top notch. A few of the staff engineers that come to mind are Mic Lietz, Ken Caillat, Gabby Garcia, Peter Granet, and Biff Dawes. Some of the assistants there at the time were Mike Carver, Lesley Barncard, Dennis Mays, Bill Broms, Brian Ingalls, Gary Lubow, and Geoff Howe. The maintenance crew was headed up by Miles Weiner with assist by Larry Comara, Billy Youdelman, Jack Crymes, and Ira Leslie. Management at different times consisted of Terry Stark, Ron Trowbridge, Andy Bloch and of course…Wally. For the life of me, I cannot remember the names of the two beautiful schedulers in the front office. If anyone can jog my memory…please do so.
Working with Ray Thompson on remotes was an amazing experience. He was a whirlwind at the shows. It’s nice to see that his reputation as a live sound engineer still stands today. As a 17 year old kid….my memories of working the shows (Doobie Bros, Peter Frampton, Carol King, Robin Trower, Redd Foxx) will never be forgotten.
I had the pleasure of working on almost every session booked with Mic Lietz and Alex Kasenegras. They both spent an incredible amount of time with me explaining the ins and outs of the studio. I have wonderful memories of the time I spent with them and their families.
My tenure at Heider’s was short as I went on to pursue other interests. It was a wonderful experience…especially for a youngster still in high school.
Dan Agostino
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on 2006/03/29 at 02:38:18
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Dan, the girls in the front office were Gail (her nickname was “Sunshine”) and Karin and Robin. By the way, i had left the Maintenance Dept. and became an Assistent Engineer as well. Also, you can’t forget to mention Harold Hill in Maintenance, who at one time was Chief Engineer at Capital Studios.