remembering Wally

my name is Jim Simon and i worked a Filmways/Heiders from 1978 till it closed in 1983. at that point Wally was just a figurehead , but the last time i say him was the best time. first a little history.Filmways which claimed bankrupt and reformed as Orion pictures went on to great things but no so for Heiders it was peice mealed .first Hyde street and dose anybody remember the name of the studio supply co was it ASE? was sold of in parts it was ugly. then they find a buyer for all of Hollywood which included cauhunga /RCA studio’s / and what was know as studio 4 the LEDE room/ remotes truck which were two in till it was rolled it was like a studio in a blender it was ugly. so the new studio owner was Janna Feliciano well her management style was different to say the least

. she wanted to sign every invoice but she sleep in till 2 pm. it was the curse of the 70s if you know what i mean. with in 4 months every bailed and Hollywood was sold off in pieces. i was tough see all those mic’s go we had 35 u67 4 m49 2 m50 2 telfunkins 250 some thing like 50 u87 plus 20 years of recording gear built up by wally from the 60s and 70s it was heart breaking i herd they turned studio 3 where CSN and so many call the best room in Hollywood in to a store front . it was much to look at with the bathroom at the back but the rev chamber with the trap door above the bath gave you the sweetest delay chamber re verb but it gone now .and RCA studio into a movie house say it ain’t so. the RCA studios had 4 rev chambers with no parallel walls and a park structure for those 4 morning mega re verb .o well so many albums history now.

the last time i say wally was when janna owned the studio. i think he had a life time contract because he was still there
but they pushed him in the old mastering room in RCA studio. it was now empty of mastering lathe and console (as has been told here wally had a very bad stutter he said jjjjjiiiiimm can you bring me a 440 (a two track)so i got him one and as i wheeled it in the walls were covered in his early live recording .we smalled talked a little then he started the 440 and put his arm around me an said listen to the horns in this part .it was then i realized i was living recording history no there will never be the 1960s or 1970s music but there will never be another Wally Heider.

i have Heider/track sheets and other memorable ill post pictures .let here from the Hollywood people about Wally….Jim Simon

Posted on February 12, 2007 at 15:31:55 by jsimon · Permalink
In: Firsthand Stories

One Response

Subscribe to comments via RSS

  1. Written by jsimon
    on 2007/02/16 at 10:23:40
    Permalink

    I remembered the name of the other Filmway company It was ACI it waa sold off at the same time as Hyde street………… Jim Simon

Subscribe to comments via RSS

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.