When the Who did their amazing set that night, nobody knew about the smoke bomb inside Keith Moon’s drum set, especially Wally Heider, who up until that time had placed his set of condensers and dynamics on stage as was the norm.
At the very end of the song, Wally steps into history as he avoids running into a dancing Roger Daltry and dodges guitar-shrapnel from Keith Townsend’s antics as he rushes to save his microphones from certain destruction.
April 10, 2008
Wally Heider saved me from a life of electronic drudgery and obscurity when in 1973 Ken Hopkins and Grey O’Dell hired me to work at the SF studio. I had spent a little time at the 245 Hyde St. address during my school days, assisting an independent mixer and my good friend Neil Schwartz. Neil brought me in for a James Brown date and later we worked with Ty Porter on demos with groups like “CRACKIN”?, “COAL TRAIN”?.
Upon graduating from Heald College, just as I was about to accept my sentence, er, I mean “position”? with a digital safe company in San Jose (bend over sucker), my phone rang with a call that changed my life for good. Ken Hopkins, the Studio manager, asked me if I were interested in joining the Wally Heider Staff. (Duh!) It was at this point I met Wally for the first time and was completely overwhelmed by the force of his personality. What a guy! What a boss!
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Welcome to the Recording Wally Heider site. We aim to chronicle the life and times of Wally Heider, his studios and the people who worked and created there. We celebrate the technology of the time as well, and welcome articles of interest to the technically inclined.
This site can only exist with the participation of the people who were there. If you have any stories or photos to post, please do. Enjoy!