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	<title>Recording Wally Heider &#187; Firsthand Stories</title>
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	<description>a weblog dedicated to the legendary Wally Heider, his studios, and the people that worked there.</description>
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		<title>The Wally Heider Orchestra</title>
		<link>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2010/05/the-wally-heider-orchestra/</link>
		<comments>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2010/05/the-wally-heider-orchestra/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 24 May 2010 17:40:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>biff</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Firsthand Stories]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Wally had a dance band in the 40&#8242;s and Biff Dawes found an acetate (one-off-disk recording) of the band live: Did Wally himself set this up? check out       THE WALLY HEIDER ORCHESTRA]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Wally had a dance band in the 40&#8242;s and Biff Dawes found an acetate (one-off-disk recording) of the band live:</p>
<p><a class="aligncenter" title="THE WALLY HEIDER ORCHESTRA" href="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/the-wally-heider-orchestra/" target="_blank"></a></p>
<p><a class="aligncenter" title="THE WALLY HEIDER ORCHESTRA" href="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/the-wally-heider-orchestra/" target="_blank"></a></p>
<div class="mceTemp mceIEcenter"><a class="aligncenter" title="THE WALLY HEIDER ORCHESTRA" href="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/the-wally-heider-orchestra/" target="_blank"></a>
<dl id="attachment_542" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 309px;"><a class="aligncenter" title="THE WALLY HEIDER ORCHESTRA" href="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/the-wally-heider-orchestra/" target="_blank"></a>
<dt class="wp-caption-dt"><a href="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/the-wally-heider-orchestra/"><img class="size-medium wp-image-542" title="Wally-Heider-LABEL-CU-TRANS_360" src="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Wally-Heider-LABEL-CU-TRANS_360-299x300.png" alt="" width="299" height="300" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd">Did Wally himself set this up?</dd>
</dl>
</div>
<p style="text-align: center;">check out       <a href="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/the-wally-heider-orchestra/" target="_blank">THE WALLY HEIDER ORCHESTRA</a></p>
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		<title>My sister was Ginger Mews&#8230;.</title>
		<link>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2010/05/my-sister-was-ginger-mews/</link>
		<comments>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2010/05/my-sister-was-ginger-mews/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 May 2010 18:58:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Vicki Mews Dykstra</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Firsthand Stories]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Ginger passed away May 19, 2000 at the young age of 59.  (She came to be with us on Christmas Day 1999 with the hope treatment for her cancer would buy some time.)  We later flew to SF and had a wonderful celebration of her life.  There is a memorial bench in Golden Gate Park [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_508" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/gingermews.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-508 " title="gingermews" src="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/gingermews-300x190.png" alt="Ginger Mews" width="300" height="190" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Ginger Mews</p></div>
<p>Ginger passed away May 19, 2000 at the young age of 59.  (She came to be with us on Christmas Day 1999 with the hope treatment for her cancer would buy some time.)  We later flew to SF and had a wonderful celebration of her life.  There is a memorial bench in Golden Gate Park with her name that reads &#8220;for the city she loved, etc.&#8221;  I would love to hear any and all stories you might have about Ginger.  We visited every year and spent many hours with her at the Fillmore, Heider Studio (Christmas party), and enjoyed all the stories&#8211;Airplane/Starship, Doobie Brothers, Grateful Dead&#8211;hope to return again this year&#8211;what a wonderful time!  Thank you in advance!  Vicki</p>
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		<title>RUSS GARY&#8217;S Recollections Part One</title>
		<link>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2010/01/rebel1/</link>
		<comments>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2010/01/rebel1/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:17:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rebel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Firsthand Stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russ Gary]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/archives/rebel/39/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Noted CCR mixer Russ Gary Talks about his Heider experience...

When Wally Heider was an assistant engineer at United/Western Studios on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, he was the biggest big band enthusiast on the planet and would take his portable tape recorder to gigs and record the show so the guys in the band could hear their performance.  He kept the recordings for his own enjoyment.  He made friends in all the big bands of the day, and when bands came to United/Western to record, they would ask for Wally as their engineer.  Thus, Wallyâ€™s career took off. 
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hollywood</p>
<p>When Wally Heider was an assistant engineer at United/Western Studios on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, he was the biggest big band enthusiast on the planet and would take his portable tape recorder to gigs and record the show so the guys in the band could hear their performance.  He kept the recordings for his own enjoyment.  He made friends in all the big bands of the day, and when bands came to United/Western to record, they would ask for Wally as their engineer.  Thus, Wally&#8217;s career took off.</p>
<p>Wally opened his first studio, Studio One &#8211; an overdub/mixing room, at the corner of Cahuenga and Selma in Hollywood.  Remote recording came first, however, and other stories will be told about the company&#8217;s remote recording adventures.</p>
<p><span id="more-39"></span></p>
<p>Wally later built Studio Three at the same location. The story of Studio Three&#8217;s creation goes something like this:  Bill Putnam&#8217;s Western Studio Three was one the hottest  (most single hits) studios in town and Wally wanted that hit sound for his new room.  He booked a half hour of time at Western Three, measured the room, copied the surfaces and control room as much as possible, and built his own Studio Three.</p>
<p>In 1970, Studio Four was completed on Cahuenga, near Sunset next to Martoni&#8217;s restaurant &#8211; the infamous biz hangout of the day.  There never was a Studio Two in Hollywood, only Studios One, Three, Four and the studio complex in San Francisco.</p>
<p>A Universal tube console with rotary pots was installed in Studio One&#8217;s control room, which was twice as large as the actual recording room.  The studio was designed for overdub use.  (In 1965, my band recorded some songs in Studio One&#8217;s tiny room.  Wally was the mixer and the recordings sounded great.  When the time came for overdubs, and prior to playing the track, Wally would announce, &#8220;H-H-Here it comes!&#8221;).</p>
<p>The entrance to Studio Three&#8217;s control room was at the corner on Cahuenga.  Equipment entrances existed on Selma for both studios, although equipment was schlepped through Studio One&#8217;s control room.</p>
<p>An eight- buss DeMedio-engineered solid-state console embodying Universal electronics sat in Studio Three&#8217;s control room.  Instruments sounded wonderful in Studio Three.  Drums were usually placed under an overhang above the glass partition between the studio and control room.  Separation was not a problem and baffling could be kept to a minimum.</p>
<p>Monitoring was achieved in all control rooms through Altec 604E&#8217;s installed in DeMedio-designed cabinets.  Open-back Jensens, the kind you&#8217;d listen to Muzak through at your local hardware store, sat above the meters on the consoles.</p>
<p>Tape machines were continually shuffled between the studios.  In addition to 3M two and four-track recorders, some sessions were recorded on Ampex 300 series and 440 two and four-track machines.  Most sessions, however, were recorded on a 3M eight-track recorder.   Trying to stay ahead of other studios, legend says Wally made a deal with 3M Company where he would get their latest cutting edge tape machines, tape, etc. several months ahead of anyone else.</p>
<p>In the summer of 1968, Wally hired me after auditioning some 45&#8242;s I recorded at United Audio Recording Studio in Santa Ana, CA.  He had by then sold the business to Filmways Corporation but still ran the studios and day-to-day operations.</p>
<p>The staff mixers were studio manager Bill Halverson, Larry Cox, Rik Pekkonen and John Golden.  Ray Thompson handled remotes.   Wally referred to this stellar group as his &#8220;heavies&#8221;.   Joan Barnes ran a small but busy traffic office, which was connected to Studio One and accessible through the Selma Street alley.</p>
<p>Upstairs, chief technical engineer Francisco &#8220;Frank&#8221; DeMedio maintained his tech lab.  Henry Saskowski, Tom Scott and Vic Zaslov were maintenance engineers.  Also on the second floor, were the company offices, echo chambers and a room housing a cutting lathe and tape storage.</p>
<p>Every new engineer paid his dues with Wally.  My initial duties were varied, including picking up Wally&#8217;s car when serviced, delivering and retrieving rental equipment, trips to 3M in Camarillo, transferring Wally&#8217;s transcriptions to tape then editing out pops with a razor blade, cutting demo disks for publishing clients, and helping Frank prepare equipment for the new San Francisco studios.</p>
<p>One day Vic and I were delivering a 3M eight-track rental to Sunset Sound in the company panel truck.  The machine was not secure enough and when the truck turned the first street corner, the machine slid to the other side of the truck, creating several large protruding dents in the truck&#8217;s side panel.  When Wally saw the dents, he just shook his head and walked away.  Somehow, Vic and I kept our jobs.</p>
<p>Eventually I became a second engineer on sessions, at times assisting the likes of Hugh Davies, (Hugh was moonlighting from Capitol), Chuck Britz, Mic Lietz, and Eddie Brackett, (Eddie usually showed up with his outboard equipment rack, his &#8220;hit hat&#8221; and a wad of gum that he chewed at top speed).  Occasionally, I would second a session with Bones Howe when Johnny Golden wasn&#8217;t available.  Some of the artists performing during those sessions were Waylon Jennings, The Association and The Fifth Dimension.</p>
<p>Another time, I was assisting Mic Lietz in Studio One on a mix-down session of Bing Crosby&#8217;s version of The Beatles&#8217; &#8220;Hey Jude&#8221;.  (Yep, Der Bingle!)  During rewind, the tape came apart at a splice and tiny pieces flew around the control room.  Mic and I spent hours finding the pieces and spliced them back together, finally completing the mix-down.  Luckily, the tape was Scotch 201 and did not stretch.</p>
<p>One-microphone remotes were the initial sessions I &#8220;mixed.&#8221;   The first being a Redd Foxx show at his club on La Cienega Boulevard, and the second  assignment was to record an interview with Ray Chales in his office for Billboard Magazine&#8217;s talk show.</p>
<p>Rik Pekkonen was to be Wally&#8217;s &#8220;heavy&#8221; at the new studios in San Francisco.  Rik, however, decided not to relocate from Los Angeles.  I offered to go instead and Wally agreed, but wanted a &#8220;heavy&#8221; to replace Rik.</p>
<p>Prior to joining Heiders, I worked for former Gold Star mixer George Fernandez at United Audio Recording Studio.  I suggested that Wally contact George to be his &#8220;heavy&#8221;.  Wally did, and George agreed to work in the San Francisco studios.</p>
<p>Russ Gary, 2006<br />
<a href="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2010/01/russ-garys-recollections-part-two/">&#8211; part two: San Francisco &#8230;.</a></p>
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		</item>
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		<title>RUSS GARY&#8217;S Recollections Part Two</title>
		<link>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2010/01/russ-garys-recollections-part-two/</link>
		<comments>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2010/01/russ-garys-recollections-part-two/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:10:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rebel</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Firsthand Stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russ Gary]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/archives/rebel/43/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is part two of this article. To see part one, go to http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/archives/rebel/39/ San Francisco Between late 1968 and early 1969 I made several trips to San Francisco to help prepare the studios for opening day. The original staff members included studio manager Mel Tanner, formerly an engineer at Coast Recorders in San Francisco. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This is part two of this article. To see part one, go to <a href="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/archives/rebel/39/">http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/archives/rebel/39/</a></p>
<p>San Francisco<br />
<div id="attachment_271" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/russg1.png"><img src="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/russg1-300x270.png" alt="" title="russg1" width="300" height="270" class="size-medium wp-image-271" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Russ Gary in Studio C in San Francisco, 1970</p></div></p>
<p>Between late 1968 and early 1969 I made several trips to San Francisco to help prepare the studios for opening day. </p>
<p>The original staff members included studio manager Mel Tanner, formerly an engineer at Coast Recorders in San Francisco. Ginger Mews ran the traffic office and Harry Sitam was the tech engineer.  George Fernandez joined the group a short time prior to opening day.  Although based in Hollywood, Frank DeMedio remained the chief tech engineer.</p>
<p>Wally put me up in the Lafayette Hotel (now the Midori) on Hyde Street, directly across from the studio.  Well, the Lafayette was not exactly deluxe accommodations.   I only slept in the Lafayette, however, and spent all my time working in the studios. Most weekends I went home to Southern California. </p>
<p><span id="more-43"></span> </p>
<p>Wally&#8217;s plan was to construct Studios A and B on the main floor and Studios C and D upstairs.  Studio B, intended to be a mix-down and dubbing room, never materialized and instead became a lounge/game area.  Each control room differed somewhat, but the studios were all nearly the same in size as Studio 3 in Los Angeles.  The maintenance shop was across the hall from Studio A&#8217;s rear entrance.  Between the shop and exit into the alley another room served as a tape copying /storage area.  Across the hall from these rooms, former film storage vaults were considered for use as echo chambers, but served as storage for tape. </p>
<p>Originally constructed by Dave Mancini, Studio C was scheduled to open as soon as possible in the New Year.  Frank DeMedio delivered the custom built console (nearly a clone of the console in L.A.&#8217;s Studio Three) in late February.  Rack mounted Universal Audio 500 Equalizers paired with 550 Filters were normaled to faders 1-16 on the console.  Four UREI 1176 Limiter/Compressors, a single graphic equalizer (either Langevin or Altec), a UREI filter set, a digital metronome and a pair of Pultec midrange equalizers completed the outboard package.  </p>
<p>A few months later, Studio D, whose control room contained equipment nearly identical to Studio C, was ready.  A short time afterwards, Studio A opened with a Quad Eight console with thirty-two input channels installed in the control room.  Monitoring in all three studios was essentially the same as in Los Angeles: Altec 604E loudspeakers in DeMedio-tuned cabinets powered by McIntosh MC275 amplifiers.</p>
<p>Live stereo echo chambers, Two and Four respectively, existed upstairs in rooms off the rear hallway leading to Studio D.  One of them is still in use.  McIntosh MC240&#8242;s powered the speakers inside the chambers.  The chambers were patchable to and from the control rooms via a rack of five McIntosh MC240&#8242;s in the maintenance shop. Chambers One and Three were built a few months later on the roof.</p>
<p>The initial microphone compliment consisted of Neumann U-87, Sony C-37A, Sony ECM 22, Electro Voice RE-15, Shure 546 and SM 56.   The original tape recorders were 3M eight-track and two-track as well as Ampex 440 two and four-track machines.  Occasionally, a Scully recorder would appear, but I believe they were rentals.  </p>
<p>The first session commenced in Studio C in March of 1969.  George Fernandez was mixing and I was his assistant.   George surprisingly left the studio and joined the mixing staff at KYA-AM in San Francisco.  Wally said to me, &#8220;OK, Russ, you&#8217;re the mixer now.&#8221;  Then he bellowed, &#8220;But-but-but, service, service, service!  Do whatever they want!  S-S-Straight ahead!&#8221;   </p>
<p>My first mixing assignment was to record a Las Vegas based group, &#8220;George &#038; Teddy and The Imperials.&#8221;  During this period, Wally gave me tips on recording big bands that has served me well.  </p>
<p>Around this time, RCA booked time to record Jefferson Airplane&#8217;s &#8220;Volunteers&#8221; album.  Al Schmitt was producing and Ritchie Schmitt was mixing.  RCA&#8217;s rep, Pat Ireci, nicknamed &#8220;Maurice Man&#8221; by the Airplane, was representing RCA&#8217;s interest as well as acting as referee.  &#8220;Volunteers&#8221; may have been the first commercially released recording made in the new studios.  </p>
<p>The studio&#8217;s first sixteen-track recorder, built by Jeep Harnard, arrived during these sessions and was immediately placed in service in Studio C.  The Ampex deck had been converted to accommodate two-inch reels and groaned and squealed as tape spooled from reel to reel. The electronics were nearly clones of the Ampex 440&#8242;s.  Initially, there were bias trap problems in the machine&#8217;s record amps and Wally promptly flew Jeep in overnight from Florida to fix them.  </p>
<p>Ampex MM 1000 sixteen-track machines soon arrived.  Because of their huge size and weight, the MM1000&#8242;s were difficult to maneuver between control rooms.  I preferred using the 3M machines.</p>
<p>In March, CCR booked time for a test recording in Studio C.  I was nervous about recording such a big act and was wondering how I would set up the band in the studio to achieve optimal results.  On recording day, the roadies began setting up the band&#8217;s equipment without discussing it with me.  I asked about it and was told, &#8220;This is the way we did at RCA.&#8221;   The band bounded in and we quickly recorded two instrumentals.  From then on, that set-up for recording rhythm sections has served me well.</p>
<p>Eric Jacobsen, the Lovin&#8217; Spoonful producer, came in to mix an album&#8217;s worth of tracks recorded by Norman Greenbaum at Coast Recorders and the catchy songs on the multi-tracks sounded quite good.  Mel warned me that Eric could be tough but I got on good with him and we enjoyed working together.  One of the songs, &#8220;Spirit In The Sky&#8221; became a huge hit, thanks to a DJ in Seattle who played it repeatedly.  </p>
<p>Studio D was now in service and the staff was increasing.  Engineer Jerry Martin came on board and Dave LaBarre joined the shop staff.  </p>
<p>Philips/Mercury booked time and I recorded the first of two Blue Cheer albums and a Harvey Mandel album in Studio C.  Blue Cheer played so loud they were heard throughout the building.  </p>
<p>By this time the studios were going non-stop. Jefferson Airplane began working nights exclusively in A.</p>
<p>I also co-mixed sessions for Mendlebaum with engineer Marty Cohn.  Ray Ruff was the producer.  Marty and I became good friends and on the weekends I stayed in town, Wally would let us use his Lincoln Continental to cruise around. </p>
<p>CBS permanently booked Studio D until their new facility, formerly Coast Recorders, was retrofitted for them.  CBS did not use Studio D much of the time and Wally&#8217;s agreement with CBS allowed Heider&#8217;s to book it when available, which was quite often.  It was a sweet deal for the studio.</p>
<p>Fantasy Records began signing contemporary artists and recording them in their small studio in Oakland.  Producers Ray Shanklin, Jesse Osbourne and Ed Bogas brought their eight-tack masters to Heiders and I mixed several albums for them.  Some of the artists were Alice Stuart, Billy Joe Becoat, and Parrish Hall featuring Gary Wagner. </p>
<p>Eric Jacobsen returned and periodically I recorded four albums for him.  It took a year&#8217;s time.  We made Norman Greenbaum&#8217;s follow-up album, LP&#8217;s for Willie Truckaway (William Seivers), Miss Abrams and The Strawberry Point Third Grade Class (spawning<br />
the hit, &#8220;Mill Valley&#8221;) and The Stovall Sisters&#8217; rocking gospel album.  (The Stovalls also sang backing vocals on the Greenbaum and Truckaway recordings).  Except for an occasional session in Studio A and a few tracks previously recorded at Coast for Truckaway, these albums were recorded and mixed in Studios C and D.  During these sessions I met lots of wonderful local musicians that I would work with on a regular basis.  I learned a lot from Eric and truly enjoyed working with him and his artists.</p>
<p>In May, CCR returned to Studio C and recorded the single &#8220;Green River&#8221; B/W &#8220;Commotion.&#8221; The studio and I had passed the band&#8217;s earlier audition.  Tracking went smoothly, but when it was time to record vocals, none of the condenser microphones in the locker complimented John Fogerty&#8217;s voice.  I tried them all, and a Shure SM 56 became the eventual choice.  The microphone also befitted the Sun Records mood of the two songs.  Following that vocal session, Wally brought in some Neumann U47&#8242;s from LA.  I used them to record Fogerty&#8217;s vocals thereafter.  </p>
<p>In July of 1969 I moved my family from Southern California to Tiburon, the neighboring city of Mill Valley.  Wally paid for the move by covering the expense of a U-Haul truck rental.  The truck had a faulty fuel gauge and ran out of gas on the Golden Gate Bridge!  After six months, however, I no longer had to sleep in the Lafayette Hotel.</p>
<p>The staff was growing as well as changing. Engineer Stephen Barncard joined the group.  Ginger Mews left and was replaced by Jayne Martin.</p>
<p>I recorded more sessions with terrific artists:  The Steve Miller Band, Jesse Colin Young, Syndicate Of Sound, The Supremes, Sly Stone, Joy Of Cooking and Clover.</p>
<p>I was still earning assistant engineer wages and asked Wally for a raise in pay.  He huffed and puffed, but gave me a small increase in salary.  This scenario occurred a few more times during my tenure at the studio.</p>
<p>I made albums in Studio D with A. B. Skhy, and an instrumental album by Jerry Garcia and Howard Wales for producer Alan Douglas.</p>
<p>CCR returned in July and we completed the Green River album in Studio C.  </p>
<p><center><img src="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/wp-content/mainImages//RUSSGARY_sc04f865ac_400.jpg"/></center></p>
<p>Two of my favorite experiences were utilizing both Studios C and D to record Fantasy LP&#8217;s for The Brothers Four, and a Cal Tjader album in Studio D.  Both albums were produced by Ed Bogas.</p>
<p>In October 1969, Wally explained that Bill Halverson was not available to begin sessions scheduled in Studio C with Crosby, Stills, Nash &#038; Young.  The group was eager to begin recording and requested I work with them until Bill was available.  The first track we recorded was their hit, &#8220;Woodstock,&#8221; followed by versions of &#8220;Teach Your Children,&#8221; &#8220;Our House&#8221; and &#8220;Helpless.&#8221;  Those sessions were social affairs, at times with members of the Jefferson Airplane and others in attendance.  I won&#8217;t forget the image of Grace Slick perched on a stool in the control room observing the proceedings.  After the first week of recording Halverson took over with Steve Barncard assisting.  Later on, I recorded a few sessions with Graham Nash for his &#8220;Songs For Beginners&#8217; album.</p>
<p>CCR returned to Studio C and we made the album, &#8220;Willy And The Poor Boys.&#8221;  </p>
<p>In January 1970, with Wilbert Harrison and Booker T. And The MGs opening for them, CCR played a homecoming concert in the Oakland Coliseum and asked me to record the performance.  Wally provided the remote truck with one 3M eight-track recorder. Henry Saskowski was my assistant.  National General Corporation filmed the show for a future TV broadcast.  </p>
<p>CCR recorded &#8220;45 Revolutions Per Minute,&#8221; in Studio A.  It was a wacky promo single thanking DJ&#8217;s for playing their records.  It was the only time CCR recorded in Studio A. </p>
<p>During this period, producer Gary Usher booked time in Studio C to record The Wackers. They were very good, strongly influenced by The Beatles and CSN&#038;Y.  I happened to be standing in the traffic office when Gary walked in.  We got on and I recorded the album.  Those were some of my favorite sessions.</p>
<p>Ken Hopkins joined the staff.  Around this time I recorded a second album for Blue Cheer, mostly in Studio D.  Also during this period, I recorded an album in Studio C for Fantasy artist Abel.</p>
<p>CCR and I reconvened in Studio C to make &#8220;Cosmo&#8217;s Factory,&#8221; possibly the band&#8217;s most acclaimed album.  I was impressed how prepared the group was in the studio, never taking more than a few weeks to record and mix their albums. We were working days and Fred Catero was recording Santana in the evening. </p>
<p>One of the perks of working for Wally was that he allowed the staff gratis use of the studios if they were not booked.  During these periods I produced an album by Redwing, a Sacramento group that was signed by Fantasy, and co-produced two albums with Russell DaShiell for his band, Crowfoot.  I also produced recordings for Gideon Daniels and his group, Power.</p>
<p>In November 1970, CCR booked a full month in Studio C to record &#8220;Pendulum.&#8221;   This time, the other band members participated more and attended all of the sessions.  While not in the booth for mixing, they would come in for playbacks.  After the record was released, Tom Fogerty left the band.</p>
<p>In June of 1971 and now a trio, CCR wanted to record their single, &#8220;Sweet Hitch-Hiker b/w &#8220;Door To Door.&#8221;  Studio C was booked and for the first time the band recorded live in Studio D.  Tracking and instrument overdubs for both songs went smoothly.  Mixes were made and the single was finished in one session.  There would be no more live CCR recordings made at Wally&#8217;s.</p>
<p>Fantasy was building new offices and studios across the bay in Berkeley and had contracted Frank DeMedio to build the console for their first of two studios.  The control room was not unlike Heider control rooms, the biggest difference being the Fantasy console embodied API electronics.  </p>
<p>In August 1971, I accepted a position producing and engineering Fantasy artists.  Except for a few projects, however, I always returned to Wally&#8217;s for mixing.  In September, CCR decided to record their European tour and Wally supplied a remote package that performed flawlessly throughout the thirty days of touring.</p>
<p>CCR Drummer Doug Clifford decided to record a solo album at the band&#8217;s Berkeley headquarters, &#8220;Cosmo&#8217;s Factory.&#8221;  I hired Wally&#8217;s remote truck and the resulting sound was excellent.  Afterwards, I founded DSR Productions with Doug and CCR bassist Stuart Cook.  Frank DeMedio built a wonderful remote recording truck for us that is still in use today.  In 1977, my family and I returned to southern California.</p>
<p>In 1980, Wally Heider Recording was sold and became Hyde Street Studios.  I tip my hat to owner Michael Ward for keeping the studios running for 26 years.  </p>
<p>In September 2006, a group of former staffers, freelancers and current employees gathered at Hyde Street for a Mix magazine photo shoot celebrating 37 years of continuous studio operations at 245 Hyde Street.  I enjoyed roaming the historic halls, seeing old friends and remembering such an important time in music history, I felt good about being among the first group of people to work there.  I also felt some sadness because so many artists that use their workstations and project studios may never experience the thrill of working in a major recording studio.</p>
<p>Because of Wally Heider, I have had a fulfilling career in the entertainment industry.  I will always treasure my time spent as his student and employee.</p>
<p>Russ Gary<br />
December 2006</p>
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		<title>Heider Truck in Long Beach 1977</title>
		<link>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2009/05/heider-truck-in-long-beach-1977/</link>
		<comments>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2009/05/heider-truck-in-long-beach-1977/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 11 May 2009 19:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>danaroun</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Firsthand Stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Boston]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brad Delp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dana Roun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Heider Truck]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wolfgangsvault]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/?p=175</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[CLICK THE PHOTO FOR FULL SIZE This is a photo of the Wally Heider Recording truck on location during the recording of Boston, Long Beach 77\&#8217;. I was on the sound crew for Boston and I happened to take the photo.  It is fairly low res. but it might be good for this site.  The recording [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="center;"><a href="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/scan0072.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-176" src="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/scan0072-300x215.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="215" /></a></p>
<p style="center;"><a href="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/scan0072.jpg"></a><strong>CLICK THE PHOTO FOR FULL SIZE</strong></p>
<p>This is a photo of the Wally <span class="il">Heider</span> Recording truck on location during the recording of Boston, Long Beach 77\&#8217;.</p>
<p>I was on the sound crew for Boston and I happened to take the photo.  It is fairly low res. but it might be good for this site.  The recording can be heard on Wolfgangsvault.com  It was a memorable experience as we had phantom power problems that day &#8230;. we eventually sorted it out and I think the excitement of that show was captured by Wally\&#8217;s team as it was.</p>
<p><span id="more-175"></span></p>
<p><span>Boston was very careful about recordings of any kind the years I spent with them.  We very rarely recorded live in the seventies.<span> </span>In those days when you traveled as part of the touring sound crew you would get pretty protective around the audio splitter.<span> </span>Any in-coming remote recording crew would not be trusted as a rule based on my previous experiences.<span> </span>Since I was the third guy on the sound crew one of my jobs was handling the set changes and line checks so input problems were my problem.<span> </span>Often interfacing a remote truck could test your patience back then.<span> </span></span></p>
<p><span>Although I was pretty young at the time I knew of Wally&#8217;s reputation and knew these guys were one of the few to completely trust.  I remember we had some issues with power and actually had some fairly nasty voltage floating around during sound check.  I&#8217;m happy to say that the <span class="il">Heider</span> crew worked hard to help solve the problems with us and the result was what I consider one of the best recordings of Boston Live to this day.  I was really shocked to see these recordings available on </span><a title="WolfGang's Vault" href="http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/sw/site-wide/search.html?t=boston%20long%20beach" target="_blank">Wolfgangsvault.com</a><span>&#8230;.  due to the fact that Tom Scholz always had such an iron clad fist over everything.<span> </span>If you listen to the Long Beach recordings you can hear the raw excitement of those shows captured by one of the best.</span></p>
<p><span>Brad Delp R.I.P.</span></p>
<p>I remember all of our crew but I imagine you mean the <span class="il">Heider</span> crew.  It may have been Bill Thompson but it was so long ago I can&#8217;t be sure.  I seem to remember three people with the truck.<span> </span>We did a lot of shows on that tour.  The Date was March 16th 1977.. Long Beach Arena.   It was not a Bill Graham show&#8230;. maybe Avalon?  I think the recording was purchased somehow many years later and ended up at WolfgangsVault.  It was recorded for the King Biscuit Flower Hour so that must be how it got out of Tom&#8217;s control.  He was completely into the technical side way beyond the normal artist.  I imagine you have seen a few like that too from what I saw regarding your credits.<span> </span>We would never allow feeds from the FOH console for in-house video.  I’m sure you remember there were very few venues with video at that time, maybe the Capital Center in Largo MD. and Bill Graham&#8217;s venues.</p>
<p><span>My official title was Sound Technician with C.V. Lloyde/Next City Sound.  We were based in NYC and provided the house sound system for the Beacon Theater around 75-76&#8242;.  We had a FOH engineer, system tech. and I would often mix monitors for opening acts (any act without their own monitor engineer).  So I was still the rookie in those days.<span> </span>Despite the larger companies like Showco and Clair Bros. we managed to hold the Boston account from 76-79.  Boston had their own FOH and Monitor engineers of course. <span> </span>I hope this helps to date the photo.<span> </span>Now you know more than you probably wanted to hear!<span> </span>I think it is great that you dedicate your time to the site so people will know the significance of Wally <span class="il">Heider</span> and his team.<span> </span>I’ll have to check out more as you carry on.</span></p>
<p><span>Sincerely</span></p>
<p><span>Dana Roun</span></p>
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		<title>Wally Explains Horn Player Miking</title>
		<link>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2009/03/wally-explains-horn-player-miking/</link>
		<comments>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2009/03/wally-explains-horn-player-miking/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2009 03:04:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ShermanKeene</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Firsthand Stories]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/?p=173</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One time I was examining a horn miking setup in Studio B (at Ivar) with Wally. He told me the coolest, simplest horn miking technique I have ever heard of. &#8220;Sherman,&#8221; he said, &#8220;we always used to put the horn mike slightly above where the player&#8217;s horns were when they were seated. Especially for a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>One time I was examining a horn miking setup in Studio B (at Ivar) with Wally. He told me the coolest, simplest horn miking technique I have ever heard of. &#8220;Sherman,&#8221; he said, &#8220;we always used to put the horn mike slightly above where the player&#8217;s horns were when they were seated. Especially for a live gig.&#8221; Why did you put the mikes off-axis? &#8220;The horn arrangements were/are very complex. You never knew which horn player was going to play a solo. So we mike them from slightly above so that when they stood to take their solo the would be exactly on-mike and would automatically be raised in the mix for their solo. If you got the mike position just right, you didn&#8217;t even have to touch a fader.&#8221;</p>
<p>Wally was always sharing secrets like these. He knew SO much! He is the one that should have written a book on how to do sound engineering!</p>
<p>Respectfully,<br />
Sherman Barrymore Keene</p>
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		<title>Wally&#8217;s Tale of &#8220;The Beginnings&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2009/03/wallys-tale-of-the-beginnings/</link>
		<comments>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2009/03/wallys-tale-of-the-beginnings/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2009 02:49:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ShermanKeene</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Firsthand Stories]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/?p=170</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A long long time ago I was speaking to Wally who was visiting me in the original Studio 3 off Selma. One thing I remember that Wally told me was that, when the studio was first built and wired, that there was a terrible hum in the (ancient) recording console. No matter how well they [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A long long time ago I was speaking to Wally who was visiting me in the original Studio 3 off Selma. One thing I remember that Wally told me was that, when the studio was first built and wired, that there was a terrible hum in the (ancient) recording console. No matter how well they grounded everything, there was still a terrible hum. So Wally knew that old RCA 77s (ribbon mikes) were good as hum finders, so he hooked one up, put on a pair of headphones to monitor the mike&#8217;s signal and went hum fishing. He walked all over the control room and studio and finally concluded that the hum came from directly below the console!</p>
<p>So they started digging. The dug down (I forget how many feet) and discovered a huge power line and, even worse, a huge power transformer. Wally &#8220;persuaded&#8221; the power company to move the transformer somewhere other than under a recording console in his recording studio. Once they did that, the studio was perfectly quiet.</p>
<p>This is the studio where Ampex (with Wally&#8217;s coaching and encouragement) delivered the world&#8217;s first eight track! Can you imagine? Eight separate tracks! Musicians went crazy. Up to then, there was live to mono, live to stereo 2-track and live to disc. Dave Grusin&#8217;s first (at least I think it was his first) album was recorded live direct-to-disc at The Mastering Lab starring Dave and Doug Sax. Dave was the master of passive electronics and Doug was an extraordinary disc mastering engineer. So one night, long ago, Wally Heider&#8217;s got an eight track and the world hasn&#8217;t been the same since.</p>
<p><span id="more-170"></span></p>
<p>The employees were allowed to do &#8220;personal sessions&#8221; as traffic (bookings) permitted. My first personal session was in Studio 3. There was a hell-raiser producer working in there. My information was that he was through with his sessions. When I came in for my personal session, I discovered that the console had not been &#8220;zeroed out.&#8221; So I gladly pulled all the patch cords and zeroed out the console in preparation for my session. My session was wonderful and everything was fine until the hell-raiser came back after the weekend and found out that his control room setup had been wiped out. Wally stood by me and it was only for that reason that I was not hired and immediately fired. Lucky me!</p>
<p>Respectfully,<br />
Sherman Barrymore Keene</p>
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		<title>Reminder to authors</title>
		<link>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2009/03/reminder-to-posters/</link>
		<comments>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2009/03/reminder-to-posters/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:46:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Firsthand Stories]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/?p=148</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Please only use returns for separating paragraphs, the software here will display word wrap properly on display; if one puts extra returns at the end-of-lines, the text will look bad and hard to read on the page and I&#8217;ll have to go in an fix it. This happens because the fields one enters text into [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Please only use returns for separating paragraphs, the software here will display word wrap properly on display; if one puts extra returns at the end-of-lines, the text will look bad and hard to read on the page and I&#8217;ll have to go in an fix it.  This happens because the fields one enters text into when editing is a different size than displayed.</p>
<p><strong><br />
EXAMPLE:</strong><br />
1 This is an extra long line that goes to the end of the paragraph without extra line breaks.</p>
<p>2 This is an extra long line that has an extra line break entered in the line and I&#8217;m sure that<br />
it will look bad when it is published.</p>
<p>Also please note that using returns after a paragraph will improve readability on the page as opposed to a solid long block of text.</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>stephen barncard</p>
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		<title>Truth?</title>
		<link>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2009/02/truth/</link>
		<comments>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2009/02/truth/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:19:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Leary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Firsthand Stories]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/?p=145</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I seem to remember Wally not around for a week, which was odd for &#8220;Mr. Hands On&#8221;. This was in &#8217;69 or so. Turned out he heard about some tube mics for sale, in France! I think they were U-67s or 47s.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I seem to remember Wally not around for a week, which was odd for &#8220;Mr. Hands On&#8221;. This was in &#8217;69<br />
or so. Turned out he heard about some tube mics for sale, in France! I think they were U-67s or 47s.</p>
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		<title>Life at W.H.R. Hollywood</title>
		<link>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2009/02/life-at-whr-hollywood/</link>
		<comments>http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/2009/02/life-at-whr-hollywood/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:32:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>ratso</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Firsthand Stories]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/?p=141</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I started working at the L.A. studios when the takeover by Filmways was in swing. Having Wally take a back seat was not a good move. There was enough work running the studios, remote recording, Jimmy Hite’s empire in the smaller studios and the now added RCA studios with Grover Helsley scoring in studio A. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>  I started working at the L.A. studios when the takeover by Filmways was in swing. Having Wally take a back seat was not a good move. There was enough work running the studios, remote recording, Jimmy Hite’s empire in the smaller studios and the now added RCA studios with Grover Helsley scoring in studio A. </p>
<p>As a young lad I started from the bottom as a runner.  Tape machines were adrift 24/7 in a sea of studios. Thanks to the great dedicated people I worked with it all worked. The learning environment was incredible, there you had the best remote crew, Biff, Mike and Charles Carver, Ray Thompson, Billy Mays &amp; Billy Youdelman, Paul Sandweiss and all the rest .</p>
<p>Sherman Keene made sure we blossomed into fine studio employees. If you wanted to work yourself up to an engineer “ohm lad&#8221; was there. </p>
<p>We had an extensive collection of mics, Mark Bergallia &amp; Phil O ‘Conner ran the inventory.  I worked with a lot of very talented people. Tchad Blake, Sean Fullan, Stacy Nakisone helped to swap the  440’s, MM1200’s, outboard gear of all makes, whatever the session needed we got it done. </p>
<p> In 1979 we took delivery of the 1st. Ampex ATR 124, the machine was well received, we had a remote booked and they wanted to use it, so we had to transport it to the remote truck, we put it on the lift gate and while it was going up the gate flexed due to the weight of the machine and it went down on my right foot. Well we took the machine to the shop and checked it out. It was fine, solid. So I started to limp around the next day and Michael Carnavalle a 2nd engineer saw me and coined the name “Ratso Rizzo” since I’m short also.</p>
<p>  Soon I moved up to the maintenance dept. and was working with Harold Hill, Tim Boyle, Greg Stephens, Peter Butt, who was also taking out all the capacitors in the signal path on M24 Dolby –A’s to improve its performance. I learned from the best to align and keep the tape machines on line. It was great to work on API’s and discreet Neve consoles. </p>
<p>I remember David Holman using up to 4 &#8211; 440 two tracks with VSO’s for slap, on top of the EMT plates and echo chambers under Ivar Street for the ‘Grease’ sessions. Our St.4 was very popular and it was separate from the rest of the studios. We made it a ‘’LEDE’’ room which at the time, was not well received by all.  At the time Jim Sieder was involved with it and he did a great job. The room after we finished was handsome and the bottom end was so tight it hit you in the gut and you felt it.</p>
<p> Incidentally , when Tom Dowd  booked the room for Kenny Loggins( Keep the Fire) sessions ,he had problems and we moved him to St. C  and found that Martoni’s restaurant next store, had been using our power in their kitchen causing spikes &amp; noise problems……..</p>
<p>I must say I gained a lot of  experience &amp; knowledge in a short time.  It would be normal to work till the wee hours of the morning, then drive to the Santa Monica pier for sunrise.<br />
There’s so many people and stories we haven’t heard from. </p>
<p>Thanks for the memories and it’s great to have a place to revive them.<div id="attachment_142" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/heiderst4re.jpg"><img src="http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/heiderst4re-300x221.jpg" alt="ratso in studio 4" width="300" height="221" class="size-medium wp-image-142" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">ratso in studio 4</p></div></p>
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