Bill Putnam

Milton Tasker "Bill" Putnam (born 1920 in Danville ( Illinois ), † April 13, 1989 ) was an American music producer. He was considered one of the most important independent recording studio owners in the United States and a universal inventor, constructor and designer in the audio sector.

Career

Putnam studied at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and worked from 1939 on the radio station WDAN in his native Danville as a broadcast engineer. He later went to the radio station WDWS in Champaign (Illinois) as chief technician , after the war his parents gave him $ 20,000 as start-up capital. In 1941 he wrote his first article on hi-fi . He was a member of the Audio Engineering Society . Between 1941 and 1945 he was a member of the Army Radio Corps . Here Putnam met his future partner, Bernie Clapper. Both were stationed as sergeants in communications at the Civic Opera during the Second World War, so they knew all the cables there. In 1947 Putnam developed the basis of voice overdubbing in studio recordings with Patti Page .

Universal Recording Corporation

Main article: Universal Recording Corporation

Putnam's main occupation, through which he also became famous outside the professional world, was the operation of recording studios. The Universal Recording Corporation was one of the most famous independent recording studios, founded in 1946 in Evanston (near Chicago). Bruce Swedien joined Universal in 1959 as a sound engineer and worked with Stan Kenton , among others .

Foundation phase

The founders were Putnam and the sound engineer AB "Bernie" Clapper. Both started north of Chicago in Evanston and then set up a small recording studio at 46 East Walton Street in Chicago that specialized in radio broadcasts. In August 1946, they moved to 20 Wacker Drive above the Opera, where they focused on commercial studio recordings. The Universal Recording Corporation soon rose to become the leading recording studio in Chicago, accepting commissioned productions from the independent labels founded and based here after the war . These included in particular Mercury Records , Chess / Checker Records and Vee-Jay Records . All three independent labels developed into well-known record companies that had a large part of their extensive catalogs recorded by Universal.

Recordings for Mercury Records

The first major Universal Recordings customer was Mercury Records, which had its headquarters in Chicago for a long time. One of the first Mercury performers was country singer Art Gibson, who began his career in the studios from February 1946. From August 1949 onwards, the permanent customer in the studio was the Ralph Marterie Orchestra , which was under contract with Mercury Records and mostly came for LP recordings. Among the many recordings were the million seller Pretend (recorded on January 4, 1953; ranked 6th in October 1953) and Caravan (March 5th, 1953; ranked 6th in March 1953).

The Crew Cuts showed up at the studios in May 1954 to record their successful cover version of Sh-Boom , which sold 1.5 million copies. Rusty Draper first appeared in the studios in January 1953 and recorded the song No Help Wanted , which meant his first hit parade entry with a 10th place in March 1953. The original Gambler's Guitar came from Jim Lowe from a session in May 1953 at Universal Recording Studios, and the first cover version of Rusty Draper was recorded here in May 1953, sold more than 1 million times (July 1953, rank 6) and brought out it in the German version as Der lachende Vagabund on record sales of 3.5 million copies.

Leroy van Dyke recorded the title Auctioneer in September 1956 , which was the most successful single for the recording studio with almost 3 million copies. The Diamonds ' biggest hit, the million seller Little Darlin' , was created in January 1957 with castanets and cowbell noises (second place). Dinah Washington was released on January 7, 1958 for her LP Dinah Sings Bessie Smith , the Max Roach Quintet on June 3, 1958 for the Max Roach +4 On the Chicago Scene LP , Cannonball Adderley on February 3, 1959 for the Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago . The Max Roach Sextet booked for the 9th / 10th. October 1959, in order to have the LP Max Roach - Moon Faced and Starry Eyed leveled, Buddy DeFranco chose the 17th / 18th. October 1961 for his LP Presenting the Buddy DeFranco- Tommy Gumina Quartet , from September 11, 1963 Dizzy Gillespie visited the studios several times, the Oscar Peterson Sextet was released between September 12 and 14, 1966 for the LP Soul Espanol .

Recordings for Chess / Checker Records

The Universal Recording Corp. recording catalog. for the local Chess label reads like the story of the blues . Putnam was by no means a blues lover, but he was instrumental in the development of the Chicago blues. The independent label Chess Records , founded in Chicago in August 1947 as Aristocrat Records , did not initially have its own recording studios and mainly used the services of Universal Recording Studios. For Aristocrat Records, Universal had created a total of 31 titles by June 1950; after the name change to Chess Records, a total of 89 titles were created for the Chess catalog in 1951, almost all of which were leveled at United. John Lee Hooker (as John Lee Booker), who recorded a total of 9 tracks on April 26, 1951 ( Louise / Ramblin 'By Myself ), only appeared in exceptional cases at Universal, otherwise he stood in front of the microphone in the United Sound Studio in Detroit. In 1952, most of the 106 Chess titles came from Universal Studios. Little Walter took among others Juke (May 12, 1952, No. 1 of the Rhythm & Blues - charts ) on. Here Putnam obviously used the slapback echo for the first time . Elmore James sang Country Boogie / She Just Won't Do Right (January 17, 1953), Willie Mabon I'm Mad (February 5, 1953; 1st place), Little Walter Don't Want to Hurt No More (March 1953) or Willie Mabon I Got to Go (November 1953).

In 1954 almost all of the 146 known Chess titles were written by Universal, including the biggest hit by Muddy Waters (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man on January 7, 1954 (3rd place). Jimmy Witherspoon had a total of 6 titles leveled on June 10, 1954 (including I Can Make Love to You ), the Moonglows immortalized their million-seller Sincerely (1st place) in October 1954 . Most of Chess' 202 tracks from 1955 were produced at Universal. The Moonglows came in January 1955 for Most of All (rank 5), Bo Diddley's classic Bo Diddley / I'm A Man was written here on March 2, 1955 (rank 1). Chuck Berry entered the studios for the first time on May 21, 1955 . He needed 36 takes for Maybelline (rank 1 R&B, rank 5 pop).

July 14, 1955 was a productive day at Universal as Little Walter and Bo Diddley had booked the studios for a total of 10 titles. Jimmy Witherspoon came out for 4 tracks in November 1955 ( The Things I Used to Do ). Chuck Berry returned on December 20, 1955 for 6 titles including No Money Down (Rank 8) and You Can't Catch Me . Howlin 'Wolf was in the studio for Smokestack Lightnin' on January 25, 1956 (Rank 8), Chuck Berry took the titles Brown Eyed Handsome Man (Rank 5) / Roll Over Beethoven (Rank 2) / Too Much Monkey Business (Rank 4) on April 16, 1956, Rock & Roll Music on December 15, 1956 (rank 6). Commissioned production for Chess Records largely ended when the famous Chess Studios opened in May 1957 - built with Putnam's support.

Recordings for Vee-Jay Records

The first recording session in the Universal Recording Studios after the founding of the Vee Jay label took place for the spaniels on May 4, 1953 under the title Baby It's You . On June 6, 1953, blues performer Jimmy Reed entered Universal Recording Studios for the first time . The crystal clear sound without a bass guitar (only accompanied by Eddie Taylor / guitar and Morris Wilkerson / drums) is thanks to Bill Putnam. Reed's single High and Lonesome was the first single in the Vee-Jay catalog (# 100, released July 1953), although the spaniels were in the studio earlier. The El Dorados followed with At My Front Door on April 24, 1955, the Dells in September 1955 with Dreams of Contentment , Eddie Taylor recorded Bad Boy on January 18, 1955. On March 15, 1955, Big Jay McNeely first entered the studios for 4 tracks, including Big Jay's Hop . John Lee Hooker visited the studios on October 19, 1955 for 4 tracks, this time for Vee-Jay Records and returned on March 27, 1956 for 6 recordings. Billy Boy Arnold recorded his famous I Ain't Got You here in October 1955 (February 1956). The Dells appeared on May 21, 1956 for their classic Oh What a Nite (Rank 4 R&B). Jerry Butler & the Impressions recorded their intense For Your Precious Love in Studio A in April 1958 (3rd place R&B). Dee Clark's falsetto ballad Raindrops was enriched with rain and thunder noises by producer Calvin Carter (March 22, 1961, rank 2 Pop). Another Doo Wop classic was the million-seller Duke of Earl, produced in Studio A by Bill Sheppard for Gene Chandler (August 30, 1961, rank 1).

Universal Recording Studios edited the master tapes sent by EMI for the US LP Introducing the Beatles (released January 10, 1964) at the end of June 1963. For example, Paul McCartney's counting “one, two, three” was removed from the American version of I Saw Her Standing There because it was believed to have been mistakenly included. However, the Vee-Jay success was interrupted by legal disputes with Capitol Records , because from October 15, 1964 Capitol received all recording rights for the Beatles songs for the United States. By then, Vee-Jay had sold 1.3 million copies of the LP.

Other important recordings

Patti Page came on October 24, 1947 for initially 4 titles and recorded here sporadically until August 21, 1959. Among them was the song Confess , recorded on December 3, 1947. Here Putnam used an overdub of her voice as an audio effect for the first time; she answered herself by superimposing her voices; the planned background vocals were not available due to the strike. With a rank of 12, it was Patti Page's first hit.

Most of the 362 known titles in the Chance catalog were recorded by Universal between September 1950 and October 1954. In May 1955, Pat Boone made one of his first sound recordings for Universal with the cover of Ain't That A Shame and returned regularly until May 6, 1956. His cover version of the Fats Domino original Ain't That a Shame sold over 1 million copies. Sun Ra’s debut album was recorded on July 12, 1956 under the title Jazz by Sun Ra .

A frequent guest was Sam Cooke , who recorded his gospel-influenced songs for the first time on February 16, 1955 ( Nearer To Thee / Be With Me Jesus / One More Time / I'm So Glad ). He returned regularly until February 27, 1963. Duke Ellington was released on March 19, 1956 ( Way Back Blues / Where's The Music / Rubber Bottom / Play the Blues and Go ), Nat King Cole on June 7, 1955 ( You'll Never Know with Nelson Riddle ) was also a guest in the studio . Tyrone Davis recorded his greatest hits on November 11, 1968 ( Can I Change My Mind , Rank 1) and on January 23, 1970 ( Turn Back the Hands of Time , Rank 1) here.

Removals

While most of the recording studios stayed down to earth, Putnam often changed locations. His first recording studio did not stay in the opera's penthouse, but moved several times within the city. The moves and their order within Chicago are controversial in the professional world. It is unclear whether it was just a move or whether some studios were operated at several addresses in parallel. After Evanston, his first recording studio was in Chicago at 20 Northern Wacker, from 1954 it was located at 111 East Ontario Ave, from July 1955 the address with enlarged premises was 46 East Walton Street. This was his favorite studio, which was one of the most advanced and largest independent recording studios in the United States. The last known address is 32 West Randolph Street under the management of Murray Allen since 1989.

Studios in Hollywood

In 1957 Putnam sold Universal Recording Studios to Murray Allen and, with the support of Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, acquired the old United Studio complex in Los Angeles (with 3 recording studios A, B and C in Hollywood, 6050 Sunset Blvd, Sinatra was co-owner ), the renovation of which began in early 1958. The studios were built in 1919 as Horsley Studios. In 1961, Putnam also acquired the Western Recorders at 6000 Sunset Blvd (Studios 1, 2 and 3) from 6050 Sunset Blvd. only separated by a parking lot. He then integrated both studios into United Western Recorders (UWR for short). In the structurally separate studios, a certain division of labor happened by chance. Dayton Burr "Bones" Howe joined UWR in 1961 as an independent music producer and was responsible for West Coast groups such as The Fifth Dimension, Mamas & Papas and Association.

United Studios

The United Recording Corporation studios were mostly booked by the established stars. Frank Sinatra ( It Was a Very Good Year , April 22, 1965; That's Life , October 18, 1966, both United A), Dean Martin ( The Door is Still Open To My Heart , August 7, 1964) or the Rat Pack ( Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. ) recorded Mister Booze with Bing Crosby at United Recording on April 10, 1964 . But also Nancy Sinatra ( These Boots Are Made for Walkin ' , United B) or Ricky Nelson (from February 6, 1963), Noel Harrison (United C), Frank Sinatra ( September of my Years , United A, April 1965), die Righteous Brothers ( Ebb Tide , Studio A) and Johnny Mathis (United A) were customers of United Studios. The Everly Brothers recorded LP titles such as People Get Ready (June 7/8, 1965, B), When Snowflakes Fall in the Summer (September 6, 1963), See See Rider (December 6, 1965) and Sea of ​​Heartbreak (December 20, 1966). Dorsey Burnette started here in October 1960, brother Johnny came on September 19, 1960 to record his biggest hit You're Sixteen here (rank 8).

For Ray Charles Putnam acted under producer Sid Feller as a sound engineer on February 15, 1962 at United Studio B for I Can't Stop Loving You and another 5 tracks ( Born To Lose / Without Love (There Is Nothing) / That Lucky Old Sun / Baby Don't You Cry / Together Again / In the Heat of the Night ), created for the epoch-making Ray Charles LP Modern Sounds in Country And Western Music . Charles also had his next LP Ingredients in A Recipe for Soul (February 6, 1960 to April 28, 1963) leveled with the studio owner Putnam as a sound engineer.

Western recorders

With Western recorders , mostly pop and rock performers stood in front of the microphones. These included performers produced by Phil Spector ( Ronettes -LP Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes , May 1964; often in combination with Gold Star Studios), the Beach Boys or Mamas & Papas .

On April 19, 1961, the Beach Boys rented the studios ( Surfin 'Safari / 409 and 2 other titles), from which a demo tape was made. This was the basis for the group's first record deal with Capitol Records in July 1961, after the first single with both of these titles had been released on June 4, 1961. The Beach Boys' concept album Pet Sounds was created between November 1, 1965 and April 13, 1966 at Western (and 2 other recording studios in LA). Other Beach Boys hits like Help me Rhonda (March 22, 1965), Barbara Ann (between September 8 and 23, 1965), Sloop John B (December 29, 1965), Good Vibrations (February 17, 1966 ) Western started and recorded in 3 other studios, completed on September 21, 1966) were made here. Ricky Nelson first came on June 13, 1962, used Studio Western 2 for Fools Rush In (August 15, 1963, Rank 12) and remained loyal to both studios until February 5, 1965. Jan & Dean ( Surf City , March 20, 1963; Little Old Lady From Pasadena , March 21, 1964, in smallest studio Western 3) and the Righteous Brothers ( Soul And Inspiration , Western 2) were frequent guests. Sinatra's greatest reprise hit ( Strangers in the Night , April 11, 1966, Western 1) as well as his hits That's Life (October 18, 1966) and My Way (December 30, 1968) were also immortalized here. The Fifth Dimension (parts of the LP The Magic Garden , July 15 - November 1967, Studio 3) or Harper's Bizarre ( Feelin 'Groovy , November 25, 1966, March 8, 1967, March 13, 14 and 17, 1967) needed several recording sessions.

In October 1965, Mamas & Papas created California Dreamin ' in small Studio 3 ( John Phillips and PF Sloan played the distinctive acoustic guitar intro ), the million seller Monday, Monday (December 16, 1965) sold 3.5 million copies, for Scott McKenzie's hippie anthem San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) the soundtrack was created in May 1967.

The Monkees also rented the studios from July 7, 1966 for 12 insignificant titles, on 26/28. December 1967 the hit Valleri (rank 3 Pop) was born here . The line-up of this song shows the Monkees' low artistic contribution to their hits. Only Davy Jones of the Monkees sings, accompanied by Gerry McGee / Louie Shelton (guitar), Joe Osborn (bass), Roy Caton / Ollie Mitchell (trumpet), Lew McCreary (trombone), Jim Horn / Jay Migliori (saxophone) and Billy Lewis (drums). The Association recorded its LP Insight Out from March 27 to June 3, 1967, followed by the Birthday LP (September 12, 1967 to February 3, 1968). Elvis Presley first visited the studios on March 7, 1968 to record 4 tracks for the LP Live a Little, Love a Little . For his LP '68 Comeback Special a total of 14 tracks were created in Studio 1, including Guitar Man / Big Boss Man / Nothingville / Let Yourself Go from June 20, 1968. Frank & Nancy Sinatra's duet Something Stupid (February 1, 1967) was also created here like The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia by Vicky Lawrence (October 1972).

Many artists took up a group of excellent studio musicians back to The Wrecking Crew was called and often played in the United / Western studios. These included in particular Glen Campbell , Barney Kessel , Tommy Tedesco (guitar), Carol Kaye , Joe Osborn , Larry Knechtel (bass), Hal Blaine , Earl Palmer (drums). Their names rarely appeared on the liner notes of the records.

Putnam sells his studios

Putnam was certainly the most important studio operator in the USA, at the latest after he had also acquired Sound Recorders (960 Bush Street) in San Francisco in October 1963 , which he renamed Coast Recorders . He summoned Don Geis from Los Angeles as chief engineer. Putnam sold the studios in 1988 and reopened in March 2012. Putnam's design in the live room with his Steinway & Sons piano was retained under the current owner, Michael Romanowski.

In August 1966, Bill Porter acquired the small United Recording Studios of Nevada (Las Vegas) from Putnam, which Putnam had acquired in 1962. Putnam gradually began to slim down his recording studio empire. Because in 1977 he sold United Recorders to Allen Sides, then Western Recorders was also sold to Sides in 1989 , and both have been known as Ocean Way Recording since then . These two had since been improved to 5 studios with 24-track technology. In 1999 Rick Adams bought the studios and renamed them "Cello", at the end of 2003 they traded again as Western Recorders . In January 2006, Doug Rogers acquired the building and saved the studios from deterioration. The former Western Recorders were closed on January 28, 2005 due to bankruptcy. Putnam's first studios in Chicago closed in November 1992.

Putnam as an inventor and designer

Main article: Universal Audio

Putnam was one of the most important inventors, constructors and designers in the field of audio technology. He built his own radio in 1935, his son Bill Putnam Jr: "He was the type who developed studio technology to solve existing problems in the studio." Putnam aimed to develop new recording techniques and to construct new studio technology that was specific Covered the need for a recording studio. Putnam is considered to be one of the fathers of modern recording technology. At the beginning of 1950 he began to reduce the reverb effect by increasing the absorption for lower frequencies and introducing sound booths (first used on drums for Stan Kenton's LP Prologue , recorded on September 8, 1952). In 1954, Universal Recording Corporation, in cooperation with Pentron Corp. the 8 track method. Putnam is considered to be the inventor of the first mixing and control console used in commercial recording studios. He and his friend Les Paul participated in the development of stereophonic recording technology. He also designed or optimized numerous devices used in recording studios. In 1958 he founded Universal Audio to bundle his technical skills, which he converted into studio equipment . Putnam is considered to be the inventor of the multi-band audio equalizer, the first echo chamber (together with Jim Cunningham) and the vocal booth.

Putnam was the central figure in the Chicago studio scene. His Universal Recording Studios had stereo technology installed as early as 1951, making them the first in the USA. 3-track came in 1960, 4-track was installed in 1962, 16-track came in 1969, and in January 1981 the company switched to digital technology. In 2000 he was posthumously awarded the Technical Achievement Grammy for his diverse contributions to the music industry . He died in 1989, leaving behind two sons, James and Bill Putnam Jr.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bill Putnam ( Memento of the original from March 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Mixonline from October 1, 2003.  
2. ↑ Shelly Herman, Journal of the Audio Engineering Society , Vol. 37 No. 6, June 1989, p. 532 (PDF; 166 kB)
3. ^ Robert Puter, Doo-Wop: The Chicago Scene , 1996, p. 16
4. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 80
5. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 74
6. ↑ Sh-Boom Boys in Shampoo , The Ottawa Citizen, July 5, 1955.
7. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 78
8. ^ ^{A b} Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 87
9. ↑ Glen Jeanssonne / David Luhrssen, Elvis Presley: Reluctant Rebel , 2011, p. 69
10. ^ The invoice is dated June 28, 1963
11. ↑ Bruce Spizer, The Beatles Are Coming !, 2004, p. 98
12. ^ Robert Pruter, Doo-Wop: The Chicago Scene , 1996, p. 17
13. ↑ Wasn't the Gold Coast Once Home to a World-Famous Studio? , Chicago Tribune August 12, 2005.
14. ↑ Jim Cogan / William Clark, Temples of Sound , 2002, p. 36
15. ↑ Mark Wanamaker / Robert W. Nudelman, Early Hollywood , 2007, p. 34
16. ↑ Everybody Loves Somebody / Baby Will not You Please Come Home (Rank 1) was in the neighboring on March 13, 1964 Western Recorders added
17. ↑ Jim Cogan / William Clark, Temples of Sound , 2002, p. 38
18. ↑ the Western Recorders Studio 1 had later in the control room of the world's largest mixer with 80 channels that especially for Michael Jackson LP Thriller was built
19. ↑ 22 Years of Leadership , Billboard Magazine, June 30, 1979.
20. ^ Bill Putnam: Mixing Technology & Business , Soundonsound, October 2004.
21. ^ Albin Zak, I Don't Sound Like Nobody , 2010, p. 154