Larry Levine

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Larry Levine (born May 8, 1928 in New York - † May 8, 2008 in Los Angeles ) was an American sound engineer and Grammy award winner, co-responsible for the Wall of Sound sound of the recordings of the music producer Phil Spector .

Career

Levine, who grew up in Los Angeles, did his military service in the Korean War. Back in the USA he learned the profession of sound engineer from his cousin Stan Ross, co-owner of the Gold Star Studios in Hollywood . In the early 1960s, Levine met Phil Spector. He described his ideas regarding music production to him and left it to Levine to implement them. The difficulty in recording and mixing Spector's productions was the large number of session musicians , mostly from The Wrecking Crew , in too small rooms. He solved this problem through extensive use of reverb effects in a concrete echo chamber.

Their first joint production was He's a Rebel by The Crystals , followed by Da Doo Ron Ron . This was followed, among others, by River Deep, Mountain High by Ike and Tina Turner , and for You've Lost That Lovin 'Feelin' by the Righteous Brothers , the most broadcast piece of the twentieth century on US radio according to BMI surveys 34 of Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time . The collaboration with Spector only ended when he withdrew from the music business after the last production, End of the Century by the Ramones (1979).

In addition to Spector, Levine has also worked for other artists such as The Beach Boys , Sonny and Cher , The Wings and The Carpenters . He received a Grammy Award in 1966 for his work on Herb Alpert's A Taste of Honey .

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personal data
SURNAME Levine, Larry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American sound engineer
DATE OF BIRTH May 8, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH New York , USA
DATE OF DEATH May 8, 2008
Place of death Los Angeles , California , USA