I am not an electronics technician.
I began buying and selling used selling guitars in 1967 at the age of 17.
I worked for Leo and John Mallieris at the original Leo’s music in Oakland, for a wage of $10 per day and $10 per day credit towards the purchase of a Fender Twin Reverb.
Played guitar with John Lee Hooker, Greg Kihn, and the Rockets, which included a lead singer later known as Eddie Money.
Wrote tunes on Eddie’s first two albums (“Can’t Keep A Good Man Down”) and one for Greg.
Owned two vintage guitar stores during the period of 1971-1976 in Berkeley, California. Traveled extensively and bought guitars nationally.
I built my first recording studio, Tewksbury Sound, in Richmond, California in 1976.
We moved into the Hyde Street Studios (former Heider’s, San Francisco) in 1980.
I bought Coast Recorders ( Mission Street) from Bill Putnam in 1988. Installed my first Neve, a modified 8026, in 1990.
Moved the studio into the Golden State building on Harrison street in 1995. It was a very well equipped studio and a great sounding facility.
Coast Recorders closed in October of 2000. R.I.P.
Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of working in the studio with the Rubinoos, Psycotic Pineapple, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Vox Pop and Omar Sosa, among others.
I began collecting, buying and selling recording equipment in 1972 after being exposed to the studio, thanks to Tom Lubin, then a CBS engineer, and now a well-known educator .
In August, 1976, I met Allen Sides and was made aware of tube microphones. The light went on…as a “vintage guitar” dealer, in 1977, it was easy to embrace the idea that an old microphone could be superior to a new one.
I believe I coined the phrase “vintage recording equipment”, an extension of my activities as a “vintage” guitar dealer.
I began importing large quantities of Neumann, AKG, and Telefunken tube mics in 1978.
Typically, from 1978-1990, we would buy 20-30 tube mics per month.
As a result of intensive research and extensive travels, I have imported thousands of tube mics, dozens of Neve consoles, as well as innumerable pieces of classic outboard equipment.
I owned a store in Hollywood from 1985-1992, managed by my lifelong friend Mr. Jon Rubin.
Arguably the rarest tube mic in the world, the Telefunken Ela M270 stereo microphone (serial number 101) now in the collection of Blackbird Studios was purchased by me in Vienna, from one of the”Austrian Sound Hunters”, an amateur recording club, for the princely sum of $1100.in 1983.
In 1988, I began selling large quantities of gear to Shelley Yakus and A&M (now Hensen) studios, including at least 80 Pultecs and 100-200 classic tube mics, as well as hundreds of other pieces of classic equipment. Needless to say, Shelley has great taste in gear and indeed is one of the great engineers.
I sold my first Neve console to Al Firestein of Acoustilog in NYC in 1979, where it functioned happily for many years.
Since then we’ve sold 75-100 Neves and probably stripped another 100 or so for parts. We have never sold a single SSL console.
We began selling Neve modules to the industry in 1985. The first pair we sold were 1064’s to Mr. John Cuniberti, who used them extensively in the recording of “Surfing With The Alien” by Joe Satriani.
We’ve sold hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of packaged and raw Neve modules. We began modifying and selling Telefunken V72’s in 1992.
I bought the E.M.I. Redd 37 console in Germany in 1981 with Mr. Chris Solberg, a lifelong friend and musical cohort. We had it for 10 years and then Jon Rubin sold it to Lenny Kravitz. That was a very good thing, because 6 months later the house it was in burned down to the ground in the Oakland fire!
We began manufacturing a Class A vintage reissue preamp package in 1994, and sold 400-500 units before 2000.
I still collect and play old guitars and write songs. My last royalty check was for $71……….
Partial List of Clients
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A&M STUDIOS (Now Hensen Productions) OCEAN WAY OCEAN WAY NASHVILLE SUNSET SOUND PAUL MCCARTNEY BRYAN ADAMS SHELLEY YAKUS ARMIN STEINER RECORD ONE LUCASFILM SHAWN MURPHY BRENT AVERILL THE ENTERPRISE MARTINSOUND DR. FRED BASHOUR BILL BRADLEY THE ENTERPRISE/AUDIO AFFECTS BEARSVILLE STUDIOS NRG STUDIOS ROYALTONE STUDIOS ONE ON ONE RECORDING TBONE BURNETT BYRON GALLIMORE THE CASTLE RECORDERS EMERALD SOUND DREAMHIRE NY/LONDON/NASHVILLE AUDIO RENTS FANTASY STUDIOS BATTERYSTUDIOS NASHVILLE/LONDON THE PLANT RECORDING FLETCHER / MIKE NEHRA / PRO AUDIO DESIGN DONN LANDEE JASON SLATER THE SITE O ‘HENRY STUDIOS STUDIO D BIG HOUSE STUDIOS POWER STATION MARK NEEDHAM SEAR SOUND QUAD RECORDING RIGHT TRACK RECORDING UNIQUE RECORDING SKIPPER WISE SOUNDS OF HAWAII GEORGE BENSON DON SMITH AXIS STUDIOS CHUCK PLOTKIN NEIL YOUNG CAESAR ROSAS RICKY SCAGGS JOSH LEO BOZ SCAGGS EDDIE MONEY NEIL SCHON SOUNDDESIGN STUDIOS TOKYO TOM PETTY WARNER BROTHERS STUDIOS PAISLEY PARK STUDIOS PARAMOUNT RECORDING STUDIO 55 POWER PLAY STUDIOS DAVID KERSHENBAUM RIGHT TRACK RECORDING BILL SCHNEE STUDIO BIRDMAN STUDIO ULTIMA TARPON STUDIOS TRAX RECORDING STUDIO IN THE COUNTRY JIM BRADY RECORDING THE CASTLE RECORDING GARY CHANG CHEROKEE RECORDING CONWAY RECORDING GRANNY’S HOUSE HEAVY MOON HILTON SOUND MICHAEL J.JACKSON(PRODUCER) DAVLEN RECORDING JOHN COUGAR MELLANCAMP DON GEHMAN PAT LEONARD GARY LADINSKY STUDIO D ZOMBA RECORDING ALPHA AND OMEGA PHILLIP GLASS THE MANHATTEN CENTER NORMANDY SOUND RUSTED ROOT SEAR SOUND SOUNDS OF HAWAII BOB CLEARMOUNTAIN BRUCE HORNSBY MILAN BOGDEN STEPBRIDGE STUDIOS MATT WALLACE MARK MCKENNA BEARSVILLE STUDIOS TOM FLYE TONI FISHMAN VINTAGE TONES TALCOTT MOUNTAIN STUDIOS JACK ROCK JOHN MCBRIDE |
TELEFUNKEN NORTH AMERICA MICKEY HART DANIEL LANOIR CRITERIA RECORDING MARK HOWARD FANTASY RECORDING JACK CASSIDY KIVA RECORDING HOUSE OF BLUES STUDIOS DESIGN FX METROPOLIS RECORDING NEW WORLD STUDIOS FRANK ZAPPA BOB HODAS PARAMOUNT RECORDERS SOUND CITY SILVIA MASSEY ACOUSTILOG RIGHT TRACK OBIE O’ BRIEN BRUCE SPINGSTEEN STEVE ALBINI CHAS SANFORD RAY KENNEDY GREENSTREET RECORDING SUSAN ROGERS THE ARTIST DAVE BAERWALD DALLAS SOUND LAB STUDIO 54 DAVID HOLMAN JACK JOSEPH PUIG JOE CHICARELLI BILL SCHNEE TCHAD BLAKE THE MANHATTEN CENTER EXTASY STUDIOS LE MOBILE BRUCE FAIRBAIRN/ ARMOURY STUDIOS VILLAGE RECORDERS CHEROKEE STUDIOS DAVID PAICH WALTER BECKER VAN HALEN SOUNDCASTLE GEORGE MASSENBURG WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS GRATEFUL DEAD PRARIE SUN RECORDING PRODUCERS WORKSHOP ARDENT RECORDING WOODLAND SOUND STUDIOS JACK VAAD/DAVIES HALL BEE GEES WOOL HALL STUDIOS POWER PLANT LONDON MAD HATTER MILAGRO SOUND MARSHALL MORGAN JEFF NARELL KLAUS HEINE ERIC PRESTIGE DENNY PURCELL BERNIE GRUNDMAN BOB LUDWIG RECORD PLANT LA WATERFRONT STUDIOS PAUL WHITEHEAD ROY YOKELSON ALLEN WILLIS RAMSEY GERARD SMEREK TODD RUNDGREN AMBIENCE RECORDING TIM BOMBA LAMONT DOZIER STEVEN JARVIS RICHARD LANDIS LARRABEE RECORDING MARK LINDSEY MARK LINETT ALLAIRE STUDIOS KEVIN GILBERT BILL BOTRELL THE POWER STATION HYDE STREET STUDIOS STUDIO 880 TINY TELEPHONE MR.TOADS STREETERVILLE STUDIOS GREENE ST.STUDIOS RPM RECORDING GEORGE BENSON WALTER BECKER SUSAN ROGERS O’HENRY STUDIOS BOB BILES DAN SCHWARTZ THE MINT STUDIOS POWER PLAY OCEAN ENTERTAINMENT MAMA JO’S BOB COUVER ELLIOT MAZER JAMES STROUD SKIP SAYLOR RECORDING RICK NOWELS BRUCE MONICLEAND MANY MORE………………… |