| I left Motown because of the lack
of challenges, but I had no idea that my new challenges would be so exhausting. |
| The first 6 weeks with
Holland-Dozier-Holland were like a vacation. I stayed in an mid-class hotel in the
center of Manhattan. During the day we visited equipment manufacturers, at night we
played. We ate gourmet meals and saw Broadway shows at night. Although we were
working, it was at a leisurely pace. |
| Chief engineer Lawrence Horn and
design engineer Dave Clark worked with the company that was making the studio console.
Later I was to go back to Detroit and "ready" the building that had been
purchased. Later I would have to set-up a shop area so equipment could be built, and
installed. Later I was to take bids and oversee the construction of a
"temporary" control room and studio. For the first 6 weeks, I had to spend
time in New York to find the equipment we could purchase that was needed in addition to
the console. |
| HDH had purchased an old
theatre building on Grand River in Detroit. The principals wanted to stay within the
confines of the city, and the old theatre building was big enough to put in a
substantial studio and office space. In order to reduce recording costs, we needed
to get this "temporary" studio running as soon as possible. |
| The building was cold in January.
I began installing the shop in the projection booth area. I used
electric heaters for the first couple of days but it seemed as though they weren't even
there. In the basement there was a boiler that used coal. After the first day,
I decided that I was going to have to get that monster boiler running so I could work in a
heated building, and I ordered a load of coal. |
| The coal arrived
the third day and I purchased a shovel. The coal delivery guy showed me how the
system was designed to work. I filled the coal hopper with coal and then wondered
how to start the fire. I got a bunch of paper and scrap wood and started the fire.
I turned on the coal feed and it actually worked! After about 4 1/2 hours I
had a raging fire and steam flowing to the leaky radiators. I turned off a couple of
radiators that were in bad shape in the auditorium area. After a full day's work I
had heat to work in. It took me an entire day to get it, but I would be warm!
Before I left for the day, I filled up the coal hopper and turned the feed down to
slow. I was happy. |
| The next morning I was in a good
mood on the way to work. I would have to shovel more coal but I could work in
comfort. I wasn't quite prepared for what met me at the door that morning. The
building was not only cold, but it was filled with smoke! I found out the hard way
that when the coal runs out, the smoke will back up though the coal feeder. |
| That day I went to the lumber
yard and bought some plywood. I put a plywood extenuation on the coal bin so it
wouldn't run out of coal during the night. I would shovel coal throughout the first
winter. By the next winter the studio was operational and we had a "building
maintenance person" that took care of the coal. Often, while I was shoveling
coal during that first year, I reflected on how my schooling in electronics and experience
in mixing and mastering didn't fully prepared me for running a sound studio - I never took
"Coal Shoveling 101." |
