OUR MOTOWN RECORDING HERITAGE ARTICLES

OUR MOTOWN RECORDING HERITAGE ARTICLES INDEX

(By Bob Dennis)

In the mid 60's a neighborhood recording company came out of "nowhere" to become the largest independent record company in the world. Both technical and musical innovations were commonplace and helped shape the independent music industry into what it is today.
As a 17 year old high school graduate, I joined Motown staff and worked for them for my first 5 years in this industry. Little did I know at the time that we were actually making recording history.

THE MOTOWN HISTORICAL MUSEUM PHOTO TOUR
MOTOWN RECORDING TECHNIQUES ARTICLES

OUR MOTOWN RECORDING HERITAGE ARTICLES

PART 01 Stumbling "Little" (13 year-old) Stevie Wonder.
13 year-old Stevie Wonder's favorite trick was to give the slip to his assigned guide ("handler") and go off on his own to discover the changes. You would regularly see him walk into walls where doors had been a month ago.

PART 02 Building The Sound
Throughout my time at Motown, it always had more technical engineers than recording engineers. In many ways, this technical staff helped Motown establish a unique sound and saved them money to boot. But Technical Engineering wasn't always totally efficient.

PART 03 The Rush Release
Berry Gordy was PISSED! Immediately, all recording and production personnel were advised that everyone would be working on the next Tops release and it was to get out within 24 hours! Learn how and why Motown wrote, produced, recorded and released a Four Tops hit record within 24 hours!

PART 04 Recording Snowshoes & Shovels
By the end of 1966 Motown was being housed in 8 separate buildings down a quarter mile stretch of Detroit's West Grand Blvd. In the summer it was a pleasant walk down the street to go to another office. In winter it could mean trekking through hip-deep snow.

MORE ARTICLES AT THE MUSEUM PAGE