Tom Dowd and the Language of Music

[Jim Alfredson]

Y'all hip to this? I just ordered the DVD.

http://www.thelanguageofmusic.com/

A man who seemingly fit many lives into one lifetime, Tom Dowd was born on October 20, 1925 in New York City. At a young age he excelled in mathematics and physics, leading to his work from the ages of 16 to 20 on the Manhattan Project at Columbia University. In 1946, as a sergeant in the Army Corps of Engineers, he oversaw a team of radiation detection specialists at the atomic bomb tests in Bikini Atoll. After his discharge from Army, he soon began applying his science background to help revolutionize the process of recording music. While working for Atlantic Records, his pioneering work in binaural stereo recording, and later his design of the eight-track console, modernized the recording industry. 

Tom Dowd produced and engineered timeless records for artists including Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk, Cream, Rod Stewart, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers Band, Dusty Springfield and countless other celebrated musicians. Dowd also formed both strong professional and personal relationships with many of these artists, including Eric Clapton, starting with Cream and leading to their working partnership on Layla and Other Assorted Loves Songs and collaborations on several of Clapton's finest solo albums.

Tom Dowd passed away on October 27, 2002, one week after his 77th birthday. He will never be forgotten

[Jim Dye]

I really want to see this. There is a trailer here...

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/tom_dowd.html

Looks just GREAT. Give us a report!

[Jim Alfredson]

Will do. As many of you know, I'm as involved in the recording aspect of music as I am in the playing of it. I love this stuff!

[bluesForBartok]

I have this and it's really great. Dowd resume is just incredible as most of us know. He comes across as a very cool, down to earth guy. He does make one blunder though when he talks about Coltrane off in the corner warming up on his "alto" before a session. An honest mistake I guess considering the amount of hours he's logged in.

It's definitely cool to hear him talk about the Ornette stuff.

Definitely worth picking up!

[wolff]

Will do.  As many of you know, I'm as involved in the recording aspect of music as I am in the playing of it.  I love this stuff!

I have mixed feelings about the recording part. As a producer he's at the top. As a recording engineer, well......

Seeing all the fancy, lastest and greatest solid state gear that hit the studios at this time does nothing for me. Hearing what it produced, does even less.

Don't get me wrong, I do repect and admire him. Thing is, when I hear Coltrane's tenor or Aretha's voice on one of those Atlantic's I'm not impressed and yearn for better.

Edited September 30, 2004 by wolff

[Jim Alfredson]

Don't get me wrong, I do repect and admire him. Thing is, when I hear Coltrane's tenor or Aretha's voice on one of those Atlantic's I'm not impressed and yearn for better.

Well, I guess that's just the equipment he had available at the time. Back in those days there wasn't much available in the way of audio recording equipment. Nobody made mixing consoles and such. You had to make stuff yourself. I agree with you, but if you listen to the records from that era on Atlantic, that's just how they sounded. Kind of like how those old Motown records are sonically not that great, but later on, when they sold records, they made money and updated their gear.

[7/4]

I bought this a few weeks ago, but only saw it this afternoon. Cool walk through history!

[Leeway]

Don't get me wrong, I do repect and admire him.  Thing is,  when I hear Coltrane's tenor or Aretha's voice on one of those Atlantic's I'm not impressed and yearn for better.

Well, I guess that's just the equipment he had available at the time. Back in those days there wasn't much available in the way of audio recording equipment. Nobody made mixing consoles and such. You had to make stuff yourself. I agree with you, but if you listen to the records from that era on Atlantic, that's just how they sounded. Kind of like how those old Motown records are sonically not that great, but later on, when they sold records, they made money and updated their gear.

I've read that Rudy Van Gelder modified or built much of his recording equipment, and treated the equipment and his methods with more secrecy than nuclear missile plans. I suppose that's what separated him from the rest.

[Jim Alfredson]

Don't get me wrong, I do repect and admire him.  Thing is,  when I hear Coltrane's tenor or Aretha's voice on one of those Atlantic's I'm not impressed and yearn for better.

Well, I guess that's just the equipment he had available at the time. Back in those days there wasn't much available in the way of audio recording equipment. Nobody made mixing consoles and such. You had to make stuff yourself. I agree with you, but if you listen to the records from that era on Atlantic, that's just how they sounded. Kind of like how those old Motown records are sonically not that great, but later on, when they sold records, they made money and updated their gear.

I've read that Rudy Van Gelder modified or built much of his recording equipment, and treated the equipment and his methods with more secrecy than nuclear missile plans. I suppose that's what separated him from the rest.

Yes, and that's why everyone in the jazz community wanted to use him. Atlantic, back in the late 50s and early 60s, was just a startup label, not the behemoth it later became. I probably have better recording technology in my cell phone than Tom Dowd had at his disposal back then.

Also, RVG only had to record jazz. Atlantic recorded all kinds of music. The techniques for recording different types of music are different.