In 1970, Atlantic Records set up shop in Miami. Tom Dowd, Jerry Wexler, and Arif Mardin all found homes here and Criteria Recording Studios became 'base camp'. A studio rhythm section was hired, and many Atlantic and Atco recording artists came down to do their albums. It was a new experience for me musically. I'd never been exposed to soul music and rhythm & blues before. With nothing but a steady diet of Beach Boys, Beatles and harmony stuff, I had a lot to learn about being 'laid back', and 'in the pocket'. What you DIDN'T play became as important as what you did play. Leaving 'holes' and 'emptying out' were part of a whole new vocabulary.
With the onslaught of talent like Wilson Pickett, Brook Benton, Eddie Harris, Aretha Franklin, Esther Phillips, Taj Mahal, and Eric Clapton, I got some real 'hands-on' time behind the board. Criteria had been somewhat limited to booking mostly local talent with a big name now and then. The few engineers on staff had little to do most of the day except maintain gear, fix cables, and clean up the tape library. The arrival of Atlantic turned our lives around, and we all were working 12 hour days, going from one session right into the next with barely time to eat. I remember sleeping on Jerry Wexler's couch between sessions because I didn't have time to make the 40 mile round trip to my home.
The Aretha Franklin sessions were probably the most exciting of all. Aretha cut 'live' with full rhythm section, horns, and back-up singers. She sometimes would even play piano while she sang. Tommy Dowd would be in the control room with me keeping tabs on the mix, while Arif Mardin conducted the musicians in the studio and Jerry Wexler sat with Aretha. These were three of the most powerful men in the industry, and I learned so much from all of them. Tom was an electronic genius, having designed and built the first eight track tape machine back in the 50's. Arif was a brilliant arranger, and Jerry was like the father figure and confidant - always at the side of the singer, imparting his wisdom and inspiring a great perfomance. When tape was rolling and the whole studio was jamming, it was beyond discription. There is nothing quite like a live session with all the players grooving together, pushing eachother for that ultimate 'take'.
Delaney & Bonnie were alot of fun to work with. They were both very 'down-home' people with an interesting musical style that mixed rock, gospel, and Delta-blues. Their Southern California laid-back personna made the sessions very relaxed and we got along well. I will never , ever forget Bonnie and the band's performance on "Lay My Burden Down". Bonnie is probably the 'blackest' white woman singer on earth!
Frank Zappa did much of his "Uncle Meat" LP at Criteria, and I assisted the engineer that he brought with him. It was fascinating to watch Frank conduct his band through some incredibly complex music. The bandmembers were a very strange looking bunch of characters, but they were competent musicians. One evening, Frank asked to listen to a playback of a previously recorded tune. Nobody could find the tape! After an exhaustive search of the control room, it suddenly dawned on the engineer that he had taken a reel of tape that he thought was just out-takes and recorded over the song Frank wanted to hear. I waited for what I thought would be an apocalypse when the engineer gave Frank the bad news. Frank simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, let's just go cut it again....."
The sessions I enjoyed immensely were the "live-to-two-track" ones, usually booked by the Bahamian bands on very tight budgets. These groups would save up enough money for round trip airfare and three hours of studio time in which they would attempt to put as much of an album together as possible. They could never afford the $100+ per hour multi-track rates charged so they would opt for the minimum quarter inch stereo. That meant everything had to be done live - playing and singing - with one take to get it all perfect! These sessions were a real challenge because I would have to mix a dozen-plus instrument mics and three or four vocal mics all at once. There was no re-mix. What went down on the two-track was 'what you got', period. One such group, The Beginning Of The End, came over one afternoon with their beat-up equipment and recorded a tune called "Funky Nassau"......which went to #1 on the charts.
The Allman Brothers were a joy to record because they were truly a band. In their presence, you were immediately aware of their camraderie; their respect for eachother as musicians and their love of playing together. I was also in a band at the time, and my guys hung out at the studio a lot. One night, Duane insisted that we all come out to their Winnebago to listen to some blues records. They were all going nuts over Peter Greene (ex-Fleetwood Mac) and his new record. Tom Dowd was particularly fond of The Allmans and I really learned alot from him on those sessions.
One of the first major sessions I ever did (way before the 'Atlantic Era') was with James Brown. I for the life of me don't recall how or why I was put on this particular date, especially since I was very new at engineering and low on the company totem pole. My boss Mack Emerman had engineered Brown's legendary hit "I Got You I Feel Good" several years earlier and why he didn't do this date is still a mystery. Nevertheless, I found myself at the board with a studio full of about 14 musicians and James himself. James insisted on singing live in the room - no booth - AND using a hand-held microphone! The date was done 4 track, so I had somewhat of a safety net in terms of getting a balance. James had a track for his vocals, and the other three were divided between the horns and rhythm section. The band was absolutely incredible! The horn section was SO tight, and James 'worked the room' as he sang, conducting the band and cueing the accents. When he was satisfied with the take, he came into the control room to mix. I distinctly remember him showing me how to "swell" the horns by turning the volume pot (yes, pot - rotary fader - big HUGE knob) to make the dynamics of the horn section even more pronounced. I laugh when I hear it now because it's so pronounced, but "Give It Up Or Turn It A-Loose" was a chart record.