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55-655: Former colleague Bruce Swedien described Putnam's achievements: Bill Putnam was born on February 20, 1920 in Danville, Illinois . Putnam's father owned several business enterprises related to the coal mining business and also ran a radio program at WDZ in Tuscola, Illinois . While in the Boy Scouts , working toward a 'wireless' merit badge, Bill built a crystal radio and a one-tube radio with his father's help, sparking his love of electronics. At thirteen, he tried and failed to become

110-559: A studio musician in New York City, playing on hundreds of albums and jingles from the early 1950s through the late 1960s. He played guitar on Patsy Cline 's New York sessions in April 1957. Although he was primarily a swing jazz guitarist, he participated in hundreds of pop, rock, country, and R&B recording sessions. He played on many hit songs by the Coasters , on " This Magic Moment " by

165-458: A division of CBS . The location later became the home of The Automatt recording studio. In 1963, Putnam extended his studio presence to Las Vegas when he established United Recording Corporation of Nevada, or URCON , complete with a fully-equipped remote recording truck. In 1966, Putnam sold URCON to Bill Porter . In 1985, Putnam sold the original United Recording studio to Allen Sides, who renamed it Ocean Way Recording . Putnam developed

220-498: A facility on the west coast . In 1957, with support from Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby , Putnam sold his interest in Universal Recording and moved to Hollywood , taking over and remodeling a defunct film studio at 6050 Sunset Boulevard establishing a new company, United Recording . Determined to incorporate as many technological innovations into the new complex as possible, Putnam constructed new facilities, including

275-580: A fifteen-minute radio program on the ABC network. On January 17, 1947, he married Evelyn Lorraine Triplett in Chicago. In 1951, Barnes was signed to Decca by Milt Gabler , and moved from Chicago to New York City. In 1953, he joined the orchestra for the television show Your Hit Parade . The band was conducted by Raymond Scott , and Barnes was a featured soloist. Barnes, Scott, and vocalist Dorothy Collins (Scott's wife) also recorded together. Barnes worked often as

330-412: A jazz musician. He had become accomplished enough on guitar to join the local musicians' union at the age of twelve, and helped to aid the family's income by playing at local dances and weddings. When Barnes was young he was given blues guitar lessons by the guitarist Lonnie Johnson . Johnson tuned his 12-string guitar down a whole-tone to make it easier for George to play. Lonnie Johnson influenced

385-495: A licensed ham radio operator but at fifteen he succeeded, earning a Class B call sign W9PUK and building his own ham radio. Bill Putnam attended Danville High School , where two of his school classmates were Dick Van Dyke and Bobby Short . In his early high school years, he worked part time in a friend's radio shop, learning about radio repair and PA systems . He began singing with a number of regional bands which played college campus gigs, developing his interest in jazz and

440-414: A little more than a month before Barnes's death at the age of 56), Jim Ferguson wrote, "Often overlooked in a sea of more modern-sounding, bebop-oriented guitarists, George Barnes could swing like mad and spin out intricate, frequently bluesy phrases with awesome precision and musicality...From start to finish, this well-recorded performance demonstrates the qualities that qualify Barnes for a position among

495-481: A majority interest in Coast Recorders and moved the studio to a location at 960 Bush Street . He eventually relocated Coast Recorders to a two-floor studio complex of his own design at 827 Folsom Street, where Francis Ford Coppola leased space on the second floor for his American Zoetrope film studio. Less than a year later on September 15, 1970, Putnam sold majority control of the building to Columbia Records ,

550-845: A minor in music at the University of Minnesota , but did not graduate. In 1954, aged 20, Swedien set up a recording studio in the old Garrick/LaSalle movie theater in Minneapolis. He transformed the space into the Swedien Recording Studio, where he produced and recorded music for several years with artists such as Art Blakey and Herbie Mann . However, in late 1957, he sold the studio and relocated to Chicago. In 1957, after leaving Minneapolis he began working for RCA Victor Records in Chicago. Shortly after that, he left for Universal Recording Corporation where he worked under chief engineer Bill Putnam . He first met Quincy Jones when Jones

605-467: A new 15,000 square foot facility at 46 E. Walton Street. His company quickly became Chicago's largest independent studio, sometimes referred to as the "grand palace," recording projects for independent Chicago record labels like Vee-Jay , Mercury , Chess , and One-derful . His reputation grew quickly thanks to his work with artists such as Count Basie , Sarah Vaughan , Little Walter , Dinah Washington , Vic Damone , and Duke Ellington , who said Putnam

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660-470: A portion of the sales of the record. His use of the building's bathroom as an echo chamber for the recording of Peg o' My Heart was the first artistic use of artificial reverb in a popular song. The song sold 1.4 million copies, inspiring Putnam to establish the Vitacoustic and Universal Records labels and attracted new clients to record with Putnam at Universal Recording. In the same year, Putnam made

715-519: A recording technique known as Perfect Presence Sound. Between 1953 and 1961 he was featured on many recordings with The Three Suns . Barnes received the most attention as a jazz guitarist when he recorded as a duo with Carl Kress from 1961 to 1965. He and Kress were invited to play at the White House Christmas party on December 17, 1964. For the occasion, Barnes wrote "Watusi for Luci" for First Daughter Luci Baines Johnson because she

770-562: A sensation and the audience would ask for many encores. On 17 February 1940, Barnes released his first solo recording, " I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles " and " I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me " on Okeh Records . He was drafted in 1942 and served with the U.S. Army as an intercept operator in the Pentagon . After his discharge in 1946, he formed the George Barnes Octet and was given

825-555: A sideman to these artists, Hugues Panassié in Le Jazz Hot mistakenly referred to Barnes at around this time as "the great Negro blues guitar player from Chicago." From January 1939, while still only seventeen, Barnes began playing at the Three Deuces nightclub in Chicago. He became a featured performer there. He would sit on a chair in front of the band and improvise for as long as he possibly could on different jazz tunes. He became

880-465: A significant modernization of studio control room concept to permit multi-track monitoring and recording. It featured his innovative design to provide overhead forward speaker mounting and provided seating space for guests while improving the engineer's view of the studio (control rooms of the era had typically been small booths). United's facilities included three acoustically isolated studios of varying sizes, three lacquer mastering studios (one stereo) and

935-415: A stereo re-mixing room. Additionally each studio had its own stereo acoustic reverberation room. All facilities were cross connected electronically at a central location and all facilities were available to each other as needed. In 1961, Putnam acquired the neighboring Western Recorders located at 6000 Sunset, remodeled it, and incorporated it into the complex which was renamed United Western Recorders . He

990-950: The United States Army Corps of Engineers under the Sixth Service Command in Chicago . He later worked for G-2 on several different projects, the first one was miniaturizing mine detectors to develop a miniature, concealable gun detector used by the United States Secret Service to protect President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the Tehran Conference . Putnam also worked for the Armed Forces Network to record big bands . In 1946, Putnam founded Universal Recording Corporation in Evanston, Illinois to pursue

1045-643: The vacuum tube -based LA-2A and 176 compressors, and their transistor based successors, the LA-3A and 1176 . They also developed the Time Align Monitor Series. UREI outgrew the loft above United Recording and relocated to a wing of the Western Recorders building, later moving again to a much larger headquarters in North Hollywood , with Putnam eventually selling it to Harman Industries . Putnam

1100-654: The $ 75 first prize along with an appointment to play at the Chicago Theatre for a week. On March 1, 1938, Barnes played electric guitar on the recorded songs "Sweetheart Land" and "It's a Lowdown Dirty Shame" with blues guitarist Big Bill Broonzy . In 1938, when he was seventeen, Barnes was hired as staff guitarist for the NBC Orchestra. He was also staff guitarist and arranger for Decca and recorded with Blind John Davis , Jazz Gillum , Merline Johnson , Curtis Jones , and Washboard Sam . Because he only knew Barnes as

1155-532: The Drifters , and on " Lonely Teardrops ". His electric guitar can be heard in the movie A Face in the Crowd . Barnes recorded three albums for Mercury : Movin' Easy (1961) with his Jazz Renaissance Quintet, Guitar Galaxies (1960), and Guitars Galore (1961). The latter two contained his orchestrations for ten guitars, known as his guitar choir, which used guitars in place of a horn section. The two albums employed

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1210-657: The Mercury label.) By the mid-1950s, Putnam was one of the most sought-after engineer-producers in the United States. Sam Phillips sent Elvis Presley 's Mystery Train and I Forgot to Remember to Forget to Putnam in August, 1955 with the instructions: "Give me 'hot' level on both 78 and 45's and as much presence peak and bass as possible!" Universal Recording had become so successful that clients including Nelson Riddle , Mitch Miller , and Quincy Jones began urging Putnam to open

1265-555: The New School ( Chiaroscuro , 1974), To Fred Astaire with Love (RCA, 1975), and with singer Tony Bennett , Tony Bennett Sings 10 Rodgers & Hart Songs (Improv, 1976). From 1973 until 1977, Barnes recorded several well-received solo albums for Concord Jazz and with the quartet he had formed with Braff. He also recorded two albums with jazz violinist Joe Venuti for the label. Barnes and his wife, Evelyn, left New York City after his last European tour in 1975 to live and work in

1320-569: The Rhythm-Aires. Barnes did all of the arranging and orchestration for this band. Because most of the players switched from one instrument to another, he had to often double the orchestration. They toured at night around Chicago Heights. He was spotted by Johnny Mince of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in 1937. Mince set up an appearance for Barnes on Dorsey's Amateur Hour after driving past his house in his car and hearing him play. George won

1375-553: The San Francisco Bay area. He died of a heart attack in Concord , California, in 1977 at the age of 56. Barnes's style took shape before the development of bebop , and he remained a swing stylist throughout his career. His lines were usually short, melodic, bluesy and "inside" (i.e., diatonic), compared to the chromaticism and long lines of bop-era guitarists. His improvisations often employed call and response phrases, and his tone

1430-609: The United/Western merger and at the request of several film music producers in Hollywood who were looking for a more modern sound for their films, the studios began to record film scores utilizing multi-track film recorders. Playing video cues and sync recording mono audio for quick playback in the studio was also a very popular time saver. In 1962, sensing a business opportunity in the Bay Area 's commercial jingle industry, Putnam purchased

1485-503: The age of 16 and claimed was his single greatest influence. Barnes was also inspired and influenced strongly by the playing of the cornetist Bix Beiderbecke . He wanted to capture the same feeling on guitar that Beiderbecke did through his own playing. Other influences were Louis Armstrong , and saxophonist Johnny Hodges . From 1935 to 1937, Barnes led a band that performed in the Midwest. In 1937 he played in an eight piece band called

1540-695: The company and retired. In retirement he and his last wife, Caroline, moved to Ventura Keys, California . Bill Putnam died in Riverside, California at the age of 69; he was laid to rest in Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village . Many record executives and industry colleagues attended the service and a group of musicians formed a band to play some of his favorite songs. Bruce Swedien Bruce Swedien ( / s w ə ˈ d iː n / swə- DEEN ) (April 19, 1934 – November 16, 2020)

1595-524: The development of specialized recording equipment and new recording techniques. He secured a lucrative contract to record and delay broadcast transcriptions shows for the ABC radio network . In 1947, Putnam moved Universal Recording to the 42nd floor of the Chicago Civic Opera Building striking a deal with The Harmonicats to help facilitate a recording session and record release in exchange for

1650-473: The first US multi-band audio equalizer and established Universal Audio as well as Universal Recording Electronics Industries (UREI) in the second story loft of United Recording, in 1958 as a means to develop and manufacture studio equipment. That included custom Studio Electronics recording consoles, outfitted with Putnam's 610 modular channel strips, all of which soon became standard equipment in studios all over America. His companies were also responsible for

1705-537: The first recording of a single artist singing more than one line on a recording; it was recorded with Patti Page and George Barnes , who suggested the "duet." Page sang one vocal line of " Confess " and the second part was recorded onto a large 17.25" disc, then played back as she sang the main vocal line; the two vocals and accompaniment were wedded onto a wire recorder. Shortly thereafter, Les Paul utilized his own technique for multiplying guitars and vocals, using magnetic tape. In 1955, Putnam built Universal Recording

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1760-460: The fretboard. By tightening or loosening his grip on the pick, Barnes could change the volume and dynamics of his guitar sound. Believing that it helped to give him good tone, he always used the thickest picks, and the heaviest gauge strings possible. Not long before his death, Barnes recorded three live albums—two produced from an April 17, 1977, concert at the San Francisco club Bimbo's 365 ,

1815-547: The most elite players in the annals of jazz guitar." In 1942, Barnes wrote the first electric guitar method book, The George Barnes Electric Guitar Method , published by Wm. J. Smith. In 1961, he wrote and recorded George Barnes' Living Guitar Method: The Easy Way to Learn All the Chords and Rhythms and Ten Duets for Two Guitars (recorded with his partner Carl Kress ) for Music Minus One . In 1965, he wrote How to Arrange for Solo Guitar , published by Peermusic . He also produced

1870-424: The music business. He realized that musicians were his favorite people. By his junior year, Putnam was earning $ 5 per night singing with dance bands and owned his own ham radio shop where he also installed car radios on weekends. After Putnam graduated from high school, he sold his radio shop for $ 700 and decided to study broadcast engineering at Valparaiso Technical Institute ; his professors were J.B. Hershmann and

1925-519: The other at the Willows Theatre in Concord, California. The albums are good examples of his swinging, happy and often mischievous style. The albums also include his banter with the audience and his introductions of tunes and his band, giving the listener a glimpse of his sense of humour. In a review of the album Don't Get Around Much Anymore (material from a 1977 concert in Concord, California, recorded

1980-453: The school's future dean, Cloid Patton. Putnam returned to his hometown of Danville to work in the engineering department at WDAN , and later became the chief engineer at WDWS in Champaign, Illinois . He began writing articles for Radio and Television magazine. In 1941 at the age of 21, Putnam received a draft notice and became a civil service employee working on radio ranges for

2035-741: The scores for Night Shift , The Color Purple and Running Scared . On November 10, 2001, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in philosophy from the Luleå University of Technology for his achievements as a sound engineer. Swedien also held classes at the Swedish National Radio for practicing sound engineers. On August 30, 2015, Swedien was presented the Pensado Giant Award at the second annual Pensado Awards held at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California . The award

2090-567: The singer stand at different distances from the microphone and singing through a cardboard tube, among other techniques. Swedien wrote about his experience working with Jackson in a 2009 book titled In the Studio with Michael Jackson . His pop work included recordings by Patti Austin , Natalie Cole , Roberta Flack , Mick Jagger , David Hasselhoff , Jennifer Lopez , Paul McCartney , Diana Ross , Rufus , Chaka Khan , Barbra Streisand , Lena Horne , Donna Summer , and Sarah Vaughan . He worked on

2145-453: The speed increased. When creating vibrato he did it across the fingerboard, rather than in line with it. He played a right-handed guitar, but George Barnes was left handed, seeing it as an advantage to use the strongest hand for work on the fretboard. Claiming that it gave him more control, Barnes held the pick between his thumb and middle finger playing mainly with downstrokes. He only used alternate picking when picking very rapid notes on

2200-438: The two were married. Richmond worked at the studios as a tape editor and part time file librarian. But after moving to Hollywood, Putnam's long hours at Universal Recording again led to a divorce. Frank Sinatra introduced Putnam to his assistant, Miriam Simons (also known as 'Tookie'), who became his third wife; Bill and Miriam had two sons, Bill Jr. and Jim. Miriam died unexpectedly and Bill did not marry again until after he sold

2255-446: The way that Barnes played the blues. George Barnes wanted to play melody and not rhythm, but during his early years of playing because so few soloed, other than Johnson no guitarist influenced the way he played. He listened to records of Django Reinhardt but could not relate to his playing. So players of other instruments were also primary inspirations to him, particularly the clarinetist Jimmie Noone , whom George Barnes played with at

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2310-532: Was Frank Sinatra's preferred engineer, and Sinatra put him on retainer to ensure his availability. When Sinatra founded Reprise Records , his office was in the Western Recorders building. At the time Putnam started United Recording, stereo recording was new and considered by the major record labels as little more than a novelty. But he foresaw its importance and at his own expense, began making and stockpiling simultaneous stereo mixes of recordings produced at United. About 1962, as consumer demand for stereo recordings

2365-415: Was a guitarist began to teach him to play. In 1931, Barnes's older brother made a pickup and amplifier for him because he knew that George wanted to play solo lines that could be heard in a band. He believed he might have been the first person to ever play an electric guitar. When George was eleven, he heard some records with Bix Beiderbecke that featured Joe Venuti and knew then that he wanted to be

2420-693: Was an American recording engineer , mixing engineer and record producer. He was widely known for his work with Michael Jackson , Quincy Jones , Paul McCartney and Barbra Streisand . Swedien first achieved widespread recognition as engineer with Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons' 1962 single " Big Girls Don't Cry " which sold over one million copies and stayed at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks. Swedien won 5 Grammy Awards for Best Engineered Album for his work with Jackson and Jones. He received 13 additional nominations. Swedien

2475-590: Was an inspiration to, and influenced guitarists Chet Atkins , Roy Clark , Herb Ellis and Merle Travis , among many others. Barnes was born in South Chicago Heights , United States. George had first started to play the Piano at the age of five. When George was ten, the family were forced to sell the instrument along with the home because of the great depression. There was an old Sears Roebuck Silvertone guitar left over, which George picked up and his father who

2530-513: Was born on April 19, 1934, in Minneapolis , Minnesota. His parents, Ellsworth and Louise (Perusse) Swedien, Ellsworth of Swedish descent, and Louise of French descent, were both classically-trained musicians, leading Swedien to develop a passion for music and recording at an early age. His father bought him a disc recording machine when he was 10 and a professional tape recorder after graduating high school. Swedien studied electrical engineering with

2585-451: Was clearer, cleaner and brighter than many other jazz guitarists (such as Joe Pass or Jim Hall ) and reflected his "happy" approach to music. His playing was noted for its bright quality and melodic style. The single note lines in his solos never strayed far from the tune that was being played. He often made use of blues phrases, string bends and vibrato. His use of vibrato was developed from watching Violinists and would start slowly, then

2640-481: Was hired by the NBC Orchestra at the age of 17, making him the youngest musician on staff. At 17, he was considered to be a great player by many musicians, including Tommy Dorsey , and Jimmy McPartland . Barnes was also proficient as a recording engineer. During his career, Barnes recorded with singers Mel Tormé , Ella Fitzgerald , Frank Sinatra , Bing Crosby , Patti Page , Dinah Washington , Lena Horne , Billy Eckstine and Johnny Mathis among many others. He

2695-421: Was his favorite engineer. There were a number of 'firsts' for the recording industry during Putnam's time at Universal Recording including the first use of tape repeat, the first vocal booth, the first multiple voice recording, one of the first to use 8-track recording (preceded by Les Paul and Tom Dowd ), the first use of delay lines in the studio, and the first release (in 1956) of half-speed mastered discs (on

2750-593: Was known for dancing the Watusi in clubs with Hollywood celebrities. The song was used as the theme for The Clay Cole Show in 1965 when the TV show was renamed Clay Cole's Discotek . Barnes formed a duo with jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli that lasted from 1969 to 1972. In 1973, he and cornetist Ruby Braff formed the Ruby Braff–George Barnes Quartet. The quartet recorded several albums, including Live at

2805-614: Was known for pioneering the "Acusonic Recording Process", pairing up microphones together on vocals and instruments, a technique enabled by synchronizing several multi-track recorders with SMPTE timecode . This achieved an enhanced roomy ambient sound, some of which is evident on albums produced in collaboration with Jones on such tracks as George Benson 's " Give Me the Night ", and the Michael Jackson albums on which he had worked. He would often experiment while recording with Jackson, having

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2860-605: Was married four times. He and his first wife had a son and daughter, Scott and Sue; Grace elected to stay in Danville, Illinois with their children when Bill joined the U.S. Army Band and was stationed near the North Side of Chicago. After his discharge from the Army he and Grace divorced. After Universal Recording moved to Walton Street, Bill met Belinda Richmond, a singer at a nearby club near Universal Recording Corp's Walton Street location and

2915-425: Was presented by Quincy Jones. Swedien died on November 16, 2020, at the age of 86, from surgery complications for a broken hip caused by a fall. Swedien won 5 Grammy Awards and was nominated 12 times. George Barnes (musician) George Warren Barnes (July 17, 1921 – September 5, 1977) was an American swing jazz guitarist. He was also a conductor, composer, arranger, producer, author, and educator. He

2970-457: Was surging, the major labels offered to buy Putnam's stockpile of stereo recordings. He negotiated a lucrative deal, whereby he was recompensed not for the finished recordings, but for the (much more expensive) studio time used in mixing the stereo versions. According to his former associate, Allen Sides, at this time United Recording was bringing in around $ 200,000 per month in studio billing (equivalent to $ 2.01 million per month today). After

3025-420: Was vice president for Mercury Records in Chicago. The two worked on albums for artists like Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan . Swedien moved to Brunswick Records where he ran and developed the label's studios and sound in the late 1960s and 1970s. The label was responsible for numerous R&B and pop hits during that time, with artists such as The Chi-Lites , Tyrone Davis and Jackie Wilson . Swedien

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