SSLtech
Well-known member
So about 8 or 9 years ago, I was in the later stages of installing a large-ish SSL 9000 series, doing some kind of sit-down work at the console -perhaps debugging the machine control or something similar- when an old, grey-haired, bearded geezer wandered into the control room, shaking his head and looking at the console. -He semi-quietly said something like:
"Boy oh boy, they make these things look more and more like 'mission control' don't they?"
-I had no idea who he was, so I smiled and agreed politely. He then wandered around, shaking his head and muttering "well I never" sort of things... after a minute or two he came and sat next to me and said something like:
"Sorta makes me wonder about how we ever built the atomic bomb with such primitive stuff as we had back then..." and drifted off into a series of tangential subjects.
Now in this particular studio, I knew that they had an 'open door' policy, and people with no knowlege of -or connection to- music recording frequently wandered in. This particular guy almost had the air of a likeable wino!
Anayhow, I 'humored' him for a few more minutes until he started to mention things that suggested he really knew a lot of stuff. First he mentioned Jeep Harned, and started to talk about the design of the MCI equalizers... then the subject moved to Criteria studios, then he started chatting about Arif Mardin and so forth.
I had no clue as to who he was, and he had no care who I was. we just chatted about music, technology and recording. He wandered off maybe 15 minutes later, after shaking hands.
Later on, I asked the chief engineer who the old bearded guy was. he smiled knowingly:
"Oh... so you met Tom Dowd, eh? -He's something, isn't he?"
The name rang a bell. Then later on, I remembered hearing him on BBC radio a few years earlier, talking about how he and Ablie Ghaluten (..I think..) made the ending to 'Layla' days or weeks after the musicians had all gone. Then I looked a little further and found out more of what he'd done.
Over the next few years I met him several more times. I think that the last time was at one of Disney's local rooms, with Phil Ramone.
Some time ago -and for no reason I could think of- I wondered what he was up to. I typed his name into a search engine and read that he had died two days previously. I was quite profoundly upset.
If you don't know about Tom Dowd and would like to know more, or if you knew and loved Tom, or -like me- you didn't really know him, but enjoyed and/or respected his work, I'd like to draw your attention to this:
http://palmpictures.bluetape.com/tomdowd/ecard/
I understand that the movie will be out on August 24th, in Region 1 coding on DVD. You may order it from Amazon. I understand that Tom himself saw an almost-completed version of the film before he died and it carries his blessing.
I certainly found him to be like a friendly old uncle, one who had an amazing past (He worked on the Manhatten project for goodness' sake!) and a truly practical outlook on the interface between technology and music.
Gawd bless ya, Tom!
Keith
"Boy oh boy, they make these things look more and more like 'mission control' don't they?"
-I had no idea who he was, so I smiled and agreed politely. He then wandered around, shaking his head and muttering "well I never" sort of things... after a minute or two he came and sat next to me and said something like:
"Sorta makes me wonder about how we ever built the atomic bomb with such primitive stuff as we had back then..." and drifted off into a series of tangential subjects.
Now in this particular studio, I knew that they had an 'open door' policy, and people with no knowlege of -or connection to- music recording frequently wandered in. This particular guy almost had the air of a likeable wino!
Anayhow, I 'humored' him for a few more minutes until he started to mention things that suggested he really knew a lot of stuff. First he mentioned Jeep Harned, and started to talk about the design of the MCI equalizers... then the subject moved to Criteria studios, then he started chatting about Arif Mardin and so forth.
I had no clue as to who he was, and he had no care who I was. we just chatted about music, technology and recording. He wandered off maybe 15 minutes later, after shaking hands.
Later on, I asked the chief engineer who the old bearded guy was. he smiled knowingly:
"Oh... so you met Tom Dowd, eh? -He's something, isn't he?"
The name rang a bell. Then later on, I remembered hearing him on BBC radio a few years earlier, talking about how he and Ablie Ghaluten (..I think..) made the ending to 'Layla' days or weeks after the musicians had all gone. Then I looked a little further and found out more of what he'd done.
Over the next few years I met him several more times. I think that the last time was at one of Disney's local rooms, with Phil Ramone.
Some time ago -and for no reason I could think of- I wondered what he was up to. I typed his name into a search engine and read that he had died two days previously. I was quite profoundly upset.
If you don't know about Tom Dowd and would like to know more, or if you knew and loved Tom, or -like me- you didn't really know him, but enjoyed and/or respected his work, I'd like to draw your attention to this:
http://palmpictures.bluetape.com/tomdowd/ecard/
I understand that the movie will be out on August 24th, in Region 1 coding on DVD. You may order it from Amazon. I understand that Tom himself saw an almost-completed version of the film before he died and it carries his blessing.
I certainly found him to be like a friendly old uncle, one who had an amazing past (He worked on the Manhatten project for goodness' sake!) and a truly practical outlook on the interface between technology and music.
Gawd bless ya, Tom!
Keith
