Bill Putnam
Encyclopedia
Milton Tasker "Bill" Putnam (1920–1989) was a renowned American audio engineer, songwriter, producer, studio designer and businessman who has been described as "the father of modern recording". He was the inventor of the modern recording console and is recognised as a key figure in the development of the postwar commercial recording industry.
Former colleague Bruce Swedien
described Putnam's achievements thus:
Putnam was the first person to use artificial reverberation
using echo chambers for commercial recording. He also developed the first multi-band audio equalizer
, and with his company Universal Recording Electronics Industries (UREI), he was responsible for the development of classic recording studio equipment including the UREI 1176LN, the UREI Time Align Monitor, and the famed Universal recordings consoles, which soon became standard equipment in studios all over America. Alongside his friend Les Paul
, Putnam was also involved in the early development of stereophonic recording and he founded several major independent recording studios in Chicago
, Hollywood and San Francisco.
In 1947, Putnam made the first recording of a single artist singing more than one line on a recording. Patti Page
sang one vocal line of "Confess
", a duet in which the second part was recorded onto a large 17.25" disc and then played back as she sang the main vocal line; the two vocals and accompaniment being wedded onto a wire recorder. Les Paul followed in short order with his own quite different technique for doubling vocals.
In the 1950s, Putnam founded one of America's first independent recording studios, Universal Recording in Chicago. His reputation grew quickly thanks to his work with artists as Patti Page, Vic Damone
, Duke Ellington
, Count Basie
, Sarah Vaughan
, Little Walter
, and Dinah Washington
. His period at Universal saw a number of 'firsts' for the recording industry, 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 the Mercury label.)
By the mid-1950s Putnam was one of the most sought-after engineer-producers in the United States, and Universal Recording had become so successful that clients including Nelson Riddle
, Mitch Miller
and Quincy Jones
began urging him to open a facility on the west coast. In 1957, he sold his interest in Universal Recording and with support from Frank Sinatra
and Bing Crosby
, he established a new company called United Recording Corp. and moved to Hollywood, taking over United Studios at 6050 Sunset Boulevard
. Putnam was determined to incorporate as many technological innovations in to the new complex as possible and he constructed new facilities, including a significant expansion of the studio control rooms, which until that time were typically small booths.
When United Recording was founded, stereo recording was still a new innovation and it was considered little more than a novelty by the major record labels. But Putnam foresaw its importance and, at his own expense, he began making simultaneous stereo mixes of recordings produced at United Western and stockpiled these recordings. Around 1962, when stereo was taking off as a consumer audio format, the major labels found themselves without any significant back catalog of stereo recordings, so they offered to buy the stockpile of tapes. However, the canny Putnam cleverly negotiated a far more lucrative deal, whereby he was recompensed for the (much more expensive) studio time used in mixing the stereo versions. According to Putnam's former partner Allen Sides, at this time the studio was bringing in around US$200,000 per month in studio billing (equivalent to perhaps US$1 million per month today).
In 1961, he acquired the neighboring Western Recorders, located at 6000 Sunset, remodeling it and incorporating it into the complex, which was then renamed United Western Recorders
. In 1985, Putnam sold the studio to partner Allen Sides, who then renamed it Ocean Way Recording
.
Putnam died in 1989. In 2000, he received a posthumous Technical Achievement Grammy award for his contribution to the music industry.
, one of Gene Autry's early radio homes. Born in Danville, Illinois
, Putnam's interest in music began in this period, and his flair for electronics started when he was in the Boy Scouts working toward a 'wireless' merit badge. At 13, he tried and failed to become a licensed Ham operator but at 15 he succeeded, earning a Class B Call sign WA6PUK. On weekends, Putnam sang with a number of regional bands that played gigs primarily on college campuses. It was at this point that Putnam realized that musicians were his favorite people.
Bill Putnam's long hours at Universal Recording led to divorce. After moving to Hollywood with his son Scott, Putnam met and married Frank Sinatra's assistant Miriam (also known as 'Tookie') and fathered two more sons, Bill Jr. and Jim.
Former colleague Bruce Swedien
Bruce Swedien
Bruce Swedien is a Grammy Award-winning audio engineer and music producer. He is known for his work with Quincy Jones.Swedien is a five-time Grammy winner and has been nominated 13 times. He recorded, mixed, and assisted in producing the best-sold album in the world, Thriller by Michael Jackson...
described Putnam's achievements thus:
- "Bill Putnam was the father of recording as we know it today. The processes and designs which we take for granted — the design of modern recording desks, the way components are laid out and the way they function, console design, cue sends, echo returns, multitrack switching — they all originated in Bill's imagination."
Putnam was the first person to use artificial reverberation
Reverberation
Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is removed. A reverberation, or reverb, is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space causing a large number of echoes to build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air...
using echo chambers for commercial recording. He also developed the first multi-band audio equalizer
Equalization
Equalization, is the process of adjusting the balance between frequency components within an electronic signal. The most well known use of equalization is in sound recording and reproduction but there are many other applications in electronics and telecommunications. The circuit or equipment used...
, and with his company Universal Recording Electronics Industries (UREI), he was responsible for the development of classic recording studio equipment including the UREI 1176LN, the UREI Time Align Monitor, and the famed Universal recordings consoles, which soon became standard equipment in studios all over America. Alongside his friend Les Paul
Les Paul
Lester William Polsfuss —known as Les Paul—was an American jazz and country guitarist, songwriter and inventor. He was a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and roll possible. He is credited with many recording innovations...
, Putnam was also involved in the early development of stereophonic recording and he founded several major independent recording studios in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Hollywood and San Francisco.
In 1947, Putnam made the first recording of a single artist singing more than one line on a recording. Patti Page
Patti Page
Clara Ann Fowler , known by her professional name Patti Page, is an American singer, one of the best-known female artists in traditional pop music. She was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s, and has sold over 100 million records...
sang one vocal line of "Confess
Confess (song)
Confess is a popular song written by Bennie Benjamin and George David Weiss.The song figures in the early careers of two important female singers:...
", a duet in which the second part was recorded onto a large 17.25" disc and then played back as she sang the main vocal line; the two vocals and accompaniment being wedded onto a wire recorder. Les Paul followed in short order with his own quite different technique for doubling vocals.
In the 1950s, Putnam founded one of America's first independent recording studios, Universal Recording in Chicago. His reputation grew quickly thanks to his work with artists as Patti Page, Vic Damone
Vic Damone
Vic Damone is an American singer and entertainer.- Early life :Damone was born Vito Rocco Farinola in Brooklyn, New York to French-Italian immigrants based in Bari, Italy—Rocco and Mamie Farinola. His father was an electrician; and his mother taught piano. His cousin was the actress and singer...
, Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
, Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
, Little Walter
Little Walter
Little Walter, born Marion Walter Jacobs , was an American blues harmonica player, whose revolutionary approach to his instrument has earned him comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix, for innovation and impact on succeeding generations...
, and Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington, born Ruth Lee Jones , was an American blues, R&B and jazz singer. She has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s", and called "The Queen of the Blues"...
. His period at Universal saw a number of 'firsts' for the recording industry, 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 the Mercury label.)
By the mid-1950s Putnam was one of the most sought-after engineer-producers in the United States, and Universal Recording had become so successful that clients including Nelson Riddle
Nelson Riddle
Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s...
, Mitch Miller
Mitch Miller
Mitchell William "Mitch" Miller was an American musician, singer, conductor, record producer, A&R man and record company executive...
and Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
began urging him to open a facility on the west coast. In 1957, he sold his interest in Universal Recording and with support from Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
and Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, he established a new company called United Recording Corp. and moved to Hollywood, taking over United Studios at 6050 Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
. Putnam was determined to incorporate as many technological innovations in to the new complex as possible and he constructed new facilities, including a significant expansion of the studio control rooms, which until that time were typically small booths.
When United Recording was founded, stereo recording was still a new innovation and it was considered little more than a novelty by the major record labels. But Putnam foresaw its importance and, at his own expense, he began making simultaneous stereo mixes of recordings produced at United Western and stockpiled these recordings. Around 1962, when stereo was taking off as a consumer audio format, the major labels found themselves without any significant back catalog of stereo recordings, so they offered to buy the stockpile of tapes. However, the canny Putnam cleverly negotiated a far more lucrative deal, whereby he was recompensed for the (much more expensive) studio time used in mixing the stereo versions. According to Putnam's former partner Allen Sides, at this time the studio was bringing in around US$200,000 per month in studio billing (equivalent to perhaps US$1 million per month today).
In 1961, he acquired the neighboring Western Recorders, located at 6000 Sunset, remodeling it and incorporating it into the complex, which was then renamed United Western Recorders
United Western Recorders
United Western Recorders, often abbreviated to UWR, was a renowned recording studio complex in Hollywood, California, which became one of the most successful independent recording studios in the world in the late 1950s and 1960s....
. In 1985, Putnam sold the studio to partner Allen Sides, who then renamed it Ocean Way Recording
Ocean Way Recording
Ocean Way Recording is the name of a series of recording studios in Hollywood, California and Nashville, Tennessee. Ocean Way Studios is well known in the recording industry due to the award-winning albums that were produced there....
.
Putnam died in 1989. In 2000, he received a posthumous Technical Achievement Grammy award for his contribution to the music industry.
Personal life
Bill Putnam's father ran a radio program at WDZ, Tuscola, IllinoisTuscola, Illinois
Tuscola is a city in Douglas County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,480 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Douglas County.-Geography:Tuscola is located at ....
, one of Gene Autry's early radio homes. Born in Danville, Illinois
Danville, Illinois
Danville is a city in Vermilion County, Illinois, United States. It is the principal city of the'Danville, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area' which encompasses all of Danville and Vermilion County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 32,467. It is the county seat of...
, Putnam's interest in music began in this period, and his flair for electronics started when he was in the Boy Scouts working toward a 'wireless' merit badge. At 13, he tried and failed to become a licensed Ham operator but at 15 he succeeded, earning a Class B Call sign WA6PUK. On weekends, Putnam sang with a number of regional bands that played gigs primarily on college campuses. It was at this point that Putnam realized that musicians were his favorite people.
Bill Putnam's long hours at Universal Recording led to divorce. After moving to Hollywood with his son Scott, Putnam met and married Frank Sinatra's assistant Miriam (also known as 'Tookie') and fathered two more sons, Bill Jr. and Jim.