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Tom Hidley
Tom Hidley (27 May 1931 - May 2025) has been an American recording studio designer and audio engineer whose companies have been responsible for the design of hundreds of professional studios worldwide since 1965. He coined the term "bass trap" and is credited with a number of recording studio design innovations, including soffit-mounted monitor speakers and sliding glass doors between live and isolations rooms. Career Background and early career As a teenager, Hidley spent long hours playing the saxophone, clarinet, and flute until ordered by his physician to cease after suffering a physical breakdown. Turning to other music-related activities, Hidley began working at loudspeaker and tape-machine companies while recording at clubs after-hours. By 1956, he was working for JBL Loudspeaker Co. and performing audio engineering at custom installations, including installations in the homes of Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Lucille Ball, and Danny Kaye. In 1959, "Madman Muntz" (Ear ...
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Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, cultural center of Southern California. With an estimated 3,878,704 residents within the city limits , it is the List of United States cities by population, second-most populous in the United States, behind only New York City. Los Angeles has an Ethnic groups in Los Angeles, ethnically and culturally diverse population, and is the principal city of a Metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan area of 12.9 million people (2024). Greater Los Angeles, a combined statistical area that includes the Los Angeles and Riverside–San Bernardino metropolitan areas, is a sprawling metropolis of over 18.5 million residents. The majority of the city proper lies in Los Angeles Basin, a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the ...
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TTG Studios
TTG Studios is a recording studio in Los Angeles, California, co-founded in 1965 by recording engineers Tom Hidley and Amnon "Ami" Hadani. History The studio is located at 1441 North McCadden Place in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles, near the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue. Originally the home of the Hollywood Knights of Columbus, the building was built in 1927, an active period in Hollywood, as nearby buildings Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and the Hollywood Athletic Club all date from the same period. In 1960, Radio Recorders converted the ground floor billiards room and half the lounge into a recording studio to form their Sunset-Highland Division, which housed the Blue Network and other entertainment-related companies. TTG was co-founded by Tom Hidley and Amnon "Ami" Hadani, who had both previously worked with MGM/Verve Records and A & R Recording in New York before relocating to Los Angeles in 1965 to found TTG. TTG ...
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Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and controlled 5 companies remaining of once more than 400. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneur at a young age. His first business venture, at the age of 16, was a magazine called ''Student''. In 1970, he set up a mail-order record business. He opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records—later known as Virgin Megastores—in 1972. His Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s, as he started the Virgin Atlantic airline and expanded the Virgin Records music label. In 1997, he founded the Virgin Rail Group to bid for Passenger rail franchising in Great Britain, passenger rail franchises during the privatisation of British Rail. The Virgin Trains brand operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from 1997 to 2019, the Virgin CrossCountry, InterCity CrossCountry franchise from 1997 to 2007, and the Virgin Trains East Coast, InterC ...
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The Manor Studio
The Manor Studio (a.k.a. the Manor) was a recording studio in the manor house in the village of Shipton-on-Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England, north of the city of Oxford. Overview The Manor Studio was housed in a manor house which had been established in the 16th century and rebuilt in the 17th century. Around 1830 the house was remodelled and extended to left c.1830 for William Turner, a painter. The Manor and its outbuildings are listed as Grade II on the National Heritage List for England. The Manor was the third residential recording studio in the United Kingdom. The first being Ascot Sound Studios built between 1970 and 1971 by John Lennon in an addition to his Tittenhurst Park mansion, where he recorded his '' Imagine'' album. The second being Rockfield Studios in Monmouthshire, Wales. The concept was pioneered in 1969 by French musician Michel Magne in the Château d'Hérouville in Hérouville-en-Vexin. The manor house was owned by Richard Branson and used as a rec ...
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The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in May 1964. The band initially consisted of Graeme Edge (drums), Denny Laine (guitar/vocals), Mike Pinder (keyboards/vocals), Ray Thomas (multi-instrumentalist/vocals) and Clint Warwick (bass/vocals). Originally part of the British Beat music, beat and rhythm and blues, R&B scene of the early–mid 1960s, the band came to prominence with the UK No. 1 and US Top 10 single "Go Now" in late 1964/early 1965. Laine and Warwick both left the band in 1966, with Edge, Pinder and Thomas recruiting new members Justin Hayward (guitar/vocals) and John Lodge (musician), John Lodge (bass/vocals). They embraced the psychedelic rock movement of the late 1960s, with their second album, 1967's ''Days of Future Passed'', being a fusion of rock with classical music (performed with the London Festival Orchestra) that established the band as pioneers in the development of art rock and progressive rock.Runtagh, Jordan"The Moody Blues' 'Ni ...
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Wilshire Boulevard
Wilshire Boulevard (['wɪɫ.ʃɚ]) is a prominent boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue (Santa Monica), Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica, California, Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue (Los Angeles), Grand Avenue in the Financial District, Los Angeles, Financial District of downtown Los Angeles. One of the principal east–west arterial roads of Los Angeles, it is also one of the major city streets through the city of Beverly Hills, California, Beverly Hills. Wilshire Boulevard runs roughly parallel to Santa Monica Boulevard from Santa Monica to the west boundary of Beverly Hills. From the east boundary, it runs a block south of Sixth Street to its terminus. Wilshire Boulevard is densely developed throughout most of its span, connecting five of Los Angeles's major business districts and Beverly Hills. Many of the post-1956 skyscrapers in Los Angeles are located along Wilshire; for example, the Wilshire Grand C ...
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Westlake Recording Studios
Westlake Recording Studios is a music recording studio with two locations in Los Angeles and West Hollywood, California. History Westlake Recording Studios was founded in the early 1970s by the American audio engineer Tom Hidley under the name Westlake Audio. Hidley was experienced in the development of audio technology, having collaborated with Madman Muntz in the development of the first car stereo in 1959, and along with Amnon "Ami" Hadani, he had previously set up another recording studio in Hollywood, TTG Studios, in 1965. The layout of the rooms at Westlake Studios aimed for an acoustic design that could give a fairly flat frequency response at the recording position, with low reverberation delay and extensive use of bass traps. As the need to transfer audio material between different studios grew, there was an increasing demand for standardization across the recording industry; the success of Hidley's acoustic design was copied at other sites, and "Westlake-style" room ...
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Thousand Oaks, California
Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, located in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles. Approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, it is named after the many oak trees present in the area. The city forms the central populated core of the Conejo Valley. Thousand Oaks was incorporated in 1964 and has since expanded to the west and east. Two-thirds of the master-planned community surrounding Westlake Lake, Westlake and most of Newbury Park, California, Newbury Park were annexed by the city during the late 1960s and 1970s. The Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County–Ventura County line forms the city's eastern border with the city of Westlake Village, California, Westlake Village. The population was 126,966 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 126,683 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History Etymology One of the earliest names used for the area was Conejo Mountai ...
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Westlake Village, California
Westlake Village is a city in Los Angeles County, California, on its western border with Ventura County. Upon its incorporation in 1981, Westlake Village became the 82nd municipality of Los Angeles County.Baker, Pam (2002). ''Thousand Oaks Westlake Village: A Contemporary Portrait''. Community Communications, Inc. Page 19. . The population of the city was 8,029 at the 2020 census, down from 8,270 at the 2010 census. The city is named after the master-planned community surrounding Westlake Lake. With the lake at the center, the community straddles the line between Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Roughly two-thirds of the community is in the Ventura County city of Thousand Oaks. History About 3,000 years ago, the Chumash moved into the region and lived by hunting rabbits and other game, and gathering grains and acorns. Excavations, archaeological sites, and polychrome rock paintings in the area provide a glimpse into the social and economic complexity of the ancient Chu ...
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Chris Stone (entrepreneur)
Chris Stone (1935 – September 10, 2016) was an American music industry businessman and writer, and the co-founder with Gary Kellgren of the Record Plant recording studios. Stone's article first appeared in ''EQ'' magazine in November 1996. Stone founded Filmsonix in 1987, sold the Record Plant in 1989, and was the founder and CEO of World Studio Group. He co-founded the Society of Professional Audio Recording Services (SPARS), and he co-founded the Music Producers Guild of the Americas (MPGA), serving as executive director. The MPGA developed into the Producers & Engineers Wing of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS). Stone earned an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, and he lectured online for the Berklee College of Music as well as in person for the USC Thornton School of Music where he was an associate professor. He contributed regularly as a recording industry journalist, his work published by '' Pro Sound News'', '' Mix'' and ''Sound o ...
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Gary Kellgren
Gary Kellgren (April 7, 1939 – July 20, 1977) was an American audio engineer and co-founder of The Record Plant recording studios, along with businessman Chris Stone. Career Engineering Kellgren was a successful and well respected audio engineer (and occasional record producer) during the 1960s and 1970s. He began working at Apostolic Studios, Scepter Studios, and Mayfair Studios with musicians including Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and Wes Farrell. "Mayfair Studios were the best in New York, and Kellgren was the king of the advanced eight-track board."Walley, David ''No Commercial Potential: The Saga of Frank Zappa'' Kellgren was an early user of "phasing", a studio technique which simulates the sound of a jet engine.Truscott, Lucian K. "Inside the Hotel California." ''New Times'', June 1977. He is also credited with pioneering other "psychedelic" sound effects, such as "flanging", a sound which is sometimes confused with automatic double tracking (ADT). He worked with ...
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Record Plant
The Record Plant was a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and last operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it produced highly influential albums, including the New York Dolls' ''New York Dolls'', Bruce Springsteen's '' Born To Run'', Blondie's ''Parallel Lines'', Metallica's '' Load'' and '' Reload'', the Eagles' '' Hotel California'', Fleetwood Mac's '' Rumours'', Cyndi Lauper's '' She's So Unusual, '' Hanoi Rocks' '' Two Steps from the Move,'' Eminem's '' The Marshall Mathers LP'', Guns N' Roses' '' Appetite for Destruction,'' and Kanye West's '' The College Dropout''. More recent albums with songs recorded at Record Plant include Lady Gaga's '' ARTPOP'', D'Angelo's '' Black Messiah'', Justin Bieber's '' Purpose'', Hilary Duff's '' Breathe In. Breathe Out.'', Beyoncé's '' Lemonade'', and Ariana Grande's '' Thank U, Next''. The studio was founded in 1968 in New York City by Gary Kellgren and Chris ...
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