House of Hits: The Story of Houston's Gold Star/SugarHill Recording Studios (Brad and Michele Moore Roots Music) (46 page)

It would be an understatement if you said they got the sound right. It required some wizardry from engineer Bradley and co-producers Jamail and Whittaker, but they managed to record
First Outing
live and direct to two-track in less than two days. The result is a warm, deeply rich record that belies the fact that most of the musicians who played on it weren’t even born when the legendary Blue Note jazz label was at its creative peak.

Similarly, Rick Mitchell writes in a
Houston Chronicle
feature article, “Justice sound quality is comparable to what comes out of the high-tech studios in New York or Los Angeles. Jamail works closely with engineer Andy Bradley at Houston’s SugarHill Studios.”

As for Catney, following his 1990 album
First Flight,
he issued
Jade Visions.

I also engineered his fi nal CD,
Reality Road,
recorded at Rice University’s Stude Concert Hall, released posthumously in 1995. Performing solo on a nine-foot Steinway grand piano, Catney played a set of raw and emotional pieces for this gem, which was recorded directly to analog two-track with Dolby SR, using two Neumann tube U-67 microphones.

Now a subsidiary imprint distributed by Buddha Records, Justice Records has recorded an eclectic mix of artists—and many in collaboration with SugarHill Studios, the place where it staged its early productions.

by 1990 mmv determined that a single studio room was insuffi

cient for

the collective needs of its record label, jingle company, and public recording studio company. So, we rebuilt the smaller studio, replacing most walls with a checkerboard layout of pine shingles and large squares of sound-absorbent polyurethane foam. We carpeted the fl oor—but left exposed the area with the gold star design. Also we remodeled the isolation booths and upgraded lighting and wiring.

In the control room we installed new wall paneling or absorbent tiles, as well as new shelving. Having refurbished the Auditronics console and wir-m o d e rn m u s i c ( a d ) ve n t u r e s

2 2 7

Bradley_4319_BK.indd 227

1/26/10 1:12:21 PM

ing, we improved supporting equipment by adding an Otari MX-80 twenty-four-track machine, along with twenty-four tracks of DBX noise reduction (to make the two studios compatible), plus a two-track Otari MTR-10.

After acquiring more analog and digital processors plus a second drum kit, SugarHill had two fully operational studios, manned by either Lanphier or J. R. Griffi

th.

In 1991, shortly after Studio B came on line, more Australians arrived, starting with the rock group Hitmen DTK—a musical spin-off of the defunct and legendary Radio Birdman. The lineup featured guitarist Chris Masuak, singer Johnny Kannis, bassist Shane Cook, and drummer Gerard Pressland—but former Birdman Deniz Tek made a special guest appearance too. The result was the 1991 album
Moronic Inferno,
released in Australia on Zeus Records (and in Europe under the title
Surfi ng in Another Direction
).

Tek explains his involvement in this project:

I hadn’t talked to Chris in quite a few years. We had a huge falling out when Birdman broke up in 1978. . . . However, I was keen on rekindling the friendship. . . . He suggested that I come down to the sessions in Houston from Montana. So he sent me demos of the songs, and I went to work practicing and getting my chops back.

Given Radio Birdman’s lofty status in the annals of Australian rock, this reunion at SugarHill Studios was historic. Moreover, according to Tek, it re-invigorated his improvisational instincts—and made him eager to develop a solo project that, too, would involve SugarHill. He says,

I was given the liberty to do a couple of my songs while I was there. With Chris and his band, I cut “Pushin’ the Broom” and a couple of other songs that appeared on an [1992] EP,
Good ’nuff
[Red Eye/Polydor #63-889-2], released in Australia. One of the highlights . . . was the jam session we did one night after all the songs had been recorded, which was offi cially dubbed

“Coors Live.” Some of that night also appeared on an [1999] EP and a single released in Europe, [by] Deniz Tek and Chris Masuak: “Let the Kids Dance”

[Undead Records #002]. . . .

I realized how much fun I was having in the studio with the creative process and being with friends. On top of that, I also realized what a great place SugarHill was. The more I found out about it, the more I wanted to come back and do some more work. . . . I immediately started planning my album and my return to Houston. I knew I would do it at SugarHill. . . . Chris had to be involved—because the chemistry was back. And I wanted to do it with

[Andy Bradley] because [he] knew what was going on.

2 2 8

h o u s e o f h i t s

Bradley_4319_BK.indd 228

1/26/10 1:12:21 PM

The Hometown Boys, publicity photo, 1996

Tek and Masuak returned in early 1992 to begin working on Tek’s fi rst solo CD,
Take It to the Vertical,
on Red Eye/Polydor Records. Houston master saxophonist Grady Gaines performed as a special guest, soulfully blending his Gulf Coast R&B sound with that of these former punk rockers. Tek tells more about this project:

Chris was the obvious choice to be the other guitar/keyboard player/coproducer on the album following the recementing of our relationship. I picked Scott Asheton [ex-drummer for Iggy Pop and the Stooges] and [Phil] “Dust”

Peterson on bass because I’d played with both of them in the past. . . . We were able to put together a band spirit almost immediately, and the recording worked. My wife, Angie Pepper, came down and sang a co-lead vocal and some harmonies on the album.

One good vibe led to another. During Tek’s sessions, Chris recruited him and studio drum technician Robbie Parrish to record an additional four tracks
m o d e rn m u s i c ( a d ) ve n t u r e s

2 2 9

Bradley_4319_BK.indd 229

1/26/10 1:12:21 PM

with him. These eventually appeared on a CD credited to the Juke Savages on Phantom Records, Australia (#20).

These SugarHill sessions collectively played a key role in Tek’s 1990s reemergence as a performer and recording artist. They also led directly to a highly touted Radio Birdman reunion tour in 1996, the fi rst in eighteen years—which later triggered other international touring and new recordings elsewhere. Like myriad music breakthroughs before, this one started at the old studio complex on Brock Street.

Tek adds some fi nal comments on that place:

I have met some amazing people at SugarHill . . . Grady Gaines . . . Huey P.

Meaux. . . . I also remember the day that we went up to the tape archives. . . .

That was completely mind-blowing to me because to just walk in and see the multitrack tape of “She’s About a Mover”—it was like being in a gold mine of sound.

Meanwhile the MMV-owned Discos MM label rode to new levels of Tejano success with its recent
conjunto nuevo
signee, the Hometown Boys. Over the course of a dozen or more CD recordings at SugarHill (all engineered, produced, or coproduced by Lanphier), the Homies racked up major sales and numerous awards, including Gold Records for 1994’s
Tres Ramitas
and 1995’s
Mire Amigo.

As a result of the Hometown Boys’ success, we also recorded a veteran conjunto group called Los Dos Gilbertos, plus a younger band called Los Pecadores.

I coproduced Discos MM’s recording of the group David Olivares and XS.

That project spawned a cross-cultural wonder, for Meaux suggested converting some 1960s rock into contemporary cumbia. Drawing from studio history, we Latinized “She’s About a Mover,” and it became a regional hit.

At this point MMV underwent another restructuring, which left Lummis, Silva, and Leavitt in charge. They decided to close the SugarHill Sound jingle company and concentrate more fully on the Latino music market. Then in early 1993, with Lummis exiting to the corporate banking world, MMV

next elected to scale back certain operations. It also closed Studio B, selling much of its gear and investing the proceeds in new sound equipment for the Hometown Boys, with whom Lanphier departed to work full time.

Now on my own in charge of studio operations, I began searching for a possible short-term lessee for Studio B, which was otherwise used only for rehearsals. Seeing that historic chamber empty again depressed me. Moreover, given recent business decisions, I was uncertain about the future of MMV’s relationship with the studios. But more changes lay ahead.

2 3 0

h o u s e o f h i t s

Bradley_4319_BK.indd 230

1/26/10 1:12:21 PM

22

Emergence

of a RAD Idea

oncurrently with mmv reconsidering
its commitment

to studio ownership, I crossed paths with several people who

would infl uence the next phase of SugarHill’s history. Through a series of fortunate affi

liations, a new company would be born.

It started when Robbie Parrish, who was producing a CD for singer Tony Villa, brought in Rodney Meyers to add keyboard eff ects on Villa’s album.

Meyers, a college professor in audio technology, was also doing freelance work in digital mastering and editing—and seeking proper space in which to establish his business.

So Meyers, Max Silva, and I convened to discuss and arrange a lease agreement whereby Meyers’s independent mastering company would become a tenant in the SugarHill building. We determined that he would occupy the second-fl oor site where International Artists had once maintained offi ces—

the same place where Bill Quinn had originally installed the upstairs control room for the big studio.

Meyers gutted the space, soundproofed it, and created an acoustically correct environment for processing audio. His company, Sound Engineering, began operations on site with a mastering room, a small offi

ce, and a small

production room. It was one of the fi rst digital mastering facilities in Houston, fi ttingly located in the city’s oldest continuously operating studio.

Meanwhile, we briefl y leased Studio B to independent producer Dan Yeaney, who staged some freelance sessions there. Upon his departure, MMV

sold the fi nal vintage Auditronics console, leaving only a set of Altec monitors and a two-track MCI JH-110 analog tape deck.

However, musician and independent sound engineer Dan Workman was also searching for a place to move his own studio business. He says, Bradley_4319_BK.indd 231

1/26/10 1:12:22 PM

It was 1994, and I was recording at my home studio called the Big House. . . .

It was getting diffi

cult to use the whole house for sessions. So I thought

about moving to a studio and doing my work there. . . . I decided to call Robbie [Parrish]. He was Mister Network. . . . He says, “Why don’t you call Andy Bradley over at SugarHill? I think Studio B is just being used as a rehearsal place.”

Having a stable tenant in Studio B was good news at SugarHill. “When I fi rst came over,” Workman says, “Rodney Meyers was putting in sheetrock upstairs in what was to become the mastering facility, Sound Engineering. . . .

At the time I thought it was very cool that there would soon be a full-fl edged mastering room in the building.” In fact, mastering had not been done at 5626 Brock since Jim Duff left Gold Star in late 1968. Through the 1980s the norm was that vinyl record pressing plants handled mastering. However, in the later 1980s and the 1990s specialized independent mastering facilities became more common, especially with the digital revolution changing the nature of sound recording.

Thus, SugarHill Studios came to house two new tenants with separate but complementary business interests. As part of the agreement with Workman, his company and SugarHill shared equipment and any overfl ow of customers. Since his client base had little if any overlap with mine, our two studio companies could collaborate eff ectively without being rivals.

A Mackie twenty-four channel/eight-bus console and a Fostex sixteen-track analog deck that ran one-half-inch tape anchored Workman’s studio space. He also brought in a number of excellent microphones and outboard processing units. Monitoring speakers were the classic Altec 604Es, Yamaha NS10Ms, Tannoy 6.5s, and Auratone sound cubes. As he transitioned into digital engineering, Workman added Tascam DA-88 modular digital recorders.