Milton Tasker "Bill" Putnam (February 20, 1920 – April 13, 1989) was an 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:
:"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, multitrack switching — they all originated in Bill's imagination."
Early life and education
Bill Putnam was born on February 20, 1920 in
Danville, Illinois
Danville is a city in and the county seat of Vermilion County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 33,027. As of 2019, the population was an estimated 30,479.
History
The area that is now Danville was once home to the Miami, K ...
. Putnam's father owned several business enterprises related to the coal mining business, and also ran a radio program at
WDZ
WDZ (1050 AM) is a commercial radio station, licensed to Decatur, Illinois. It broadcasts a sports radio format and calls itself "Fox Sports 1050." It is owned by the Neuhoff Corporation, which also owns four other local radio stations, WCZ ...
in
Tuscola, 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 (39.797682, -88.281564).
According to the 2010 census, Tusc ...
. While in the
Boy Scouts
Boy Scouts may refer to:
* Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement.
* Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement.
* An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are t ...
, working toward a 'wireless' merit badge, Putnam built a
crystal radio
A crystal radio receiver, also called a crystal set, is a simple radio receiver, popular in the early days of radio. It uses only the power of the received radio signal to produce sound, needing no external power. It is named for its most imp ...
and a
one-tube radio with his father's help, sparking his love of electronics. At thirteen, he tried and failed to become a licensed
ham radio operator
An amateur radio operator is someone who uses equipment at an amateur radio station to engage in two-way personal communications with other amateur operators on radio frequencies assigned to the amateur radio service. Amateur radio operators ha ...
but at fifteen he succeeded, earning a Class B
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assign ...
W9PUK and building his own ham radio.
Putnam attended
Danville High School, where two of his school classmates were
Dick Van Dyke and
Bobby Short
Robert Waltrip Short (September 15, 1924 – March 21, 2005) was an American cabaret singer and pianist, who interpreted songs by popular composers from the first half of the 20th century such as Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Harold ...
. In his early high school years, he worked part time in a friend's radio shop, learning about radio repair and
PA systems
A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...
. He began singing with a number of regional bands that played college campus gigs, developing his interest in
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
and the music business, and realizing 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 that 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
Broadcast engineering is the field of electrical engineering, and now to some extent computer engineering and information technology, which deals with radio and television broadcasting. Audio engineering and RF engineering are also essential ...
at
Valparaiso Technical Institute, studying under J.B. Hershmann.
Putnam returned to his hometown of Danville to work in the
Engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...
department at
WDAN
WDAN (1490 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a News/Talk format. Licensed to Danville, Illinois, United States. The station is currently owned by Neuhoff Corp., through licensee Neuhoff Media Danville, LLC.http://www.neuhoffmedia.com/stationg ...
, and later became the Chief
Engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...
at
WDWS
WDWS (1400 AM) is a commercial radio station in Champaign, Illinois, calling itself "Newstalk Radio 1400 & 93.9FM DWS." It airs a News/Talk radio format and is owned by ''The News-Gazette'', the primary daily newspaper in the Champaign-Urbana M ...
in
Champaign, Illinois
Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metro ...
. He began writing articles for ''Radio and Television'' magazine.
Career
Military service
In 1941 at the age of 21, Putnam received a
draft notice
In the United States, military conscription, commonly known as the draft, has been employed by the U.S. federal government in six conflicts: the American Revolutionary War, the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, an ...
and became a
civil service employee working on
radio ranges for the
under the
Sixth Service Command in Chicago. Putnam later worked for
G-2 on several different projects, the first of which was to miniaturize
Mine detector
Demining or mine clearance is the process of removing land mines from an area. In military operations, the object is to rapidly clear a path through a minefield, and this is often done with devices such as mine plows and blast waves. By contra ...
s to develop a miniature, concealable gun detector used by the
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and ...
to protect President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
at the
Tehran Conference
The Tehran Conference ( codenamed Eureka) was a strategy meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943, after the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran. It was held in the Soviet Union's embass ...
. Putnam also worked for the
Armed Forces Network
The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which in ...
to record
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...
s.
Illinois (1946-1957)
In 1946, Putnam founded
Universal Recording Corporation
Universal Recording Corporation was a recording studio in Chicago founded by Bill Putnam, Sr. for the purpose of investigating new recording techniques and the development of specialized recording equipment.
Universal Recording was seminal ...
in
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, ...
to pursue both the development of specialized recording equipment and new recording techniques. Putnam secured a lucrative contract to record and
delay broadcast transcriptions shows for the
ABC radio network
Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which ...
.
In 1947, Putnam moved Universal Recording to the 42nd floor of the
Chicago Civic Opera Building, and struck a deal with
The Harmonicats
Jerry Murad's Harmonicats were an American harmonica-based group.
Background
The band was founded in 1947. Originally they were named The Harmonica Madcaps and the group consisted of Jerry Murad ( chromatic lead harmonica), Bob Hadamik (bass har ...
to help facilitate a recording session and record release in exchange for a portion of the sales of the record. His use of the building's bathroom as an
echo chamber
Echo chamber of the Dresden University of Technology
Hamilton Mausoleum has a long-lasting unplanned echo
An echo chamber is a hollow enclosure used to produce reverberation, usually for recording purposes. For example, the producers of ...
for the recording of ''
Peg o' My Heart
"Peg o' My Heart" is a popular song written by Alfred Bryan (words) and Fred Fisher (music). It was published on March 15, 1913 and it featured in the 1913 musical ''Ziegfeld Follies''.
The song was first performed publicly by Irving Kaufman i ...
'' 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 attracting new clients to record with Putnam at Universal Recording.
That same year, Putnam made the first recording of a single artist singing more than one line on a recording made with
Patti Page and
George Barnes, who suggested the "duet." Page sang one vocal line of "
Confess
A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...
", 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 being 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 a new 15,000 square foot facility at 46 E. Walton Street. Putnam's 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
Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in Chicago and specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll.
The label was founded in Gary, Indiana in 1953 by Vivian Carter and James C. Bracken, a ...
,
Mercury,
Chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
and
One-derful. His reputation grew quickly thanks to his work with artists such as
Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
,
Sarah Vaughan,
Little Walter
Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning hi ...
,
Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...
,
Vic Damone
Vic Damone (born Vito Rocco Farinola; June 12, 1928 – February 11, 2018) was an American traditional pop and big band singer and actor. He was best known for his performances of songs such as the number one hit "You're Breaking My Heart", and ...
, and
Duke Ellington, who said Putnam was his favorite engineer. 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
Thomas John Dowd (October 20, 1925 – October 27, 2002) was an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multitrack recording method. Dowd worked on a veritable "who's who" of recording ...
), 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.
Sam Phillips
Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, ...
sent
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
's ''
Mystery Train
"Mystery Train" is a song written and recorded by American blues musician Junior Parker in 1953. Originally performed in the style of a Memphis blues or rhythm and blues tune, it was inspired by earlier songs and later became a popular rockabi ...
'' and ''
I Forgot to Remember to Forget
"I Forgot to Remember to Forget" is a 1955 rockabilly and country song, first recorded by Elvis Presley written by Stan Kesler and Charlie Feathers. It was Elvis' first no. 1 record nationally. The single was the fifth and final single released ...
'' 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
Mitchell William Miller (July 4, 1911 – July 31, 2010) was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor ...
and
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...
began urging Putnam to open a facility on the West Coast.
California
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
Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in ...
to establish a new company,
United Recording.
Determined to incorporate as many technological innovations into the new complex as possible, Putnam constructed new facilities, including a significant modernization of studio control room concept to permit multi-track monitoring and recording, featuring Putnam's innovative design to provide overhead forward speaker mounting and provide 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 a stereo re-mixing room. In addition, each studio had its own stereo acoustic reverberation room. All facilities were cross connected electronically at a central location so that 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. Putnam 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 founded United Recording, stereo recording was new and considered by the major record labels as little more than a novelty. But Putnam foresaw its importance and, at his own expense, began making and stockpiling simultaneous stereo mixes of recordings produced at United. Around 1962, as consumer demand for stereo recordings was surging, the major labels offered to buy Putnam's stockpile of stereo recordings. Putnam 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 Putnam's former associate, Allen Sides, at this time United Recording was bringing in around US$200,000 per month in studio billing (equivalent to US$ per month today).
After 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 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
American Zoetrope (also known as Omni Zoetrope from 1977 to 1980 and Zoetrope Studios from 1980 until 1990) is a privately run American film production company, centered in San Francisco, California and founded by Francis Ford Coppola and Georg ...
film studio. Less than a year later, on September 15, 1970, Putnam sold majority control of the building to
Columbia Records, a division of
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
. The location would later become the home of
The Automatt
The Automatt was a sound recording studio in San Francisco, California, promoted for its early mix automation system. During its eight active years, 1976 to 1984, it was one of the top recording studios in the region. The Automatt was founded by p ...
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
Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, California, Nashville, Tennessee, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates record ...
.
Universal Audio and UREI
Putnam developed the first US multi-band audio
equalizer and established
Universal Audio
United Recording Electronics Industries (UREI) was a manufacturer of recording, mixing and audio signal processing hardware for the professional recording studio, live sound and broadcasting fields.
History
Bill Putnam Sr. founded Universa ...
and later
Universal Recording Electronics Industries (UREI) in the second story loft of United Recording in 1958 as a means to develop and manufacture studio equipment. This 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. Putnam's companies were also responsible for the
vacuum tube
A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric potential difference has been applied.
The type known as ...
based
LA-2A and 176 compressors, and their
transistor
upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink).
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch ...
based successors, the LA-3A and
1176
Year 1176 ( MCLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 1176th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 176th year of the 2nd millennium, the 76th ...
. 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.
Personal life
Putnam was married four times. He fathered a son and daughter, Scott and Sue, with his first wife Grace, who elected to stay in Danville, Illinois with their children when Putnam 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, Putnam met Belinda Richmond, a singer at a nearby club near Universal Recording Corp's Walton Street location, and the two were married. Belinda 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 divorce.
Frank Sinatra introduced Putnam to his assistant, Miriam Simons (also known as 'Tookie'), who became his third wife and with whom he fathered two more sons, Bill Jr. and Jim. Miriam died rather unexpectedly and Bill did not marry again until after he sold the company and retired. In retirement he and his last wife, Caroline, moved to Ventura Keys, California.
Putnam died in Riverside, California, at the age of 69, and was laid to rest in Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, California. The service was well attended by many record executives and industry colleagues, and a group of musicians formed a band to play some of Bill's favorite songs.
Awards
* The
Audio Engineering Society awarded Putnam a Fellowship Award in 1959, and an Honorary Membership in 1983 "for lifelong contributions to studio design and to the design and making of audio instruments and equipment."
* In 2000, Putnam received a posthumous Special Merit/
Technical Grammy Award
The Technical Grammy Award is a Special Merit Grammy Award presented to individuals or companies who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field. The award was first presented in 1994 to Dr. Thomas G. S ...
for his contribution to the music industry.
References
External links
Universal Audio - Our Story*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Putnam, Bill
American music industry executives
American audio engineers
Songwriters from Illinois
Record producers from Illinois
1920 births
1989 deaths
20th-century American musicians
20th-century American businesspeople
People from Danville, Illinois
Engineers from Illinois
20th-century American engineers
20th-century American inventors
Early Recording Engineers (1930-1959)
United States Army personnel of World War II