RSR266 - Dana Dowd - Mémoire of Her Father Tom Dowd
Recording Studio Rockstars
Lij Shaw
4.8 • 543 Ratings
🗓️ 9 October 2020
⏱️ 125 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
My guest today is Dana Dowd whose father was the legendary Tom Dowd an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records with a credit list of top artists in jazz, blues, doo wop, soul, and rock records spanning 5 decades of recording from the 50s-90s.
Credited with innovating the multitrack recording method and linear console faders from their original round knobs Tom engineered through the various phases of recording technology starting with direct to disc all the way through analog tape 2 track, 4 track, eight-track, 16 24 and finally Pro Tools in the 90s.
His first hit in the 50s was Eileen Barton's "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake". And he went on to record popular artists such as Ray Charles, the Drifters, the Coasters, the Spinners, Ruth Brown and Bobby Darin.
He recorded iconic jazz records by John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, and Herbie Mann and continued through other genres of music recording Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Oak Arkansas, Derek and the Dominos, Rod Stewart, Wishbone Ash, New Model Army, Cream, Lulu, Chicago, the Allman Brothers Band, Joe Bonamassa, Robin Gibbs, Meat Loaf, Cher, the Rascals, the Spinners, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross, the Four Seasons, Kenny Loggins, James Gang, Dusty Springfield, Eddie Harris, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Joe Castro and Primal Scream.
I met Tom's daughter Dana Dowd more recently when she wrote a glowing testimonial as part of our movement to help save home studios in music city. Dana is an outspoken supporter of the music industry, and expert on her father and his work, and a successful business person and entrepreneur in her own industry of brand marketing.
So It's an honour to have Dana joining us on the podcast and today we are here to learn more about her dad Tom Dowd and what it was like to grow up around so much incredible music that influences us all.
Thanks to our sponsors!
JZ Microphones: Use coupon ROCKSTARS to get 50% off The BB29 mic at JZmic.com
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iZotope: iZotope.com/Rockstars code ROCK10 10% off
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode of Recording Studio Rockstars is brought to you by OWC, PreSonus, API Audio, Isotope, Sound Porter, Mastering, JZ microphones, and Spectra-1964, |
| 0:14.0 | on the JZB-B-29 microphone through the Spectra-1964 STX-100 Micpre, C6610 Complementer, and Isotope RX, and Ozone. |
| 0:24.4 | So get ready to rock. |
| 0:27.8 | My father would walk in the room, into the recording studio. He'd listen. He'd go back into the |
| 0:33.9 | control room, and he'd bring whatever he heard through those wires and into the room. |
| 0:39.3 | And that's what made him so unique because he played so many instruments and because he really did have just an incredible ear |
| 0:45.3 | and because he could count music without a meter and was that ridiculous human. |
| 1:03.2 | Welcome to Recording Studio Rockstars. |
| 1:11.6 | I'm Lid Shaw and this is the podcast created to help you become a rock star of the recording studio. |
| 1:21.6 | I've got two words for you that will help you make your best record ever and not lose it. Storage and backup. You want fast drives for composing and recording and reliable drives for backup so you don't lose all |
| 1:28.8 | your hard work when something goes wrong. That's why I chose OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G internal |
| 1:35.4 | SSDs for my studio computer and Mercury Elite Pro external drives for archiving. Discover the best |
| 1:42.0 | OWC drive options for your studio at macsales.com slash rock stars. |
| 1:50.5 | The Spectre 1964 STX-100 mic pre provides unequaled headroom and linear output regardless of transient |
| 1:58.5 | audio peaks, capturing critical details from your microphone. |
| 2:01.6 | The 100 series amplifiers were used by Tom Dowd, Muscle Shoals, and the record plant on records by Zizi Top, |
| 2:07.6 | Aerosmith, and John Lennon. Now you can get that same incredible sound in your studio at spectra-1964.com |
| 2:14.6 | or call them at 801-7907602. |
| 2:18.3 | Studio One from Pre-Sonis is the ideal DAW for your home studio, taking you from songwriting all the way through mixing and mastering with a full suite of virtual instruments, guitar amps, and plugins for creative inspiration. |
| 2:35.1 | It's easy to use for the beginner, yet fully customizable for your high-speed workflow as you become an expert. |
| 2:41.0 | Get started now with Studio One artist and Presonis sphere for access to all software, learning, and creative collaboration. |
| 2:47.9 | At Presonis, wherever sound takes you. |
... |
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