I was fortunate to be in that scene for a little while between fall '66 through sometime in '68. I was on sessions with Carol Kaye, Hal Blaine, Don Peake, Abe Laboriel, Mack Rebbenack (Dr. John), Paul Humphrey, and a bunch of other folks as well. I also was in the Echo chambers, which were under the studio. They were finished inside in Concrete, which contributed to their sound, which still is unbelievable. Great times then, not soon forgotten.
I spent many hours at Gold Star with Stan Ross as our engineer. What a marvelous guy. He taught me many things about how to get the best sounds out of our group. Those were the days. You never knew who you were going to bump into at Gold Star..
During the late '60's at one time there were 3 busy studios in that area...Goldstar...across the street Paramount and around the corner from Goldstar was (forgot the name) another (short-lived though)...
On 6299 Santa Monica & Vine . Yoshinoya on one corner . A Mobile gas station on the other. Then a bunch of little stores across the street. Then a 4 story with a California Surplus on ground level, across from that. Dave Gold seems like a real kind man.
The Echo chambers there were special, what a wonderful sound. They were basically a square, concrete room with a speaker pointing on an angle with an Altec tube condenser microphone. I have a console that I use with my RCA 44bx, It was made in 1956 that is a Western Electric design, it has 12AX7, and 12AU7 tubes. I will put up a few videos with it working. It still works great and the electronics are 100% original, no new capacitors, it has no hum or background noise. A guy named Little Buddha taught me about how to record the "Wall of Sound " way of recording.
Wow! What a treasure to have! I bet that console with that ribbon mic are the absolute definition of "warm". How many channels on the console? Just curious. I bet the pre amps in that baby sound fantastic.
.....for a visual re-creation of the Gold Star studio see the movie clip from Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do With It". It features the Spector actor and has a camera pan of the studio filled with musicians as they record, "River Deep". Fantastik!
A great band, yes, but there were several sets of great backing musicians ... The Funk Brothers at Motown, Booker T's MGs at Stax and MFSB at Philadelphia International.
I heard that a lot of groups in the 1960's and 1970's did not play on their own albums.Does that include many garage bands at the time.Groups like the Seeds,Count Five,The Blues Magoos,The Syndicate of Sound,The 13th Floor Elevator and many other garage bands at the time.Did the Wrecking Crew play on their stuff as well?
@@tdsoupbone0 The Association. They were the first act to play The Monterey Pop Festival. See the videos / film. At the festival, they play instruments, doesn't sound exactly like the records. The Wreaking Crew were incapable of playing bad notes! The Monkeys finally rebelled, wanted to play their own instruments, resulting in some good music, but no more hits!
I was curious too; so I went rooting. Online information is sketchy and conflicted. This info is from "lostandsound.wordpress.com." It lists its sources but doesn't guarantee the info due to the lack of official credit listings for older recordings. It seems it's either Rene Hall, who also plays Danelectro, or Ritchie himself playing the lead. Online chatter indicates Hall played the intro on the Danelectro. Nobody seems to have a clue who played the claves; and if there's a piano, it is so far down in the mix you can barely hear it. Buddy Clark: string bass Ernie Freeman: piano Carol Kaye: rhythm guitar Rene Hall: Danelectro guitar (six-string bass guitar) Earl Palmer: drums Ritchie Valens: vocals, guitar
Geez . . . now I'm starting to second guess my own reply. I think it even could be Carole Kaye on lead. She is such a monster, started on guitar before bass. Check out her work with the Searchers 1965 posted by bluenazz. Very fun. If anybody knows for sure who played the solo on La Bamba please chime in.
Thomas De Lello The not-getting-paid part certainly matches common music biz practices from back in the day. Sorry, I wasn't more helpful. Couldn't resist the fodder though, it being late at night and all. At any rate, your question was good.
It was a large propane tank buried under the ground. Its still there under the strip mall, corner of Melrose and Vine. I drive by it all the time. All this bullshit about never telling how the echo chamber was built - that's just to throw you off. There's no magic to building a reverb chamber, every studio in town had them. Capital Records still has theirs.
TONI FISHER'S hit "The Big Hurt" (1960) was the first use of phasing....DJ's thought there was "something wrong" with the record.....until they heard it elsewhere. Sounds like shortwave....Gimmick sold records........
Who is this "reporter" that didn't do his research of the Person, the Studio as well as the music genre he is interviewing about...his questions are inane...unprofessional...if you don't know your subject matter...stay home!
This IS a lot better than nothing! Mr. Ross is deceased, Mr. Gold is retired, may not be easy to interview! Why don't YOU try? This interview is only, less than 10 minutes. Hits a few of the high points. The interviewer is a young guy, probably obtained his questions from watching the film. While this was an excellent, exceptional location for it's time, & made important contributions, it's (just) one of the important elements, others being the talents of the musicians, singers, writers, composers, producers. There were, and are, other studios where a talented musician such as Neil Diamond, recorded excellent songs, & had hits. Spector's imaginative creations, and the echo chamber, were a perfect combination. Only a relatively tiny percentage of the people who recorded there, had consistent success: Sonny Bono, Phil, Neil, a few others. Many, many masters, a good number of 'one hit wonders.' "The Big Hurt," while interesting & a hit, was really an engineered fluke, stumbled upon. Toni Fisher had one big hit, another mid - chart, Top 40 disc, & that's it! The nearby building with the big RCA letters on the side, one of the locations where Elvis recorded, also had a basement / subterranean chamber with a speaker & a microphone for (additional) echo effect. Let's recall that, among many other hilarious recordings, Stan Freberg made a parody AND satire of Elvis', "Heartbreak Hotel," which included admonitions to keep increasing the echo, until this effect became, "Too Much!"
@@richardhewlett5603 Members of The Wreaking Crew released, "Tequila," as by the Champs. A HUGE hit! Ernie Freeman was another studio musician, who, with his friends, had a good number of hits, over the years. They were B. Bumble & The Stingers on, "Nut Rocker." The Markets on, "Surfer's Stomp," "Out Of Limits." The Routers on, "Let's Go (Pony)." Others. (Perhaps you are just too young, Richard! At least, you have a great name!) When they had a big hit, they would grab or 'acquire' guys to tour with a successful recording. A big example of this is, "Sugar Sugar," by The Archies. There were no 'Archies!.' All studio musicians. When this became a huge, unexpected hit, a bunch of guys & a young lady were hired to tour with the hit, for a couple of years. Same for the group, Steam (not 'The Steam'), with the one hit wonder, "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye."
Here's a gentleman who's been there and done it all! Thanks for your contribution, Dave!
you sir,together with phil, created without a doubt some of the finest tunes ever
I was fortunate to be in that scene for a little while between fall '66 through sometime in '68. I was on sessions with Carol Kaye, Hal Blaine, Don Peake, Abe Laboriel, Mack Rebbenack (Dr. John), Paul Humphrey, and a bunch of other folks as well. I also was in the Echo chambers, which were under the studio. They were finished inside in Concrete, which contributed to their sound, which still is unbelievable. Great times then, not soon forgotten.
Really nice impromptu interview with Mr. Gold. As previously stated, a genuine and humble man. Thank You.
I did my first recordings at Gold Star in 1965 with the Prophets (released as The Prophets Of Old). George Fernandez was the Engr.
I have absolute respect and admiration for "The Wrecking Crew" ~ BCK
I spent many hours at Gold Star with Stan Ross as our engineer. What a marvelous guy. He taught me many things about how to get the best sounds out of our group. Those were the days. You never knew who you were going to bump into at Gold Star..
You are lucky to have been in the company of such legends.
David is my hero. You are the Champion of this world
So sad that Gold Star recording studio have been closed and demolished 30 years! Where all good music have been recorded!
During the late '60's at one time there were 3 busy studios in that area...Goldstar...across the street Paramount and around the corner from Goldstar was (forgot the name) another (short-lived though)...
To be such a legend, Mr. Gold is a very humble man.
On 6299 Santa Monica & Vine . Yoshinoya on one corner . A Mobile gas station on the other. Then a bunch of little stores across the street. Then a 4 story with a California Surplus on ground level, across from that. Dave Gold seems like a real kind man.
In 1969, Mr Gold gave me a tour , and told me some amazing stories about Gold Star studios!
I am keeping that studio vibe alive ! studio in florida
Hey man, can you get this backyard vibe? drive.google.com/file/d/0Bwp0TQIpbuBzWlRxS1ViUThFaUU/view?usp=sharing
at the beginning you'll hear a train and some weed whackers, but once the band kicks in there's not much problem with background noise...
How’s that? Using tape I hope? Recording all instruments live? Got a chamber or good plate?
Great singers are a "dime-a-dozen", but great songs are created by musicians of this caliber. Ya'll are (and were) the real stars ~ BCK
Dave's description of his echo chambers as having 'a magical sound' is eloquently put.
Anthony Reichardt
Santa Ana, Californai
Great stuff. History.
Great stuff there!!
Eddie Cochran was one of the earliest musicians to use an echo chamber at gold star studios back in 1958 or thereabouts.
The Echo chambers there were special, what a wonderful sound. They were basically a square, concrete room with a speaker pointing on an angle with an Altec tube condenser microphone. I have a console that I use with my RCA 44bx, It was made in 1956 that is a Western Electric design, it has 12AX7, and 12AU7 tubes. I will put up a few videos with it working. It still works great and the electronics are 100% original, no new capacitors, it has no hum or background noise. A guy named Little Buddha taught me about how to record the "Wall of Sound " way of recording.
Wow! What a treasure to have! I bet that console with that ribbon mic are the absolute definition of "warm". How many channels on the console? Just curious. I bet the pre amps in that baby sound fantastic.
It has 3 mic pres and 2 aux imputs.
Another video on YT one of the wrecking crew says it was an old propane tank!
Great stuff here!
wish i could find the film of the documentry
.....for a visual re-creation of the Gold Star studio see the movie clip from
Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do With It". It features the Spector
actor and has a camera pan of the studio filled with musicians as they
record, "River Deep". Fantastik!
David is right. Dennis Wilson was the surfer. I’ll never forget the video clip of Brian trying to surf on a backwards facing board! Lol
wow she looks so young
A great band, yes, but there were several sets of great backing musicians ... The Funk Brothers at Motown, Booker T's MGs at Stax and MFSB at Philadelphia International.
I heard that a lot of groups in the 1960's and 1970's did not play on their own albums.Does that include many garage bands at the time.Groups like the Seeds,Count Five,The Blues Magoos,The Syndicate of Sound,The 13th Floor Elevator and many other garage bands at the time.Did the Wrecking Crew play on their stuff as well?
garage bands played their own tunes. It was the "stars" that used the Wrecking Crew to hide the fact that most of em could barely play
@@tdsoupbone0 The Association. They were the first act to play The Monterey Pop Festival. See the videos / film. At the festival, they play instruments, doesn't sound exactly like the records. The Wreaking Crew were incapable of playing bad notes! The Monkeys finally rebelled, wanted to play their own instruments, resulting in some good music, but no more hits!
Sold Gold Star in 1984 and they burnt it 2 weeks later.
Absolutely the best!
The Runaways did some early demos at Goldstar, but the original (and different line up) first LP recorded elsewhere.
Reason to record there was the crew.
I'm getting seasick...
Who played and recorded that wonderful guitar solo on Richie Valen's big hit "La Bamba"...??? I always wanted to know.
I was curious too; so I went rooting. Online information is sketchy and conflicted. This info is from "lostandsound.wordpress.com." It lists its sources but doesn't guarantee the info due to the lack of official credit listings for older recordings. It seems it's either Rene Hall, who also plays Danelectro, or Ritchie himself playing the lead. Online chatter indicates Hall played the intro on the Danelectro. Nobody seems to have a clue who played the claves; and if there's a piano, it is so far down in the mix you can barely hear it.
Buddy Clark: string bass
Ernie Freeman: piano
Carol Kaye: rhythm guitar
Rene Hall: Danelectro guitar (six-string bass guitar)
Earl Palmer: drums
Ritchie Valens: vocals, guitar
Geez . . . now I'm starting to second guess my own reply. I think it even could be Carole Kaye on lead. She is such a monster, started on guitar before bass. Check out her work with the Searchers 1965 posted by bluenazz. Very fun. If anybody knows for sure who played the solo on La Bamba please chime in.
Kimberly Ann H.
Maybe it was some drunk they found in the back alley who never got paid and has disappeared into oblivion.
Thomas De Lello
The not-getting-paid part certainly matches common music biz practices from back in the day. Sorry, I wasn't more helpful. Couldn't resist the fodder though, it being late at night and all. At any rate, your question was good.
Carol Kaye played guitar on that song she says so herself not sure if it's the solo as well that she plays,however it very well could be her
So... How does Gold Star Studio compete with Capital Records in the same city...? I don't understand it...
'It's a big city' is the simple answer. There were other studios as well.
But DAVE GOLD said that he will NEVER tell how that echo chamber was built....Unfortunately,the secret dies with him..
+Ronald Vaughan My understanding it that It was a parking garage under the building but never used..
clarkewi No, Gold actually designed it after very refined mathematical calculations.
It was a large propane tank buried under the ground. Its still there under the strip mall, corner of Melrose and Vine. I drive by it all the time. All this bullshit about never telling how the echo chamber was built - that's just to throw you off. There's no magic to building a reverb chamber, every studio in town had them. Capital Records still has theirs.
It wasn't a large propane tank, as far as I understand....cool that you're so close to the place though, I'm rather jealous.
He even says, there were two chambers and that there are nothing left of them but the sides....
unfortunately he miss all of the fifties part with Ritchie Valens, Eddie Cochran and some other
TONI FISHER'S hit "The Big Hurt" (1960) was the first use of phasing....DJ's thought there was "something wrong" with the record.....until they heard it elsewhere. Sounds like shortwave....Gimmick sold records........
Who is this "reporter" that didn't do his research of the Person, the Studio as well as the music genre he is interviewing about...his questions are inane...unprofessional...if you don't know your subject matter...stay home!
The interviewer is a real dolt !
This IS a lot better than nothing! Mr. Ross is deceased, Mr. Gold is retired, may not be easy to interview! Why don't YOU try? This interview is only, less than 10 minutes. Hits a few of the high points. The interviewer is a young guy, probably obtained his questions from watching the film. While this was an excellent, exceptional location for it's time, & made important contributions, it's (just) one of the important elements, others being the talents of the musicians, singers, writers, composers, producers. There were, and are, other studios where a talented musician such as Neil Diamond, recorded excellent songs, & had hits. Spector's imaginative creations, and the echo chamber, were a perfect combination. Only a relatively tiny percentage of the people who recorded there, had consistent success: Sonny Bono, Phil, Neil, a few others. Many, many masters, a good number of 'one hit wonders.' "The Big Hurt," while interesting & a hit, was really an engineered fluke, stumbled upon. Toni Fisher had one big hit, another mid - chart, Top 40 disc, & that's it! The nearby building with the big RCA letters on the side, one of the locations where Elvis recorded, also had a basement / subterranean chamber with a speaker & a microphone for (additional) echo effect. Let's recall that, among many other hilarious recordings, Stan Freberg made a parody AND satire of Elvis', "Heartbreak Hotel," which included admonitions to keep increasing the echo, until this effect became, "Too Much!"
His wife looks like she has had some work done. Did she use Joan Rivers plastic surgeon Steven Hoefflin?
is that where some of the insurance money went after they burned down the place? What they did to Goldstar is a crime of the century.
@@tapasitos What happened?
wtf with the camera
besides the Funk Brothers , these guys were the best band ever
+jennifur sun I saw the Funk Brothers give a free concert once in Prospect Park Bandshell in Brooklyn about 1991-94?? They were great!!!
I used to date his daughter Paula. Nice man.
OK I get- the questions were definitely cringe worthy... right on...
I am sorry but his vocal mucus messes up my meridian sensors.
The interviewer is clueless!
why did you cringe?!
Wrecking crew = wrecking music.
how many hits have you made?
Chris M None,like the god-awful Smirking crew.
Okay
Richard Hewlett = No Taste
@@richardhewlett5603 Members of The Wreaking Crew released, "Tequila," as by the Champs. A HUGE hit! Ernie Freeman was another studio musician, who, with his friends, had a good number of hits, over the years. They were B. Bumble & The Stingers on, "Nut Rocker." The Markets on, "Surfer's Stomp," "Out Of Limits." The Routers on, "Let's Go (Pony)." Others. (Perhaps you are just too young, Richard! At least, you have a great name!) When they had a big hit, they would grab or 'acquire' guys to tour with a successful recording. A big example of this is, "Sugar Sugar," by The Archies. There were no 'Archies!.' All studio musicians. When this became a huge, unexpected hit, a bunch of guys & a young lady were hired to tour with the hit, for a couple of years. Same for the group, Steam (not 'The Steam'), with the one hit wonder, "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye."
Go.to.fran.blanche.she.is.there.with
The.huge.reverb.the.studios.used
For.that.reverb.sound.that.spector
Used.brian.wilson.on.record.50s.60s