Legendary recording engineer Larry Levine, RIP

Another one who worked with a heart, gone.

I am sorry for his family, but they can rest assured that he left a great legacy which he will be remembered by.

R.I.P. Mr. Levine.

 

I am saddened to hear of Larry's passing. My condolences go out to his family and friends. A great loss. RIP.

 

As Steve explained, on most Tuesday mornings, Stan Ross, Dave Gold and Larry Levine, among of the greatest recording engineers of all time, gather with friends and former clients of their legendary Gold Star Studios for breakfast and conversation. I’m humbled when I occasionally attend and enjoy listening to stories and memories of thirty-five years of recording sessions at Gold Star that resulted in a staggering amount of historic recordings that we all love. Larry was an icon in my eyes. I liked him and I'm sorry he's gone.

 

My condolences as well. There are legions of recordings he helped to make special. Going Places! is a wonderful synthesis of many of those sounds I've spun countless times. He sounds like a great guy, and his work will continue to delight.

 

Very sad to hear of Larry's passing.

His talented contributions to the world of music will never be forgotten.

 

Here are some singles that were engineered by Mr. Levine (from his website). What a legacy he leaves!

He’s A Rebel
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
Puddin’ N’ Tain
He’s Sure The Boy I Love
Why Do Lovers Break Each Others Hearts
(Today I Met) The Boy I’m Gonna Marry
Da Doo Ron Ron
Heartbreaker
Why Don’t They Let Us Fall In Love
Chapel Of Love
Not Too Young To Get Married
Wait Til My Bobby Gets Home
All Grown Up
Be My Baby
Then He Kissed Me
A Fine, Fine Boy
Baby, I Love You
I Wonder
Girls Can Tell
Little Boy
Hold Me Tight
(The Best Part Of) Breakin‘ Up
Soldier Baby Of Mine
Strange Love
Stumble And Fall
When I Saw You
So Young
Do I Love You?
Keep On Dancing
You, Baby
Woman In Love (With You)
Walking In The Rain
You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’
Born To Be Together
Just Once In My Life
Unchained Melody
Is This What I Get For Loving You?
Long Way To Be Happy
(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons
Ebb Time
This Could Be The Night
Paradise
River Deep – Mountain High
I’ll Never Need More Than This
You Came, You Saw, You Conquered
Black Pearl
Love Is All I Have To Give

 

R.I.P Larry.

 

Rest in peace, Larry. An incredible talent is no longer with us, yet in a way, he is immortalized in his work. My condolences to all his family and friends.

 

What an amazing list of great songs Larry Levine worked on. Rest in peace.

 

Dear God.

What I wouldn't have given to have a good long sit-down and talk with him.

There will never be another.

 

Requiescat in pace.

 

R.I.P...what a legacy he has!

 

Sad news, indeed, as he engineered many of my favorite '60s pop records. RIP.

 

What a legacy! Herb Alpert...Beach Boys...Ike & Tina.... plenty out there who'd consider their crowning achievement to work with just one of these artists. He will be missed.

 

Although I didn’t know him personally (only from the great things he achieved in the music business and from his website) he truly seemed to be an amazing person. He’ll be missed, but remembered. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.

 

Very sad - put up with Spector and engineering some brilliant records to boot. RIP.

 

Never heard of him until now, but looking at that list of singles he engineered, i do know his work after all, RIP!

 

I'm very sad to hear this. He was just a lovely, cool, generous soul the one time I was fortunate to meet him.

God bless 'im.

 

The common thread running through much of the music I love. It isn't necessarily the star artist,nor the writer. Sometimes its the musicians playing(Blaine,Kaye,etc.).But many times its where it was recorded and who was in control of the sound. That was Larry Levine for me. I never met him,but I am glad to hear so many testimonials here that he was more than just an "engineer" in the music business. A good man,good at his craft. That thought will get me through the day. Time to get the "Pet Sounds" box,the Spector box and some vinyl TJB out this weekend and crank them up.

 

My very sincere condolences go out to Larry's family and friends.

 

I saw him interviewed on Court TV during the Phil Spector trial and he was articulate and kind, very supportive of Phil and talked about the Phil he knew from all the work they did together. Didn't realize he was ill although at that age it can come suddenly.

 

Larry Levine, 80; engineered record producer Phil Spector's 'Wall of Sound' in the 1960s
By Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Larry Levine, the recording engineer who helped translate the grandiose sonic vision of record producer Phil Spector into some of the biggest-selling and most influential recordings of the rock era, died Thursday, on his 80th birthday, at his home in Encino.

The announcement by his wife, Lyn, gave no cause of death, but he had suffered from emphysema and heart ailments, his cousin Stan Ross said.

If Spector was the visionary architect of the "Wall of Sound" that defined such 1960s hits as the Ronettes' "Be My Baby," the Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron" and the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," Levine was the nuts-and-bolts contractor charged with making it work.

Inside the cramped Studio A of Gold Star Recording Studios at Santa Monica Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, Levine applied his skill to capturing and shaping arrangements that often encompassed three or four guitars, several pianos, brass, percussion and other instruments, not to mention the vocals.

"He made Phil Spector a genius by applying the simple logic of using echo chamber," Gold Star's co-owner Ross said Monday of Levine. "Phil had a tendency of overbooking the room, and there were more musicians than there should have been in the studio.

"It began to saturate the walls, and you couldn't make it happen unless you get some separation, and the only way you could do that is by getting some echo and making the room sound larger. . . .

"I showed him how you work this echo chamber thing and he got into it and sure enough it worked. . . . If Phil had gone into another place to do it, it would have been a normal record without any wall of sound. . . . It gave it dimension, it sounded like it was a football field."

Born in New York on May 8, 1928, Levin grew up in Los Angeles. After serving in the Army during the Korean War, he learned the craft of recording from Ross, who had opened Gold Star with Dave Gold in the early 1950s.

Though Levine might be most strongly associated with Spector, his distinctive resume also includes the early rock 'n' roll records of Eddie Cochran and those by the Beach Boys, Sonny and Cher, Wings, the Carpenters, Dr. John and Herb Alpert.

Levine won a Grammy for best engineered recording for Alpert and the Tijuana Brass' 1965 hit "A Taste of Honey," and Alpert brought him to his A&M label to build and oversee an in-house recording studio modeled on Gold Star.

"Larry was just the easiest guy in the world to get along with," said drummer Hal Blaine, who worked with Levine on the Spector, Tijuana Brass and other sessions.

"It was just a delight working with Larry. He really enjoyed what he was doing."

Besides his wife, Levine is survived by his sons Rick, Rob and Michael; four grandchildren; and sister, Joyce Black.

 

Form todays "The Independent" (UK): Larry Levine Gold Star recording engineer....

 

I missed this news until today, but let me add my condolences and sadness for a man who's work has meant a lot to me. May Larry rest well.

 

I'm very sorry to hear this Steve - my condolences. I know that he was a dear friend of yours, and I'm sure you will always treasure the times you had together. RIP - a TRUE legend in the business!