SH Spotlight I'm asked stuff: Favorite mastering engineer, best BOSTON CD, best TRAVELING WILBURYS CD, etc..

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Steve Hoffman, Oct 3, 2018.

  1. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Doug was (is) a master at it. Most DJ's of that era could talk, spin the records and engineer all at the same time. I practiced when the station signed off after 2 am. Took not long. I'd been playing DJ at home since I was a kid...

    But at KLAC, it was scary, I mean, it was the big time and they trusted me for the afternoon drive time sound. I didn't announce, just engineered but still, records were under three minutes, then talking, jingle, commercials, news, etc., etc. Just one goof and you're dead meat. I never goofed though. It was fun as heck. I also had to (at the same time (3 pm to midnight) monitor KMET and both transmitters, etc.

    And of course, VERY IMPORTANT, one has to work well with the talent. If you can't get along, you're out!

    I still have dreams about it though. There is dead air because I can't cue up the next record in time and I wake up in a panic. All radio people have that dream...
     
  2. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    But none of these activities were involved in making the record sound better over the airwaves?

    I believe it was on a Ken Burns documentary on rock & roll where Motown recording studio technicians could adjust the mastering and sound by piping the outgoing signal to their car radio in order to adjust the bass when it was later cut to vinyl for radio play. Didn't know that could be done but found it fascinating technicians could go to those lengths in caring about the sound.
     
  3. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Sorry to bore anyone with this but I'm nostalgic.

    KLAC did a remote broadcast at Disneyland on a Saturday back in the late 1970's. It was "Country Music Day" at Disneyland and there was Barbara Mandrell, Freddy Fender, Lynn Anderson, The Gatlin Bros., etc., bunch of great country acts. We broadcast from the Main Street train station all day starting at 7:00 am.

    I was there (as the engineer in charge) at 4:30 am, in Disneyland, with no one else there except the guard. It was wonderful and spooky. The morning jock showed up at 5 and we set up the microphone, turntables, etc. and started broadcasting before the place opened at 9. Got free food, anything we wanted.

    I, at that time had a giant crush on singer Barbara Mandrell (who didn't?) She had a song on the charts I really loved called "Standing Room Only." (Sample lyric: "You must think my bed's a bus stop, the way you come and go...")

    Anyway, her tour bus pulled up in the morning along with all the rest and she came over to say hi (on the air). I was ga-ga at that point and I asked her "will you sing Standing Room Only tonight?" She said she would sing it just for me. Left me melting and the DJ with his mouth open. "What's your secret?" I had no idea. Maybe she liked my long hair. At any rate, in the afternoon we took the remote microphone pack and broadcast FROM THE RIDES! That was about the best hour of my life. They cleared the lines for us, held the rides for us, and it was crowded..

    That night, I was in the underground area (under Tomorrowland) where some of the stars were getting ready. I chatted with Freddy Fender and watched him go up the stage elevator to the "Tomorrowland Terrace" to perform. (You start playing at the bottom and the stage rises up, as those of you who know Dizzyland are aware).

    I went up to to wait for Barbara's band, they came on, did a few songs and then she came on, sang a hit or two and then started Standing Room Only. She caught sight of me at the side of the stage and sang the entire song right to me. Looking at me the entire time. Man, could have died right there.

    After it was over the caveman part of my brain thought that maybe, just maybe, you know, I had a chance. She saw me, gave me a kiss on the lips, looked at my expression and said (and I quote)

    "You're too young, honey."



    Dang, almost!

    81YZOlts0rL._SS500_.jpg
     
    Last edited: Mar 17, 2021
  4. WisFish

    WisFish Dig Them Grooves

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    I really enjoyed reading that!
     
    Slim Zooms, All Down The Line and jhm like this.
  5. g.z.

    g.z. Senior Member

    :unhunh: Not boring at all. Great stuff. :thumbsup:
     
  6. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    It was in college radio that I first realized the difference between two cuttings of the same song, how one could sound wonderful and the other like s***. I also learned about compression, what it does, what it can't do and EQ, everything I would need for later. Better than any BA.
     
  7. forthlin

    forthlin Member Chris & Vickie Cyber Support Team

    I haven't cracked a mic in 8 years and I still have that damn dream.
     
  8. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    I haven't cracked a mic since 1986 and I have that dream. Either that or I'm in college and there is a final that I'm supposed to be taking but I can't even remember where the classroom is..

    Just Dreaming 101..
     
    420JJJazz666, Ere, showtaper and 10 others like this.
  9. jhm

    jhm Forum Resident

    I still have that dream and I'm not even in the biz :)! Sometimes I've re-enrolled in college for some unknown reason and I usually can't remember (or locate) my class schedule so I'm worried about missing courses I signed up for and failing out. There's got to be a book on these somewhere :)!
     
    jrice, Tommyboy and forthlin like this.
  10. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Exactly. Anyone who ever went to school must have dreams like this. I had your EXACT dream a few weeks ago. Whenever we're under pressure, this comes up for some reason..
     
    rcsrich, jhm and forthlin like this.
  11. forthlin

    forthlin Member Chris & Vickie Cyber Support Team

    But in the dream you have no idea where to look for the book!:shh:
     
    jhm and Steve Hoffman like this.
  12. Sidewinder43

    Sidewinder43 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lavaca County, TX
    If I remember correctly, Terry Melcher used to send Byrds acetates to the local top 40 station to hear how they would sound on the radio.
     
    Tim Lookingbill likes this.
  13. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    And we know how that turned out. Yeesh!
     
    sunspot42 and Sidewinder43 like this.
  14. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Yeah. Last night I dreamed I was in FDR's White House (been reading a book on him.) THAT was a nice dream..
     
    Ere, john lennonist, 2141 and 3 others like this.
  15. rcsrich

    rcsrich Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    Is it possible to like this post twice? Oh- and the Barbara Mandrell story too...hubba! ;)
     
    Steve Hoffman likes this.
  16. millbend

    millbend Forum Resident

    Location:
    North America
    ...AND YOU'RE NAKED!
     
  17. Tommyboy

    Tommyboy Senior Member

    Location:
    New York
    I got my FCC license in 1986. By that time we weren’t required to take a test.
     
    uzn007 and forthlin like this.
  18. Tommyboy

    Tommyboy Senior Member

    Location:
    New York
    Not an easy job. Takes a lot of ability not to goof.
     
  19. 2141

    2141 Forum Resident

    Wow, a kiss on the lips from that beauty! I would have been thinking just what you were. I might have a shot here! :winkgrin: She was kind to let you down so sweetly. Great story!
     
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2020
    Cat People, ggjjr and Steve Hoffman like this.
  20. Tommyboy

    Tommyboy Senior Member

    Location:
    New York
    Dreams about missing a semester of classes that I forgot about.

    Dreams about taking college classes in a dungeon
     
    jhm, wrappedinsky and BeatlesBop like this.
  21. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    :laughup: :biglaugh:

    Great story. And I can totally hear Barbara Mandrell saying that!
     
    nick99nack likes this.
  22. Spla'nin

    Spla'nin Forum Resident

    KMET / KLAC were the pinnacle stations at that time with LA having an amazing night club acts (think Palamino, Thilthy McNasty's etc. besides concert appearances) just dying to get some air time promotion & label exposure, Anybody who was anybody in the industry hoped to get scheduled & radio interviewed there. We used to go down for the F1 races in Long Beach in 76 & 77. A friend was working at Metro Radio in promotion took us on a tour of the studios one afternoon. That was the west coast radio television Big Time !
     
  23. Tommyboy

    Tommyboy Senior Member

    Location:
    New York
    No wonder why radio has gone downhill!!
     
    steve722 likes this.
  24. jacksonwalker

    jacksonwalker Forum Resident

    A lot of us had to get a license. At the time we thought it was a big deal.
     
    2141 likes this.
  25. All Down The Line

    All Down The Line The Under Asst East Coast White Label Promo Man

    Location:
    Australia
    Classic & to quote Maxwell Smart: "Missed it by that much!"
     
    Chazzbo13 likes this.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine