Bill Putnam

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Bill Putnam Sr (born 1920, Danville, Illinois) was a renowned 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, echo returns, multitrack switching — they all originated in Bill's imagination."

Putnam was the first person to use artificial reverberation (using magnetic tape) for commercial recording. He also developed the first multi-band audio equalizer, and with his company Universal Audio, he was responsible for the development of classic recording studio equipment including the UREI 1176LN, the UREI Time Align Monitor, and the famed Universal recordings consoles, which soon became standard equipment in studios all over America. Alongside his friend Les Paul, Putnam was also involved in the early development of stereophonic recording and he founded several major independent recording studios in Chicago, Hollywood and San Francisco.

In the 1950s, Putnam founded one of America's first independent recording studios, Universal Recording in Chicago. His reputation grew quickly thanks to his work with artists as Patti Page, Vic Damone, Duke Ellington , Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, Little Walter, and Dinah Washington. 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 possibly Tom Dowd), the first use of delay lines in the studio, and the first experiments with half-speed disc mastering.

By the mid-1950s Putnam was one of the most sought-after engineer-producers in the United States, and Universal Recording had become so successful that clients including Nelson Riddle, Mitch Miller and Quincy Jones began urging him to open a facility on the west coast. In 1957, he sold his interest in Universal Recording and with support from Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, he established a new company called United Recording Corp. and moved to Hollywood, taking over United Studios at 6050 Sunset Boulevard. Putnam was determined to incorporate as many technological innovations in to the new complex as possible and he constructed new facilities, including a significantly expansion of the studio control rooms, which until that time were typically small booths.

When United Western was founded, stereo recording was still a new innovation and it was considered little more than a novelty by the major record labels. But Putnam foresaw its importance and, at his own expense, he began making simultaneous stereo mixes of recordings produced at United Western and stockpiled these recordings. Around 1962, when stereo was taking off as a consumer audio format, the major labels found themselves without any significant back catalogue of stereo recordings, so they offered to buy the stockpile of tapes. However, the canny Putnam cleverly negotiated a far more lucrative deal, whereby he was recompensed for the (much more expensive) studio time used in mixing the stereo versions. According to Putnam's former partner Allen Sides, at this time United Western was bringing in around US$200,000 per month in studio billing (equivalent to perhaps US$1 million per month today).

In 1961, he acquired the neighbouring Western Recorders, located at 6000 Sunset, remodelling it and incorporating it into the complex, which was then renamed United Western Recorders. In 1985, Putnam sold the studio to partner Allen Sides, who then renamed it Ocean Way Recording.

Putnam died in 1989. In 2000, he received a posthumous Technical Achievement Grammy award for his contribution to the music industry.