Tom Dowd

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Tom Dowd (October 20, 1925 - October 27, 2002) was a famous and influential American recording engineer and producer.

Tom was born in Manhattan to a mother who was an opera singer and a father who was a concertmaster. They encouraged his love for music, and thus, Tom grew up playing piano, violin, tuba, and string bass. In June of 1942 (at age 16) he graduated from Stuyvesant High School with a strong foundation in math and science. Unlike most of his peers, he was too young for the draft, and so was lucky enough to be able to continue his schooling. He went to City College at night and played in the band at Columbia University (eventually becoming conductor) where he soon got a job at the physics laboratory, due to his talent for math and physics. When he turned 18, Tom was drafted and immediately given the rank of sergeant though he continued to work at Columbia University where he worked until 1946. Though he and his coworkers didn't learn it until 1945, they were working on the Manhattan Project -- they were helping to build the atomic bomb. ^[1]

When his work on the Manhattan Project was over, Tom hoped to go back to school and get a degree as a nuclear physicist research specialist but found it pointless because after his four years of work as a physicist. Although he knew more than his professors, who were teaching outdated material, the university would not give credit for his four years of work as a physicist. ^[1]

Tom got a summer job at a classical music recording studio in 1947 where he worked until he got a job at Atlantic Records. His first hit was Eileen Barton's "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd a Baked A Cake". Tom soon became the top recording engineer at Atlantic records and found himself recording popular artists such as Ray Charles(It was Dowd's idea to cut "What I'd Say" into two parts and release them as one LP), The Drifters, The Coasters, Ruth Brown, and Bobby Darin (Dowd recorded the legendary "Mack the Knife") and capturing jazz masterpieces by John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Thelonius Monk, and Charlie Parker by night.

Dowd worked as an engineer and producer throughout the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and the beginning of the 21st century. He recorded some of the best albums by the following artists and more: Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rod Stewart, Wishbone Ash, Cream, Chicago, The Allman Brothers Band, The J. Geils Band, Meat Loaf, Sonny & Cher, The Rascals, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross, Kenny Loggins, James Gang, Dusty Springfield, Eddie Harris, Booker T. and the MGs, The Drifters, Otis Redding, The Coasters, Bobby Darin, Aretha Franklin and Ruth Brown. ^[2]

Tom Dowd helped to shape the artists that he worked with, and because he worked with an array of great artists on some of the world's greatest recordings, Dowd was highly influential in creating the sound of the second half of the 20th Century.

He is credited as the engineer who popularized the eight-track recording system for commercial music. Also, he popularized the use of stereo sound (it was invented in the 1800's but Dowd was the first to use it on a record), and he invented the usage of linear channel faders as opposed to rotary controls on audio mixers. He also devised various methods for altering sound in post-recording phase. ^[3]

Thomas J. Dowd died on October 27, 2002 in Florida (where he had been living and working at a recording studio for many years) from emphysema. He did not die a millionaire, as one would expect for someone of his influence, but died an average person with little credit for his work.

Dowd received a Grammy Trustees Award for his lifetime achievements in February, 2002.

In 2003 director Mark Moormann premiered an award-winning documentary about his life entitled Tom Dowd and the Language of Music.

In the 2004 biopic Ray, Tom Dowd was portrayed by Rick Gomez.