music: "Yes I
Love You Baby" - Dynamics (Top Ten 100b)
The entrance to the studio was next to my
office.
The studio itself was quite interesting as it
was basically a room built inside of a room.
Therefore when you first walked into the studio
door there would be a passage way that
circumvented the studio itself.
The entrance was actually two doors, so if a
session was going on you could open the first
door from the lobby and walk down down the
passageway to get to the control room without
interrupting anything.
The studio was not particularly large, maybe
thirty feet long by twenty feet wide and because
of the 'room within a room' design, the studio
was very 'tight', providing great acoustics.
At the back of the studio to the left, as you
faced the control room, was a small flight of
five or six stairs that led up to the control
room. The control room was small. maybe twelve
by twelve.
The board sat under the control room window. It
was an old Gates radio broadcasting board, with
knobs instead of sliding faders. Quite small. On
the right side of the board was the equipment
rack. It didn't have much in the early days. A
Scully 4 track and some sort of mono
machine...don't remember the manufacturer's
name, the power amps and I guess some sort of
spring driven echo unit, but again I don't
remember the manufacturer. There was just enough
room for two or three chairs at the back wall of
the control room.
I remember when I bought the first grand piano
for studio A. No one was more pleased than
Popcorn Wylie. My parents stopped into the
studio for a visit one day and he proudly said
to them "look what we have" . What a sweet guy.
It was now time to hire a secretary and I put an
ad in the paper which received a great response.
One of the early interviewees was Neica Lee
Rompollo.
When I saw her walk through the door, I knew she
was the one. She was outrageously beautiful and
extremely smart. She just had a way about her
that told me she was right for Tera Shirma.
I interviewed her and we had a great
conversation. After she left, I told Fred I was
hiring her. Fred mentioned we still had a bunch
of others to see, but I told him to cancel
them.
Neica Lee was selected, a decision I would never
regret as she would figure prominently in the
future success of the studio.
We remain friends to this day.
Continued
