A Disscusion about Thomas Dowd
Side note:
I observed a wealth of information from documentary we watched in class today. There was a lot of talk about Thomas Dowd as an accomplished engineer however, there was just as much focus put on him as a person.
* Contextualize the time and culture that Dowd was working in. Include the problems and conflicts he faced early in his career.
Thomas Dowd began his career (one that would expand more then 40 years) in the early part of the 1950’s. He was born into quite the musical family having a mother whom was a renowned opera singer and father who was stage manager. Before obtaining recognition on a large scale he face a number of minor setbacks. He started his foray into music as a pianist at only 6 years old. When trying out for band he was told they didn’t need a piano player so he switched instruments just to join. Later he would go on to get inducted to the Columbia State band while still in high school. Dowd was so proficient at technology that he was employed at 16 to help develop the A bomb. …Fast forward a bunch of Years and he would he first real flood of opportunity after engineering on the hit Baked A Cake.
* Talk about the people he worked with and the significance of those people.
His list of collaborators and associates was very extensive. So much so that I couldn’t write all the names down fast enough. With that I said I did catch a handful of key players such as Erick Clapton, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Charlie Parker & John Coltrain. The accolades accumulated by these individuals are already well documented but what I found more interesting was what they had to say about the Dowd. Ray Charles assert at one point “to be a good engineer you need to be able to hear what its that you want to hear.” and he felt that of all the people he’d worked with Thomas had that ability. Then their was Erick Clapton who said “ …I’d rather work with him at helms over anybody else including myself.”
* Discuss his views on the things that are of the utmost importance in the industry of making records.
In the closing section of the video Dowd summed up what he felt the bigger picture of music really was. He said that when all the illusion of stardom had dissipated and the money was gone he was left with only friends. Friends that began as collaborators over the love of music and ended up being life long confidants. The real reward was building connections.
Side note: Key Lines
In the studio the engineer is the therapist, psychologist, father figure ect...
Your role is making the artist feel comfortable.
Everyone in the room is there for the star!!!
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