- Tom Dowd & the Language of Music is a documentary profiling the life and work of music producer/recording engineer Tom Dowd.Historical footage, vintage photographs and interviews with a 'who's who' list of musical giants from the worlds of jazz, soul and classic rock provide insight into the life of Dowd, whose creative spirit and passion for innovative technology helped shape the course of.
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Tom Dowd and the Language of Music is a documentary profiling the life and work of music producer/recording engineer Tom Dowd. Historical footage, vintage photographs and interviews with a 'who's who' list of musical giants from the worlds of jazz, soul and classic rock provide insight into the life of Dowd, whose creative spirit and passion for innovative technology helped shape the course of modern music. It was a 2005 Grammy Award nominee.
Feb 24, 2003 If ever the saga of a behind-the-scenes figure in popular culture was worthy of exploration, it is the story of Tom Dowd. The Language of Music (2003) tells the tale of a man who was generally unknown to the public at large, yet worked on assignments as diverse as providing key contributions to the infamous Manhattan Project to revolutionizing popular music.
A long-time engineer and producer for Atlantic Records, Dowd was responsible for some of the most important R&B, rock, and jazz records ever made. In his own words, Dowd relates how he went from working on the Manhattan Project as rising physicist, while still high school age, to recording some of the greatest music ever made over the last half of the 20th century. His technical genius opened the door to modern music and made the studio a crucial element in the formula of musical artistry. His use of the multitrack eight-track tape recorder at Atlantic Records in the late 1950s not only added an amazing dimension to the sound of music (he is also credited with taking music recording from monaural to stereo), it also gave musicians and producers greater control over their musical productions and identities. For the first time, it was possible to isolate musical sounds and then manipulate (mix) its parts in the recording process.
The movie Ray provides a demonstration of how Dowd's genius escalated musical artistry and revved up the popular music industry. In one scene, Dowd is shown in the studio directing the recording of Ray Charles' music for Atlantic Records executive Ahmet Ertegun. After Charles dismisses his backup singers, the Raelettes, because of tension with Margie Hendricks, the lead Raelette, Dowd plays back what has been recorded thus far and Charles instantly picks up a difference in the sound. Dowd explains the company's new eight-track console and Charles wastes no time exploiting it to his advantage. He instantly resumes the recording session by performing the required Raelettes' parts himself, assured that Dowd can mix each track to produce the final record.
Dowd's impact on the careers of many esteemed, award-winning artists is a major part of the documentary. His gift for capturing and enhancing sound made him a treasure to musicians from all genres: John Coltrane, Charlie Mingus, Aretha Franklin, Bobby Darin, The Drifters, Eric Clapton, Cream, the Allman Brothers represent a tiny sample of artists who credit him with their recording success. Numerous interviews with these recording industry icons tell the story of this humble genius, chronicling the recording sessions and technical achievements that altered the course of contemporary music forever.
Filmmaker Mark Moormann premiered this independently produced feature-length documentary at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and its international premiere at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival. It has screened at festivals around the world to widespread critical acclaim. Chris Blackwell's Palm Pictures has released the film in North America and the Caribbean and Lightning Entertainment is handling the foreign release of the film. Dowd died in 2002, shortly after this documentary was made.
External links
| Tom Dowd | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Thomas John Dowd |
| Born | October 20, 1925 Manhattan, New York |
| Died | October 27, 2002 (aged 77) Aventura, Florida |
| Occupation(s) | Audio engineer, record producer |
| Years active | 1947–2002 |
| Labels | Atlantic Records, Apex Studios, Criteria Studios |
Thomas John Dowd (October 20, 1925 – October 27, 2002) was an Americanrecording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multitrack recording method. Dowd worked on a veritable 'who's who' of recordings that encompassed blues, jazz, pop, rock and soul records.
Career[edit]
Early years[edit]
Born in Manhattan, Dowd grew up playing piano, tuba, violin, and string bass. His mother was an opera singer and his father was a concertmaster.
Dowd graduated from Stuyvesant High School in June 1942 at the age of 16.[1] He continued his musical education at City College of New York. Dowd also played in a band at New York's Columbia University, where he became a conductor. He was also employed at the physics laboratory of Columbia University.
Military work[edit]
At age 18, Dowd was drafted into the military with the rank of sergeant. He continued his work in physics at Columbia University. He worked on the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb. The purpose of the work was unclear until 1945.[2] Dowd planned to obtain a degree in nuclear physics when he completed his work on the Manhattan Project. However, because his work was top secret, the university did not recognize it, and Dowd decided not to continue, since the university's curriculum would not have been able to further his physics education. His research for the military was more advanced than academic courses at that time.[2]
Music[edit]
Dowd took a job at a classical music recording studio until he obtained employment at Atlantic Records. His first hit was Eileen Barton's 'If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake'. He soon became a top recording engineer there and recorded popular artists such as Ray Charles, the Drifters, the Coasters, the Spinners, Ruth Brown and Bobby Darin, including Darin's rendition of Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht's 'Mack the Knife'. He captured jazz performances by John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker. It was Dowd's idea to cut Ray Charles' recording of 'What'd I Say' into two parts and release them as the A-side and B-side of the same single record.
Dowd worked as an engineer and producer from the 1940s until the beginning of the 21st century. While working for Atlantic Records, he lived in Westwood, NJ with his wife Jackie and his sons, Steven and Todd. He recorded albums by many artists including Eddie Money, Bee Gees, Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Oak Arkansas, Derek and the Dominos, Rod Stewart, Wishbone Ash, New Model Army, Cream, Lulu, Chicago, the Allman Brothers Band, Joe Bonamassa, the J. Geils Band, Meat Loaf, Sonny & Cher, the Rascals, the Spinners, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross, Eagles, the Four Seasons, Kenny Loggins, James Gang, Dusty Springfield, Eddie Harris, Charles Mingus, Herbie Mann, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Joe Castro and Primal Scream.[3] He was also an employee of Apex Studios in the 1950s.[4] Dowd received a Grammy Trustees Award for his lifetime achievements in February 2002.
He died of emphysema on October 27, 2002, in Florida, where he had been living and working at Criteria Studios for many years, a week after his 77th birthday.[5]
Legacy[edit]
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. It was he who encouraged Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records to install an Ampexeight-track recorder, enabling Atlantic to be the first recording company to record using multiple tracks.[6]
Dowd is credited as the engineer who popularized the eight-track recording system for commercial music and popularized the use of stereophonic sound. He also pioneered the use of linear channel faders as opposed to rotary controls on audio mixers. He devised various methods for altering sound after the initial recording.[1]
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 actor Rick Gomez.
Dowd was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.
Notes[edit]
- ^ abDaley, Dan (October 2004). 'The Engineers Who Changed Recording'. Sound on Sound. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
- ^ ab'Biography'. Tom Dowd and the Language of Music. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
- ^'Tom Dowd - Credits'. Allmusic. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
- ^Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. November 9, 2002. p. 6. ISSN0006-2510. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
- ^Norman, Forrest (January 16, 2003). 'Soundman God'. New Times. Miami. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
- ^Dobkin, Matt (2004). I Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You: Aretha Franklin, Respect, and the Making of a Soul Music Masterpiece. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 142–143. ISBN0-312-31828-6.
External links[edit]
Tom Dowd And The Language Of Music Youtube
- 'Tom Dowd'. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
- Tom Dowd at Find a Grave