Sir George Martin

Steve Churchyard grew up reading the liner notes of album covers and studying the names of the engineers and studios, which somehow fascinated him just as much as the recording artist. With the help of a guidance counselor, Steve slowly made his way into the recording studio world. He worked at Air Studios alongside Sir George Martin for seven years and became a noted engineer and producer. Among his long list of artists he worked with over the years were Wings, The Scorpions, The Pretenders and Billy Joel.

Phil Dudderidge, a veteran live-sound engineer, co-founded Soundcraft in the 1973, one of the most innovative pro audio companies in the industry at the time. He later purchased the Focusrite company in 1989. The business began out of a request from Sir George Martin for Rupert Neve to design a series of mic-pre and EQ console modules. Phil reissued the original modules in 1990 as the building block of the Focusrite Studio Console. From those beginnings, Focusrite has gained a reputation for innovative products both in analogue and digital and is today the leading audio interface

Brian Kehew played a big role in the NAMM Foundation’s  Museum of Making Music’s 2009-2010 Waves of Inspiration: The Legacy of Bob Moog exhibit, which provided the NAMM Resource Center a chance to interview him for this Oral History program. Brian discussed his personal background in music and the development of his personal interest and love for electronic music and synthesizers. Brian spoke of his friendship with Bob Moog and other leaders of the industry as well as his thoughts on milestone products during the heyday of MIDI and sound synthesis. His second NAMM interview was ca

Ray Russell is the noted English studio musician and composer who has also performed with a number of bands over his long career including the prog rock group Mouse. His guitar can be heard on hundreds of records with such artists as David Bowie, Gil Evans and Roxy Music. Working with Sir George Martin in Air Studios was a meaningful experience for Ray as was working on the James Bond Theme Song. His go-to instruments for much of his studio recordings were a Fender Stratocaster and a CF Martin guitar. He also used a Bartell fretless, which was given to him by George Harrison.

Mutter Slater played harmonica, flute and sang as a member of the influential British band Stackridge beginning in 1970s. Although often categorized as a progressive rock band, their sound included themes of folk, the blues and psychedelic rock. Among the bands successful albums were their self-titled first album released in 1971 on Angel Air followed by Friendliness the following year and The Man In The Bowler Hat in 1974, which was produced by Sir George Martin. They went on to record several more albums, including some after the band reunited in the late 1990s.

Fred Vail was making announcements on a local radio station in Sacramento, California when he was just 12 years old. While in high school, he led the committee that brought bands to the school dances. One such band, The Beach Boys, had just recorded a few songs that were climbing up the charts but they did not perform much outside of the Los Angeles area at that time. Fred booked the band, which was a big success. He later played a vital role in promoting and booking the band over the next several years. Among his amazing experiences with the boys was being in the studio when Pet

Eddie Veale is the studio designer who worked hand in hand with some of music’s greatest artists to create their own home studios. Eddie designed the home studio John Lennon used to record “Imagine.”  In fact, John was so excited to get in and use his new studio, he began recording while Eddie was still there. As a result, Eddie became one of the first acousticians to engineer a record. Once complete, George Harrison requested a home studio design from Eddie as well and soon the ball was rolling. Years earlier, Eddie was asked by Bob Moog to pop over to Abbey Roads Studios to repa