Rock and Roll; Interview with Tom Moulton [Part 1 of 2]

A market. You're right doctor. How I started my involvement in mixing was back in 72. I noticed there was a lot of frustration and the music they were all two and a half three minutes long which they were basically playing forty fives. And after three minutes you know the crowd didn't know whether to finish dancing to what they were dancing to or trying to be again getting into something else. And I thought got to be great if you could extend that feeling. And I went to a record company because I used to be in the record business and the promotion man. And I asked this friend of mine me James. Did she have an instrumental version of any of the songs that I particularly liked on that label. She was sure I have one and I took it home and re-edited

it and put it together and I liked it so much they said why don't you try to do it for real in the studio. And I said OK didn't apply be fun. And that's basically how it started. OK. Put her there. Faster. The very first record I have next was do it to your satisfied. That's the song Mae gave me and it was by a group called Brothers trucking. Wow. That name didn't go over too well with us anyway. I don't know where we got the idea for Beatty expressed but it sounded like a New York train so we thought that would be happening. Anyway it was basically a three minute song. And when I got through with it it was five thirty five and it was interesting radio stations would not play records that long.

But as it turned out not only did the clubs like it but the radio stations played the loon version too. It's very exciting exciting for me because I'm used to hearing a song three minutes in and all of a sudden I heard 5:35 version and the New York stations were really the first to jump on the little bird. John 3 You know I think back now it was a very funny story. After I finished the BT Express I want to cross the street to goal sound to master it and the engineer sort of laughed at me and said you can't make a 535 record and so why not he said well there's too much bottom nerves you're not going to have any level and I said Will. What do I have to do he said well you know you can't have all the spawn that and I said Oh OK. So we went back and we did it again.

I mark it. Down for you. I remember after we finished meeting expressed through to your satisfied. I took it across the street to a bell sound which was a mastering lab. And there's no problem with the the A-side which was the I think it was 310 at that time three ten meaning minutes and seconds. On the other side the dance version was five thirty five which was good too. Two minutes and 15 seconds longer and the engineer said to me well we can't put this on the record and I said why not. He said Well with all this bottom it takes up too much room and there won't be enough space to put the whole side on the 45 and I saw how can I get around that. This kit rid of all the bottom and I said great. Well he was really joking and I thought he was serious we went back to the studio and put the bass drum out took the knob rolled off

all the bottom so it got and knocks out the same thing with the banks got rid of all the law and so the bass sounded more like a tar rather than a bass. We brought it back. And I said how can we master it. He said it sounds horrible I said you know but it's kind of a new sound and that's how I would in fact. That's how that knock sound in the bass drum became so popular. At marketplace it is so internally and in making the vinyl work cut actually cutting the master the bass you have to cut deeper. And when you cut deeper it also cuts wider base takes up much more room than trouble does your high in. So by dropping the bottom level. Makes the groups then or so you can put more information within this specs of the 45.

The coming days. He's right. It's interesting how the break was created. I get credit for that but it really was done by accident and it was really done out of necessity. There's a song called dream world by down Downing and the song modulating meaning it would go into another key maybe three quarters of the way through. And the song was I think roughly around two minutes in 50 seconds and I was able to do the first part but then I wanted to use the front part of the song again but more the rhythm track. The guitars and build it up to this again. And as I tried it it sounded terrible when it the modulation dropped down once it got into the higher key. So I said what I I didn't know what else to do so I said I have to take out everything

musical meaning leaving the rhythm and the percussion the tambourines or Tim Bali's or whatever. So I what I did was I built the song up to this point. Then I would drop everything out that was like the bass the vocals and the strings and horns and then I'd start back at the top of the tune and bring in the bass then the guitars and build the song in. So it actually sounded like the song modulating twice which it didn't. OK is that a yes. Break would go something like this the music would go down that the bone I think I might add but I don't like that that's how it would go. And yet then I could bring it back to the beginning of the tune and you wouldn't know what key it was in.

So we need to introduce the bass it would almost sound the same. You would know the difference. OK. The very first time I was familiar with discos. When I was back in 72 it was on fire Rylan. Someone suggested I go out there and said you're going to die when you see this place because. It's all white people dancing to black music. And I thought my God this is wonderful because I've always thought I I was strange because I mean I like white music but I also like black music but I never categorized it like that I mean if it records good I liked it if it wasn't good I didn't like it when the way it was quite a thrill to go out there and I mean there were a couple blacks dancing that was mostly whites in there dancing to all this black music. And I'm saying Johnny Taylor they're dancing to Johnny Taylor and Eddie

Kendricks This is my God this is really strange because they were really into this soul music what I call Southern soul. Even Al Green. And it was quite it a thrill to see that you know. Right. And it's funny watching the all the kids dancing. This is in Fire Island and it was so exciting to see. And you could feel the energy and the excitement but it was only three minutes worth and you could sense when this new song was being mixed and it was sort of limbo. And I said my God you could almost feel the excitement that they were trying to get and I said God if I could only stretch it out make it longer to keep this feeling and maybe you could bring them up to another level. So I asked the

guy who owned the place if I could try to make a tape. And sure why not. Well I know it would take 80 hours to make a 45 minute tape but it was absolutely perfect. And I did it by repeating sections and stretching it so it would start off on one tempo and it would slowly build and build and build. But I didn't do it by mixing two songs together because I as I observe people dancing they would always go one two three four and any time they would lead they would always leave off on one. So I thought well maybe I can trick him in the dancing to the next song. So the song would be ending would be going to dot dot dot dot. They're already dancing to the next song by the time they realize it they've already already moved five or six steps. So they're going with it. Nobody walks off the floor. But if you constantly build the temple each time

slowly and I did it with very speed my turntable bites lightly pitching it up each time not so you can hear it but the intensity of the dancing would seem to be more and more. And by the time you had him for a 45 minute set.