Tom Dowd

American music recording engineer and producer (1925–2002)

For other people with the same name, see Thomas Dowd (disambiguation).

Tom Dowd

Background information
Birth name| Thomas John Dowd
Born| (1925-10-20)October 20, 1925
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Died| October 27, 2002(2002-10-27) (aged 77)
Aventura, Florida, U.S.
Occupation(s)| audio engineer, record producer
Years active| 1947–2002
Labels| Atlantic Records, Apex Studios, Criteria Studios

Musical artist

Thomas John Dowd (October 20, 1925 – October 27, 2002) was an American recording 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

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### Early years

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Born in Manhattan, New York City, 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

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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

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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. 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, Ronnie Earl, 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

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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. He encouraged Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records to install an Ampex eight-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 about musician Ray Charles, Ray, Tom Dowd was portrayed by actor Rick Gomez.

Dowd was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.

## Discography

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### Singles

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* Derek and the Dominos \- "Layla"

## References

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1. ^ a b Daley, Dan (October 2004). "The Engineers Who Changed Recording". Sound on Sound. Retrieved November 1, 2007.
2. ^ a b "Biography". Tom Dowd and the Language of Music. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved November 1, 2007.
3. ^ "Tom Dowd – Credits". Allmusic. Retrieved November 1, 2007.
4. ^ Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. November 9, 2002. p. 6. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
5. ^ Norman, Forrest (January 16, 2003). "Soundman God". New Times. Miami. Archived from the original on December 8, 2013. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
6. ^ 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. ISBN 0-312-31828-6.

## External links

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* Tom Dowd and the Language of Music
* "Tom Dowd". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
* Discography

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Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – Class of 2012

Performers|

* Beastie Boys
* Ad-Rock, Mike D, Adam Yauch
* The Blue Caps
* Tommy Facenda, Cliff Gallup, Dickie Harrell, Bobby Jones, Johnny Meeks, Jack Neal, Paul Peek, Willie Williams
* The Comets
* Joey Ambrose, Franny Beecher, Danny Cedrone, Johnny Grande, Ralph Jones, Marshall Lytle, Rudy Pompilli, Al Rex, Dick Richards, Billy Williamson
* The Crickets
* Jerry Allison, Sonny Curtis, Joe B. Mauldin, Niki Sullivan
* Donovan
* The Famous Flames
* Bobby Bennett, Bobby Byrd, Lloyd Stallworth, Johnny Terry
* Guns N' Roses
* Steven Adler, Duff McKagan, Dizzy Reed, Axl Rose, Slash, Matt Sorum, Izzy Stradlin
* The Midnighters
* Henry Booth, Billy Davis, Cal Green, Arthur Porter, Lawson Smith, Charles Sutton, Norman Thrasher, Sonny Woods
* The Miracles
* Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers, Claudette Rogers, Marv Tarplin, Ronnie White
* Laura Nyro
* Red Hot Chili Peppers
* Flea, John Frusciante, Jack Irons, Anthony Kiedis, Josh Klinghoffer, Cliff Martinez, Hillel Slovak, Chad Smith
* Small Faces/Faces
* Kenney Jones, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, Steve Marriott, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood

Early influences|

* Freddie King

Non-performers
(Ahmet Ertegun Award)|

* Don Kirshner

Award for Musical Excellence|

* Tom Dowd
* Glyn Johns
* Cosimo Matassa

Authority control databases

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* ISNI
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* United States
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Artists|

* MusicBrainz
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Other|

* SNAC

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