Bill Putnam facts for kids

Milton Tasker "Bill" Putnam (born February 20, 1920 – died April 13, 1989) was an American audio engineer, songwriter, and record producer. Many people call him "the father of modern recording." He invented the modern recording console. Bill Putnam was a very important person in how the music recording industry grew after World War II.

One of his old co-workers, Bruce Swedien, said that Bill Putnam created recording as we know it today. Many things we use in recording studios, like how mixing desks are designed, how parts work together, and how to switch between different tracks, all came from Bill's ideas.

Bill Putnam's Early Life and Education

Bill Putnam was born in Danville, Illinois, on February 20, 1920. His father owned businesses related to coal mining. He also ran a radio show at WDZ in Tuscola, Illinois. When Bill was in the Boy Scouts of America, he built a crystal radio and a one-tube radio. His father helped him, and this started Bill's love for electronics.

At age thirteen, he tried to become a licensed ham radio operator but didn't pass. Two years later, at fifteen, he succeeded! He earned the call sign W9PUK and built his own ham radio.

High School and First Jobs

Bill went to Danville High School. Two famous people, Dick Van Dyke and Bobby Short, were his classmates. In his early high school years, he worked part-time at a friend's radio shop. There, he learned to fix radios and PA systems. He also started singing with local bands that played at colleges. This made him more interested in Jazz music and the music business. He realized that musicians were his favorite people.

By his junior year, Bill was earning $5 a night singing with dance bands. He also owned his own ham radio shop. On weekends, he installed car radios there. After high school, Bill sold his radio shop for $700. He decided to study broadcast engineering at Valparaiso Technical Institute.

Starting His Professional Career

After college, Bill Putnam went back to Danville. He worked in the engineering department at WDAN. Later, he became the Chief Engineer at WDWS in Champaign, Illinois. He also began writing articles for Radio and Television magazine.

Bill Putnam's Career in Music

Military Service During WWII

In 1941, when Bill was 21, he received a draft notice. He became a civilian employee for the United States Army Corps of Engineers in Chicago. He worked on radio ranges. Later, Bill worked for G-2 (an intelligence group) on several projects. One project was to make Mine detectors very small. These tiny detectors were used by the United States Secret Service to protect President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Bill also worked for the American Forces Network. He helped record big bands for them.

Innovations in Illinois (1946-1957)

In 1946, after the war, Bill Putnam started a company called Universal Recording Corporation in Evanston, Illinois. He wanted to create special recording equipment and new ways to record music. He got a big contract to record and delay broadcast shows for the ABC radio network.

In 1947, Universal Recording moved to the 42nd floor of the Chicago Civic Opera Building. Bill made a deal with The Harmonicats to help them record a song. He used the building's bathroom as an echo chamber for their song Peg o' My Heart. This was the first time someone used artificial reverb in a popular song for artistic reasons. The song sold 1.4 million copies! This success led Bill to start his own record labels, Vitacoustic and Universal Records. Many new clients wanted to record with him.

That same year, Bill Putnam made the first recording where one singer sang more than one part. He did this with Patti Page and George Barnes. Patti Page sang one part of "Confess." The second part was recorded on a large disc. Then, it was played back while she sang the main part. Both vocals and the music were then combined onto a wire recorder. Soon after, Les Paul used a similar method with magnetic tape to multiply guitars and vocals.

In 1955, Bill built a new, large studio for Universal Recording. It was 15,000 square feet. His company quickly became Chicago's biggest independent studio. It was sometimes called the "grand palace." They recorded projects for many Chicago record labels. Bill's fame grew fast because he worked with artists like Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, and Duke Ellington. Duke Ellington even said Bill was his favorite engineer.

During his time at Universal, Bill Putnam achieved many "firsts" in the recording industry. These included:

• The first use of tape repeat.
• The first vocal booth.
• The first recording with multiple voices.
• One of the first to use 8-track recording.
• The first use of delay lines in the studio.
• The first release of half-speed mastered records in 1956.

By the mid-1950s, Bill Putnam was one of the most wanted engineer-producers in the United States. Famous producers like Nelson Riddle and Quincy Jones asked him to open a studio on the West Coast.

Moving to California

In 1957, with help from Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, Bill Putnam sold his share in Universal Recording. He moved to Hollywood. He took over and updated an old film studio to start a new company called United Recording.

Bill wanted to use as many new technologies as possible in his new studio. He built modern control rooms that allowed for multi-track recording. He designed them so engineers had a better view of the studio. United's facilities had three soundproof studios of different sizes. They also had three mastering studios and a stereo mixing room. Each studio had its own special room for adding echo. All parts of the studio were connected electronically.

In 1961, Bill bought the nearby Western Recorders. He updated it and combined it with his complex. The whole place was renamed United Western Recorders. Bill Putnam was Frank Sinatra's favorite engineer. Sinatra even paid him to make sure he was always available. When Sinatra started his own record label, Reprise Records, his office was in the Western Recorders building.

When Bill started United Recording, stereo recording was new. Most big record labels thought it was just a fad. But Bill knew it would be important. He started making and saving stereo versions of recordings at United. Around 1962, people really wanted stereo recordings. The major labels offered to buy Bill's collection of stereo recordings. Bill made a great deal. He was paid for the expensive studio time used to mix the stereo versions, not just for the finished recordings. At this time, United Recording was making about $200,000 per month!

After the studios merged, they started recording music for films. Film producers wanted a more modern sound for their movies. They used multi-track film recorders.

Expanding Studios

In 1962, Bill saw a chance to expand his business in the Bay Area. He bought most of Coast Recorders and moved the studio. He later moved Coast Recorders again to a new two-floor studio he designed. Francis Ford Coppola even rented space there for his film studio. Less than a year later, in 1970, Bill sold most of the building to Columbia Records.

In 1963, Bill opened another studio in Las Vegas called URCON. It even had a fully-equipped remote recording truck. In 1966, Bill sold URCON. In 1985, Bill sold the original United Recording studio to Allen Sides. It was then renamed Ocean Way Recording.

Creating Recording Equipment: Universal Audio and UREI

Bill Putnam also developed the first multi-band audio equalizer in the US. He started two companies, Universal Audio and later Universal Recording Electronics Industries (UREI), in 1958. He created these companies to design and build studio equipment.

His companies made custom recording consoles. These consoles had Bill's special 610 modular channel strips. This equipment soon became standard in studios all over America. Bill's companies also created famous vacuum tube compressors like the LA-2A and 176. They also made their newer transistor versions, the LA-3A and 1176. They also developed the Time Align Monitor Series.

UREI grew too big for its first location. It moved to a larger headquarters in North Hollywood. Bill eventually sold the company to Harman Industries.

Bill Putnam's Personal Life

Bill Putnam had a family and children. He had a son and daughter, Scott and Sue, with his first wife. Later, he had two more sons, Bill Jr. and Jim. Bill Putnam retired after selling his company. He moved to Ventura Keys, California.

Bill Putnam passed away in Riverside, California, at age 69. He was buried in Valley Oaks Memorial Park. Many record executives and industry friends attended his service. A group of musicians played some of Bill's favorite songs.

Awards and Recognition

• The Audio Engineering Society gave Bill Putnam a Fellowship Award in 1959. They also gave him an Honorary Membership in 1983. This was for his lifelong contributions to studio design and for creating audio instruments and equipment.
• In 2000, Bill Putnam received a special Technical Grammy Award after his death. This award recognized his important contributions to the music industry.