TTG Studios

TTG Studios
Recording studio
Founded June 8, 1965 (1965-06-08)
Founders Amnon "Ami" Hadani
Tom Hidley
Defunct 1985
Headquarters Los Angeles, California, United States
Products Music recording

TTG Studios was a recording studio in Los Angeles, California, established by Amnon "Ami" Hadani and Tom Hidley.[1] The company was founded on June 8, 1965.

Studio

"TTG" stood for "tilhas teezee gescheften", an Israeli slang expression made of Arabic and Yiddish words, meaning 'kiss my A-- business" (not "two terrible guys" as sometimes mistakenly claimed.)[1][2][3] The studio was at 1441 North McCadden Place near the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue, in Hollywood section of Los Angeles.[1] The building was built in 1927, an active period in Hollywood. The Grauman Chinese Theater, the Roosevelt Hotel and the Hollywood Athletic Club are all nearby and date from the same period. 1441 North McCadden was originally the home of the Hollywood Knights of Columbus, a fraternal organization affiliated with the Catholic church. The Knights were foreclosed during the depression of the 1930s.

The next owner was Radio Recorders, which converted the ground floor billiards room and half the lounge into a (then) state of the art recording studio. In turn it housed the Blue Network and other entertainment related companies. In the mid 1960s the building was leased by TTG and they converted the second story main hall into a mega studio that could accommodate up to 100 musicians. TTG was notable as the first to be equipped with a 16-track tape recorder, devised by co-owner Hidley, at a time when 4 or 8-track recording was still the norm.[4]

Meticulously and innovatively built by partner Hidley, with a high decibel level threshold, their studio became popular with the up-and-coming rock musicians of that time, including The Monkees, Eric Burdon,[1] Frank Zappa with The Mothers of Invention,[5] and Alice Cooper.[6] Burdon introduced Jimi Hendrix to the studio and Hendrix "raved" about the studio's sound.[2]

TTG went out of business in 1985, and the owner sold the building to Yoram and Peggy Kahana, owners and directors of Shooting Star International, a photo agency. It took them three years to retrofit the cinder block structure, restore the main hall and third floor balcony to their original state, and adapt it to the needs of the agency that moved in December 1990. However the Kahanas kept the ground floor recording studio and upgraded it. It is now occupied by their tenant WAX LTD, the multi-platinum production and songwriting record label of Wally Gagel and Xandy Barry. Other tenants are Fame, a talent agency, and Studio 1444, a photo and video rental space.

Tom Hidley

TTG Studios' co-founder was Tom Hidley. He was born May 27, 1931 in Los Angeles, California.[1] As a teen, he spent long hours playing the saxophone, clarinet, and flute, until ordered to cease by his physician after a physical breakdown.[1] He then turned to non-performance aspects of music, and spent nights recording at clubs and days working at loudspeaker and tape-machine companies.[1]

In 1959, "Madman Muntz" hired Hidley to assist in the development of the first car stereo.[1] Among the first to own a Muntz car stereo was Frank Sinatra, the famous singer and actor.[1] Through Sinatra's purchase, Hidley became known to a Sinatra associate Val Valentin, who invited Hildley to assist in the building of a new recording studio in New York.[1] In 1962, they built the MGM/Verve studio.[1] In 1964, Phil Ramone hired Hidley to work at his A&R studio as the audio technical manager.[1] Also employed at that time by A&R was Ami Hadani.[1] Hidley went on to found Westlake Recording Studios in the 1970s, a facility which was highly influential in standardizing acoustic design in the recording industry and which has been used by a large number of prominent vocal artists.[7][8]

Ami Hadani

TTG co-founder Amnon "Ami" Hadani was born August 19, 1929. He was credited as Omi Hadan on some records.[9][10] Hadani's association with MGM/Verve artists preceded TTG and his work with rock groups. He engineered albums by jazzmen Ray Brown and Milt Jackson, actress Lainie Kazan, and location recording for standup comic Shelley Berman.

According to Bruce Botnick, Hadani was a General in the Israeli Air Force, and had to leave for weeks at a time when Israel was at war.[3]

Ami Hadani was married to actress/screenwriter Ellen Weston and they had one child, Jonathan Hadani. They were divorced when their son was six years old. Ami remarried Christine Ermacoff, a studio cellist. Ami Hadani died on September 22, 2014 in Los Angeles.

Albums recorded at TTG Studios

Album Artist Release date
The Golden Sword[11] Gerald Wilson 1966
Freak Out![12] The Mothers of Invention June 27, 1966
Animalism[11] The Animals November, 1966
Winds of Change[11] Eric Burdon and The Animals March, 1967
Early Morning Blues And Greens[11] Diane Hildebrand June, 1967
Big Boss Bones[11] Trombones Unlimited June, 1967
Absolutely Free[11] The Mothers of Invention April, 1967
The Velvet Underground & Nico[11] The Velvet Underground & Nico July, 1967
Love Is[11] Eric Burdon & The Animals September, 1967
Basie Straight Ahead[11] Count Basie January, 1968
Those Were The Days[11] Ernie Heckscher March, 1968
The Sound Of The Seventies[11] Tommy Vig Orchestra July, 1968
Patterns Of Reality[11] Andy Robinson August, 1968
Jam Session At TTG Studios[13] Jimi Hendrix & Jack Bruce October, 1968
The Jimi Hendrix Experience[11] Jimi Hendrix October, 1968
Hal Frazier[11] Hal Frazier November, 1968
Waiting for the Sun[12] The Doors July 3, 1968
Hand Sown ... Home Grown[14] Linda Ronstadt March, 1969
Follow Me (Original Soundtrack Album)[11] Stu Phillips May, 1969
Sun Rise (featuring Jimi Hendrix)[14] Eire Apparent May, 1969
Hot Rats[12] Frank Zappa October 10, 1969
Neil Young[11] Neil Young November, 1969
Right On[11] Phil Moore Jr. December, 1968
A. B. Skhy[11] A. B. Skhy December, 1968
Crow By Crow[11] Crow February, 1970
Longbranch Pennywhistle[11] Longbranch Pennywhistle April, 1970
Copperfields[11] The Dillards May, 1970
Take It And Smile[11] Eve June, 1970
Our Front Porch[11] Ralph Carmichael and the Young People July, 1970
Weasels Ripped My Flesh[11] The Mothers of Invention August, 1970
Chunga's Revenge[11] Frank Zappa September, 1970
Sunday's Child[11] Sunday's Child October, 1970
Slow Down[11] Crow January, 1971
The Last Time I Saw Her Glen Campbell July, 1971
Rainbow Bridge[11] Jimi Hendrix August, 1971
I'm Gon' Git Myself Together[11] Jimmy Smith October, 1971
Reformation[11] The California Earthquake November, 1971
Sailin' Shoes[11] Little Feat February, 1972
Let Love Live[11] Jeremiah People October, 1972
Doing What Comes Naturally[11] Charles Wright January, 1973
Sonlight[11] Sonlight March, 1973
Vital Blue[11] Blue Mitchell June, 1973
Beginning Today[12] The Dameans 1973
Killing Me Softly[11] Ferrante & Teicher September, 1973
The Waltons' Christmas Album[11] The Holiday Singers January, 1974
Plays Folk Music Themes[11] Dino feat. The Ralph Carmichael Orchestra and Chorus March, 1974
The Entertainer[11] Marvin Hamlisch May, 1974
...Beautiful...Beautiful[11] Ferrante & Teicher August, 1974
Tommy Butler[11] Tommy Butler December, 1974
Fly On[11] Air Pocket February, 1975
A Southern Memoir[11] Bing Crosby April, 1975
Tales of a Courtesan (Oirantan)[11] Toshiko Akiyoshi – Lew Tabackin Big Band January, 1976
Inside America[11] Juggy Murray Jones April, 19756
Concert in Blues[11] Willie Hutch October, 1976
We Have This Moment...Today[11] Richard Roberts and Patti Roberts December, 1976
Bahiana[11] Dizzy Gillespie February, 1977
A Retrospective[11] Linda Ronstadt June, 1977
America The Beautiful[11] Clare Fischer February, 1978
'Twas Only Yesterday[11] Clare Fischer March, 1979
Duality[11] Clare Fischer June, 1980
Straight Ahead[11] Poncho Sanchez August, 1980
I Lead A Charmed Life[11] Russell Garcia September, 1980
Plays Music Of Richard Rogers Vol. 1[11] Carl Burnett November, 1980
Turning To Spring[11] Howard Roberts January, 1981
Road Work Ahead[11] Bob Magnusson featuring Peter Sprague, Bill Mays, and Jim Plank February, 1981
Westlake[11] Bob Florence March, 1981
Lomelin[11] Gerald Wilson April, 1981
Jazz Quintet[11] Robert Conti feat. Mike Wofford April, 1981
Hoy-Hoy![11] Little Feat October, 1981
Two Generations Of Music[11] Bob Magnusson featuring Daniel Magnusson June, 1982
Summer Strut[11] Andy Simpkins July, 1984

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Verna, Paul (1 July 1995). "From Auto Sound to Infrasound, Hidley's Career has Been Built on Breakthroughs". Billboard.
  2. 1 2 Roby, Steve (2002). Black Gold: the Lost Archives of Jimi Hendrix. Watson-Guptill. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-8230-7854-7.
  3. 1 2 Greenwald, Mathew (1 May 2010). "The Doors and The Elektra Records Sound Part I". musicangle.com. Retrieved June 29, 2010.
  4. ↑ McDermott, John (1995). Jimi Hendrix: Sessions. Little, Brown & Co. p. 71. ISBN 0-316-55549-5.
  5. ↑ "Mothers Of Invention, The* – Absolutely Free". Discogs. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  6. ↑ Cooper, Alice; Zimmerman, Kent (2008). "Alice Cooper, Golf Monster: A Rock 'n' Roller's Life and 12 Steps to Becoming a Golf Addict". Random House. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-307-38291-7.
  7. ↑ Philip Newell (2003). Recording Studio Design. Focal Press. pp. 315–316. ISBN 0-240-51917-5. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  8. ↑ "History". Westlake Recording Studios. Archived from the original on 22 May 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  9. ↑ Harvard, Joe (2004). The Velvet Underground and Nico. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-8264-1550-9.
  10. ↑ Barker, David (2007). 33​1⁄3 greatest hits. 1. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-8264-1903-3.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 "Discogs.com". Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "TTG Studios". Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  13. ↑ "yup-yup-mark.blogspot.com". Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  14. 1 2 "TTG-Ronstadt-Hendrix". Retrieved 28 July 2015.

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