Universal Audio - Illinois

Illinois

Bill Putnam, Sr. founded Universal Recording Corporation in 1946 in Evanston, Illinois for the purpose of investigating new recording techniques and the development of specialized recording equipment. The design and manufacturing side was accomplished by Putnam's parallel business, Universal Audio. In 1947, Putnam and company relocated to Chicago, Illinois where they recorded the first popular song with artificial reverberation: Peg o' My Heart by The Harmonicats. The song sold 1.4M copies and gave Universal Recording Corp. a big boost in income and new business.

Universal Recording soon became the hotspot for the Chicago music business. Such artists as Patti Page, Vic Damone and Dinah Washington came through the doors; Al Morgan's Jealous Heart sold a million copies on the in-house Universal Records label.

Universal Recording was seminal in the development of experimental studio techniques. It was the location of the first use of tape repeat in a recording, the first isolated vocal booth, the first recording with multiple overdubs of a single voice, early 8-track recording trials and the first experiments with half speed disc mastering.

In 1949, Universal Recording was granted a patent for "Double Feature", a method for putting two songs on each side of a 10-inch record. The technology was developed by Cook Records in New York and exclusively licensed to Universal Records.

Chicago blues labels such as Vee-Jay, Mercury and Chess were coming to Universal Recording to make their hit recordings. Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Bo Diddley, Little Walter, and Chuck Berry appeared to cut tracks. On the jazz side, Stan Kenton, Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Nat King Cole came through. Bill Putnam was Duke Ellington's favorite engineer.

By 1955, Universal Recording hit its stride. It was the most advanced and largest independent recording facility in the country. Famous producers and arrangers such as Nelson Riddle, Mitch Miller and Quincy Jones grew to prefer the studio for their big band and orchestral recordings. Engineer Bruce Swedien began working for the studio.