TTG Studios

TTG Studios is a recording studio in Los Angeles, California, co-founded in 1965 by recording engineers Tom Hidley and Amnon "Ami" Hadani.^[1]

TTG apparently stands for “Two Terrible Guys”

History

The studio is located in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles, near the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue.^[1] Originally the home of the Hollywood Knights of Columbus, the building was built in 1927, an active period in Hollywood, as nearby buildings Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and the Hollywood Athletic Club all date from the same period. In 1960, Radio Recorders converted the ground floor billiards room and half the lounge into a recording studio to form their Sunset-Highland Division (Studio 10H), which had formerly housed the Blue Network and other entertainment-related companies.

TTG was co-founded by Tom Hidley and Amnon "Ami" Hadani, who had both previously worked for Phil Ramone at A & R Recording in New York before relocating to Los Angeles in 1965 to found TTG. TTG converted the second story main hall into a large recording studio that could accommodate up to 100 musicians. Meticulously and innovatively designed by Hidley with a high decibel level threshold, the studio became popular with the up-and-coming rock musicians of that time, including The Monkees, Eric Burdon,^[1] Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, and Alice Cooper.^[2] Burdon introduced Jimi Hendrix to the studio and Hendrix "raved" about the studio's sound.^[3]

TTG installed one of the first 16-track tape recorders, which was custom built by co-owner Hidley, at a time when 4- or 8-track recording was still the norm. Jimi Hendrix used this machine at TTG in October 1968.^[4]

Personnel

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.^[5][6]

Ami Hadani

TTG co-founder Amnon "Ami" Hadani was born August 19, 1929. He was credited as Omi Hadan on some records.^[7][8] 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.

Ami Hadani was married to actress/screenwriter Ellen Weston and they had one child, Jonathan Hadani (Jon Weston), also a Sound Engineer and Theatrical Sound Designer. 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

References

1. ^ Verna, Paul (1 July 1995). "From Auto Sound to Infrasound, Hidley's Career has Been Built on Breakthroughs". Billboard
2. ^ 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.
3. ^ Roby, Steve (2002). Black Gold: the Lost Archives of Jimi Hendrix. Watson-Guptill. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-8230-7854-7.
4. ^ McDermott, John (1995). Jimi Hendrix: Sessions. Little, Brown & Co. p. 71. ISBN 0-316-55549-5.
5. ^ Philip Newell (2003). Recording Studio Design. Focal Press. pp. 315–316. ISBN 0-240-51917-5. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
6. ^ "History". Westlake Recording Studios. Archived 22 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
7. ^ Harvard, Joe (2004). The Velvet Underground and Nico. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-8264-1550-9. Omi Haden.
8. ^ Barker, David (2007). 33 1/3 greatest hits. Vol. 1. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-8264-1903-3.
9. ^ "TTG Studios". Retrieved 28 July 2015.
10. ^ "Celebrating Hendrix in Hollywood | the '68 TTG Recording Experience | GC Riffs"
11. ^ "TTG-Ronstadt-Hendrix". Retrieved 28 July 2015.

External links

• WICK Studios website
• WAX LTD website