Zappa engineer remembers
Michael Gula
March 2003
SECTION: FEEDBACK; ISSN: 0164-9957; Pg. 4
HEADLINE: Letters to Mix;
BODY:
THE FRANK I REMEMBER
My name is Michael Braunstein, and it was with amusement that
I read the
Chris Michie piece on Frank Zappa in the January 2003 issue of
Mix. I began
working as Frank's recording engineer on January 3, 1975, when
Kerry McNab
[arguably the best engineer Frank ever had] began his slow
withdrawal from the
scene and subsequently from engineering entirely. Because of a
contractual
obligation to Kerry, Marty Perellis [Frank's then-manager]
insisted on listing
me as "recordist" on the One Size Fits All LP, though I did much
of the actual
engineering. I went on to engineer all or part of six or so
albums with Frank.
Later, during the spring of 1975, I was engineering for Frank,
and Davey
Moire was the front desk receptionist. He was such a Zappa fan -
so eager to get
into the studio - that I asked to have him be my assistant. He
even ended up
doing some vocals and playing harp on a couple of tunes.
Davey is correct in describing Frank's memory. Would that
Davey's were as
good! [For example, I used the Pignose in the Bosendorfer in
Studio B at the old
RPLA on the Rufusized LP in October of 1974; concocted it with
Gary Olazabal.]
The most eloquent part of the story for me was the small photo
of coffee,
Winston cigarettes and Frank's hand on the VCA groupers on the
old API in Studio
B. That defines the every-night location of where Frank sat as we
worked. Frank
and I spent months in that room. Frank never drove; I would drive
him home every
morning to the Woodrow Wilson house. I also lived in Laurel Cyn.
I am forwarding a unique photo that was snapped one night
while I was mixing
the Grand Funk album that I coaxed Frank into producing. It's in
the old Studio
A at RPLA on another API that I think went into the DesignFX
remote truck, if I
recall. It's kind of a rare photo of one of Frank's rare
production gigs.
Frank was always fighting with record labels. At the time we
worked together,
he was trying to get out of his Warner Bros. contract. We were
cramming to
finish a bunch of albums to deliver to them. At 7 a.m., on the
last day the
material was due, Frank grabbed a legal pad and hand-wrote a
letter to Mo Ostin
to accompany the masters we were sending over to Burbank, Calif.
One of my
favorite artifacts is a copy of that three-page demand for
"payment by the end
of business day today."
There have been many events Mix has written about that I have
been part of
during the 20 years I spent in L.A. engineering or producing.
This is the first
time I have commented on any of them. It's because Frank and I
worked together
for a long time - over three years - and I saw a lot of people
come and go. We
got to know each other pretty well, and I have a real spot in my
heart for him.
mbraun...@cox.net
INEMM
wrote:
>
>Mix. I began
>working as Frank's recording engineer on January 3, 1975, when
...time goes by fast.