B W Sound, Inc. ( the sound design business I started after moving to Clovis) was pretty much a success – but – plagued by money problems – as usual all my investments were started on very little money and a lot of prayer. Lord knows I had the will and an old farm boy with just not enough business brains. Oh – common sense I had – but – I’ve been known to ignore that at times also. Well, there I was in the garage again, but this time shouting "B W Sound can design your sound system!"

I wrangled a franchise from DuKane, Corp who during WWII made communication systems for the Navy, now into most industrial sound designs. Most ships had DuKane® systems somewhere in the ship. It was a daring move for I had no place of business, other than the garage. Luckily, they were in an expansion period for the west and a very enthusiastic representative of theirs convinced his home office I would be good for them. I enjoyed a good relationship with them and they helped me win bids for hospital systems, drive in systems (McDonalds) various churches and government facilities. I captured most of the market in immediate surrounding area and some in other States that had no contacts. DuKane® made me a well known entity on the high plains’. I was well on my way to my third feather.

I met many of the DuKane® employees – many who had been with that company since the 30’s. It was a great experience – and – like so many others – talked personally with Shure Brothers, Inc. (Microphones) JBL® (Jim B Lansing- speakers) Klipsch (Paul M. Klipsch – sound systems - the renowned Klipschorn’® – using the corner of the room to form a horn) – were all pioneers in their field. The amazing thing about Paul Klipsch and Jim Lansing – they had both worked out of their garage at one time. I was sure knowledgeable about the garage.

I was happy again - the old friend on my shoulder too I guess? Technology abounded now changing every few months it seemed. Suddenly, there was that old thing called a transistor. The thing I said would never work? (I'm glad no one quoted me on that one.) It opened up a new world in the sound business as it did in the other fields. Suddenly no worry about too much heat , components got smaller, lighter and easier to interface with different brands. The old tube components needed a slide rule to calculate the impedance to match each together.

I was to meet Norman Petty one more time. As an OEM business i was able to buy various products even though I was not franchised for them. I sold so many Shure Microphones Shure representatives contacted me and advised me they were giving me the franchise since I seemed to sell most of the Shure products in the area.

I had no idea who had the franchise or if there was even one near until I got a call from Norman. He advised me that he was the one who had the franchise and that he had enough connections with Shure's home office that he would have the franchise taken from me. Unfortunately that would be the last conversation I would ever have with Norman Petty. It is ironic how a simple grudge between two people you had never met would change their lifestyles so much. I would pass him many more times in this small city but he never spoke. I feel bad about that situation for there were so many question I would have liked to ask him about his early days of recording and certainly the Buddy Holly days. But, I sold hundreds of Shure microphones and other products in the Clovis area.

Although Clovis had been good to me I had to leave it behind. I had only a few years for retirement with the company I had been with so long, Commercial Credit Corp. They wanted me to help start a new office in Santa Fe, NM, some 250 miles West of Clovis. In 1979 I sold B. W. Sound, Inc. to a local individual. Sadly, he had less business sense than I for only months later the old B. W. trade name went into bankruptcy and lays with the rest of failed trade names.

In Santa Fe I designed and built my own house. (Take it from me, never do that.) In the design was a large garage, however, there was never an opening made for it. You guessed it. It favored a garage studio. I had purchased and sold several Tascam products in the B. W. franchise to radio stations and churches. I had saved one Tascam eight track and one two track. I just had to see what recording with all those tracks was like; I had done most recording on two track machines. In spite of my earlier experiences the genie danced again on both shoulders. The wall near the living room was moved twice, each time taking more of the living room with the designs the genie and I came up with. My wife debated whether we were going to live in the garage or the smaller house. A compromise left an indention in the living room wall for a large couch and allowed a large cavity for a triple wall to separate the house and the garage that had no outside doors.

The studio grew quickly to a nice four track garage studio. However, technology was going by leaps and bounds and here came the sixteen track and the twenty four track and the ability to sync recorders to as many tracks as you recording board would handle. I was never a good multi track engineer. I, as Norman did, my best work back in the monaural days where we could use the two track and three track machine to bounce tracks rather than layer them. There is a great difference in engineering live takes (as in the old days) and doing many small takes and then combining into one performance.

Not only was the recording different there simply was no talent in Santa Fe in the country field. Santa Fe is a movie town and much talent abounds in that area. I did have some success in doing tracks for a TV show called "The Wonder Years" and the pleasure of having Daniel Stern in the studio to do the takes live as the producer listened on a phone patch. There was little enjoyment in it other than spending money for more tracks and advanced equipment and enjoying the new technology and that got expensive.

My son Ron ran the studio for about a year in the early ninety's. Also disillusioned with lack of talent he signed on with a new, upcoming singer, Joe Nichols and began touring the country as a lead guitarist. I could see the digital era coming. I was not about to enter another era trying to keep up with technology that was now doubling every year. I sold the studio equipment to a company that produced books on tape and retired from the world of recording sound. I was never a real success at the trade although I did some good work. But, as I said when I started writing this to whomever reads it, "Success is not whether you succeed, it is the beautiful people you meet while trying to achieve it." The last of the analog garage studio can be seen below. YOU MAY CLICK ON ANY OF THESE TO ENLARGE IF YOU WISH.

     And so the insatiable dream had to come to an end. From 1964 to to almost 1994 the expense in following technology began to take it's toll on the finances. A one track machine to sixteen was about all I could abide by. Again, what had started as a simple dream with simple equipment grew like the proverbial Jack and The Beanstalk story. The simple machines grew into behemoths and became a rich mans game. Some stood four to five foot tall and gobbled a two inch, 3 lb load of synthetic tape in minutes.

     Their costs reached the thirty thousand mark before they fell like destroyed robots in Star Wars, shot squarely in the heads by the young digital revolution The recording control rooms look very empty today. Where once huge mixing consoles were surrounded by these behemoths with 32 eyes a simple console complete with a computer screen and keyboard leave room for ample movement. No longer do you need to stop the session for the equipment to cool down from all the heat.

      But, as I said in the beginning, the beautiful people I met during the trip made it all worth it. My buddy's and I used to think that we had a good day when we were able to send teletype signals from Guam to Hawaii for an hour without interruption. Now we can drop a session from New York to Los Angeles in seconds. From an old radio with 6L6 tubes to a 16 track machine recording audio was some kind of trip. What will my sons see?

Please Take A Minute To Visit The Sites below. I Think You Will Like Them