Legendary recording engineer and producer Bruce Botnick invited The Parts You Don’t Hear to his studio in Ojai, California to talk about making some of his classic records including The Doors. Bruce grew up with very musical parents and developed an affinity with technology and recording. He got his break working for Tutti Camarata as an in-house engineer at Sunset Sound Recorders recording Disney music and commercials before getting heavily into the Rock scene by the mid 1960’s.
Bruce got his musical hands on not one, but two ‘A-Range’ Sound Techniques consoles: Hand-built to order and installed by Geoff Frost in 1967, the first console was installed at Studio 2 at Sunset Sound Recorders. This console would be used when recording parts of the classic Doors album Waiting For The Sun (1968), as well as mixing classics such as Love’s Forever Changes (1967) & Van Dyke Parks’ Song Cycle (1968).
When Jack Holzman, founder of Elektra records & Nonesuch was looking for a new desk for studio B at his Elektra Sound Recorders, Bruce remembers that it was the Van Dyke Parks album he was mixing over at Sunset Sound was probably what prompted Jack to decide to go with the Sound Techniques console. Installed by Geoff Frost in 1968, further amazing Doors albums The Soft Parade (1969) and Morrison Hotel (1970) were recorded there by Bruce, as well as mixing The Doors Absolutely Live (1970).
We would like to thank Bruce for his time, warmth and humour. To this day Bruce continues to be busy recording, producing and mixing. He remains very close friends with Jack Holzman whom we did not get the chance to interview for this film but had the great honour of meeting and chatting to at NAMM 2018.
