02/21/2024
Today, February 20, 2024, marks the 50th anniversary of the 1974 release of Steely Dan’s iconic Pretzel Logic album on ABC Records which included their US top 5 single “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaxMrzrkzwI ) which has been loved and used for demo by audiophiles around the world for all these 50 years, including me. In 1973 I personally designed and installed the very unique audiophile studio monitoring system used to mix Pretzel Logic at Cherokee Studios in Chatsworth, California. The stereo monitoring system I designed included two dual 12” balanced push-pull subwoofers which later would be called “THE BOTTOM END!”
The story behind my audio involvement with Walter Becker and other members of the band, including their brilliant and innovative audiophile recording engineer Roger “The Immortal” Nichols and their ABC producer Gary Katz, is historic for me as it led to the 1974 creation of Miller & Kreisel Sound, Inc. and the rest is audio history as they say.
It seems like only yesterday when Walter Becker first walked into Jonas’ well-known Beverly Hills California high-end audio salon on Wilshire Boulevard (Jonas Miller Sound) around 1972, looking exactly as he did in the attached photograph. Walter Becker and Donald Fagan had recently moved to Los Angeles from New York to work with ABC Records (you can read all about their history on the Internet). Walter was an avid New York audiophile, and our store had an international reputation with an elite clientele of Hollywood film and recording celebrities, studio executives, studio recording engineers, and of course audiophiles.
In 1969 I was 18 years old (just graduated Beverly Hills High School), became a customer of Jonas’ store and immediately started working part time that summer while being a premed student. My very first customers were Barbara Hershey and David Carradine (that’s another interesting story for another day). I quickly became a partner in the store and started designing and building custom subwoofers for our customers with Quad Electrostatics and Audio Research Magneplanar speakers. Walter bought a set of Quad ESL’s and Walter and Roger Nichols (and other band members) became regular visitors to our store. In 1973 Walter and Roger asked if I could design and install a reference studio monitoring system for mixing their new album. I said no problem!
The stereo studio monitoring system I designed included two somewhat “innovative and revolutionary” (at the time) totally balanced 12” push-pull subwoofers which I changed at the last minute to non-push-pull because I was concerned about the exposed rear facing magnets being dangerous in a studio environment which, in those days, used only magnetically sensitive analog tape and tube type video monitors.
The extremely flat response monitoring system was a big hit with all the engineers and musicians at Cherokee Studios. They all especially loved the subwoofers and everyone wanted to buy the balanced dual driver subwoofers for their home sound system.
….to be continued….KEN