So, let's talk about your past. I read that your dad gave you a disc cutter when you were young.
Yes, when I was ten years old. My dad saw my interest in capturing music. It was actually a wire recorder. It recorded magnetically on wire. The quality was really bad — everything was mono. I started working when I was in high school, in the '50s. I had a basement studio in Minneapolis with a guy that really understood equipment. Above all, he understood cutting lacquers.
Were you cutting sessions live to disc in that studio?
No, we never really did. It was the most literal interpretation of a basement studio that I've ever been in. It was in a room next to the furnace. We had a beautiful disc recording setup. We would go out and record. Most of the stuff was actually weddings and things like that. I've even done some funerals. You have to remember that I started very young. When I started in music recording in Minneapolis, I was 14 years old.
You worked in Minneapolis for a while. You even took over a theater and opened Swedien Recording, right?
Yeah. It was on Nicolett Avenue South. It was an absolutely gorgeous old movie theater. Of course it had a slanted floor. Our first project was to fill in the floor and make it level. In those days concrete was very, very cheap — so we did it with solid concrete. I did a whole bunch of recordings with some pretty well known artists. To this day it is still a highly respected music studio. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis had it for a while. Later it was called Creation Audio. A guy by the name of Steve Wiese ran it.
It's amazing that the place would remain a studio after all these years.
Yes. I literally started when my oldest kid was born, and she's 50 now!
When you opened Swedien Recording you were with your wife Bea [Anderson Swedien], you had a child on the way, and your family was supportive.
Oh, yes. There's a little bit of my mom and dad in everything I've done. They were both musicians and both well educated and trained. All they wanted me to do was record music and do it properly. They just wanted to help.
One of the nice things is that you see that support. Bea has obviously been behind you all the way.
Oh, she's incredible! I saw early on in my career that her support was going to be really important to me, so I included her in all my work. I never did a major project without bringing her to the studio. She's stayed up all night with Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Bea and I traveled with Michael Jackson all over the world — she actually drove for him for a while.
I can imagine early on that you had some lean years.
I think I was lucky. I was always busy and made a little money.
That doesn't hurt!
That doesn't hurt at all. Although I do have a distinct memory of when Bea and I were first married. We were in the studio in Minneapolis and we went home on Christmas Eve and bought a Christmas tree for 25 cents.
Work took priority at that point.
Well, it's like anything else — either you do it or you don't. Music recording is not very forgiving. That is a lifetime commitment, you have to do it. It isn't going to come to you; you have to go after it. I'm 72 years old, and to this day there's nothing else I'd rather do. Isn't that something? Think about that. How many guys my age can say that?
Do you find that you ever get sick of it?
Never. When I was in Chicago I did some commercials that got a little bit trying, but that was only because of the people involved, not the project.
JJ: Not the musicians?
Never the musicians. I've been very lucky.
So you sold the studio in Minneapolis to move to Chicago and work for RCA Victor?
It's a funny story. I was asked by the CBS network to accompany a team of space explorers and record them. And I did that. What happened was that I did really, really well. We went all over Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota and so on. It was before spaceships — it was actually a manned balloon. I evidently impressed the people. When they got to Chicago, they were talking about me. "Oh, you've got to meet this crazy kid. He really knows how to record!" Next thing I knew, I was on my way to RCA Victor studios in Chicago.
And that was out on Navy Pier?
Yes, it was. Chicago is a fabulous city for music. I literally cut my teeth on big orchestral recordings with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. At that time, it was under the baton of Dr. Fritz Reiner. Recording an orchestra, at that point in time, was a team effort. You didn't have one guy that sat down at the console and did the recording. It was such a learning experience. And the musicians? Oh, wow! I worked with the best.
Do you feel the musicians' talents were better quality than they are today?
I don't think, no. I've met a whole lot of young people today and I'm really amazed at the quality of musicianship. Where I'm a little bit disappointed are the people in popular music recording. They don't really seem to want to spend the time or the money to do it right. When I started in the business, money was no object. I'd go out and rob a bank if I had to in order to buy another microphone. It was almost like we were more serious in those days than they are now.
