Category: Stories

2022 — A Year of Anniversaries

Every now and then we stop in our tracks and say, “How long has this been going on?” Well, it happens that 2022 is a big year for anniversaries and celebrations for the Blue Coast family! 40th Anniversary of OTR Studios Hard to believe we opened the doors to the studio on January 1, 1982. […]

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Cookie on Piano? When the Past Becomes the Future

Before I was an audio engineer I was a full time musician and music teacher. I had aspirations for a career composing soundtracks, playing jazz and performing in orchestral situations. When I started the studio, it was really to have a place to make recordings for ‘the band’ — isn’t that why everyone builds a […]

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What’s So Special About the 1885 Steinway?

I remember the day I said to Sheldon Smith,  “I want an instrument that Arthur Rubinstein and Art Lande would be happy playing”. It took Sheldon a year to find and a year to rebuild the instrument that would eventually land at my home.   Sheldon Smith was a master piano technician who specialized in Steinway piano restoration. It took him […]

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We Called Him Dino

If you’ve ever wondered why I become a recording engineer, here’s my “origin story”: Gone But Never Forgotten I met Dino more than 40 years ago with him having just moved to San Francisco after several years of his playing trombone with Ike and Tina Turner’s band… and later toured with Tina.  Like many who […]

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The International Space Orchestra at OTR Studios

We were anxious to get back into the studio and do what we do best… record musicians playing live.  Little did we know what would happen when we took on the project with the International Space Orchestra. Evan Price, an old friend who was in the Turtle Island String Quartet, called us a few months […]

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Tony Furtado Shares An Amazing Memory from the Studio

Tony Furtado and I have been working together since the early 90’s when he asked me to produce an album for Rounder Records. It was the beginning of a long and fruitful musical relationship. Recently, Tony posted on Facebook about a particular memory of recording a song that I had forgotten about…. Boat’s Up The […]

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