HISTORY>>

Introduction

The Early Years
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The Next Step

Turnabout

Unusual Tastes

THE NEXT STEP

Because Heider was a trailblazer and had always strived for the latest technology, by 1974 he thought it a first priority to update the equipment to 24 track or fall behind competing studios. Heider's headaches began when he went to the Filmways board and asked for money to upgrade and Filmways refused. As former staff engineer Jeffery Norman explains, “It was just the great, classic case of a corporation taking over just to gain something, but not to put anything back.” Harry Sitam, in charge of maintenance in the early days, adds, “the (Filmways') manager would not allow me to buy parts to maintain the equipment even up to basic NAB specifications.”

Filmways' refusal to provide money to meet client needs was a direct contradiction to how Heider felt the recording business should be run. In the early days, when Heider still had working capital, he was known to give clients thousands of dollars of compensation if he thought they had received an unfair deal at his studio. As Sitam recalls, “Even if there was some kind of gray area, he'd see in favor of the customer. It's that kind of investment and goodwill that made him so famous world over.”

Thus began the demise of Filmways owned Heider's studios. Heider became so distraught about the decline of the studio that he maneuvered his way into being fired by the parent company. Although the corporation wanted to claim he had resigned, Heider took out a full page ad in the Hollywood Reporter, proclaiming “I WAS FIRED!!!” He threw a giant going-away party for himself, flying a handful of his San Francisco crew to Los Angeles for a huge dinner and celebration. Soon after, he went into private life in his home state of Oregon.
After Heider left, Filmways paid little attention to the San Francisco studio. They became so out of touch with its Northern California investment that at one point, when employees sent a request down to Los Angeles for higher wages, Filmways' response was, “You mean we still have a studio in San Francisco?”

It was then that Filmways realized it needed to find someone to fill the administrative role left empty by Wally Heider's departure. Filmways sent up Gary Blum, whose Los Angeles style seemed at odds with the more laid-back San Francisco scene. Engineer Susie Foot recalls, “He dripped L. A. And this guy heading up a bunch of San Francisco hippie engineers was just ludicrous. “

Explaining that he needed help with a serious studio decision, Blum called Foot into his office one day. “I thought he was going to ask my opinion about some piece of gear or something, but he had these two turquoise bracelets on his desk and he said 'Which one do you like better?'This was his duty as manager--picking out jewelry to wear. “