Interview with Ken Hamann, November 13, 1995

Partial Transcript: So, this is, um--

Segment Synopsis: Hamann explains the history of Suma Records, beginning with Fred Wolf establishing the Cleveland Recording Company in the late 1930s. He explains that the studio was incorporated so that Wolf could record all the local Slavic radio programming before Sunday morning. Eventually the studio was used by both advertisers to record commercials and by musicians. Polka musicians made up the majority of the musicians, most notably Frankie Yankovic. Hamann also talks about Wolf's role in the company as a businessman.

Keywords: Advertising; Archives; Atwater, Windsor; Battle of the Bulge; Cleveland (Ohio); Cleveland Recording Company; Cleveland Talking Machine Company; Draft, the; History; Jazz; Musicians; Oral history; Polka music; Poor Girls, the; Radio broadcasting; Radio programming; Radio shows; Radio stations; Recording; Recording studios; Selective service; Sound engineers; Suma Recording; Transcription discs; WGAR Cleveland; Wolf, Frederick C.; World War II; Yankovic, Frankie; engineers

Subjects: Advertising; Cleveland (Ohio); Draft; History; Jazz; Oral history; Polka; Radio; Radio broadcasting; Radio programs; Sound engineers; Sound studios; Sound--Recording and reproducing; Sound--Recording and reproducing--Equipment and supplies; WGAR (Radio station : Cleveland, Ohio); World War II; Yankovic, Frank

Partial Transcript: What I'm really interested in looking at in this paper, but of course if other things come up I'll change the focus of it...

Segment Synopsis: Hamann recalls the lack of racial divides in the early Cleveland music scene, including that Wolf hired one of the first Black DJs in the area -- Bill Hawkins on WHK Cleveland. He goes on to assert that he recalls no active racial discrimination.

Subjects: African American musicians; African American musicians--Ohio; African Americans; Disc jockeys; Discrimination; Liberalism; Political science; Racism; Radio; Radio broadcasting; Republicans (Political party : U.S. : 1854- ); Segregation; Sound recording industry

Partial Transcript: I joined the company in 1950.

Segment Synopsis: Hamann explains that his first job as an audio engineer was working full time as a radio engineer for WDOK Cleveland, and part time as a studio engineer for Wolf's studio. He recalls some of the work being done in the studio, mostly advertisements for local businesses and training films. He goes on to explain how they would record the training films.

Keywords: 35mm film; Advertising; Commercials; Dukane Corp.; FCC Commercial Operator License; Federal Communications Commission (FCC); Radio studios; Recording; Recording studios; Reel-to-reel tape; Slide films; Sound engineers; Strip film machines; Technology; Transmitters; U.S. Navy; WDOK Cleveland

Subjects: Advertising; Radio; Radio advertising; Radio--Transmitters and transmission; Sound engineers; Sound studios; Sound--Recording and reproducing; Technology; United States. Federal Communications Commission; United States. Navy

Partial Transcript: I think what, what I did then naturally, without really thinking about it, was to begin to build, in my own basement at home, some equipment to add to the facility.

Segment Synopsis: Hamann explains that he unintentionally gave himself built-in job insurance by building custom and complex equipment that only he knew the intricacies of. He continues to talk about the "pool" of engineers that Wolf had available to him.

[A loud interruption occurs at 16:41.]

Keywords: Audio engineering; Audio engineers; Building; Complex equipment; Custom equipment; Invention; Music recording; Recording

Subjects: Sound engineers; Sound--Recording and reproducing

Partial Transcript: So you were full time at WDOK?

Segment Synopsis: Hamann goes in depth about the types of equipment he built with the intention of trying to improve and streamline the recording process. He explains when they bought their first tape recorder in the mid 1950s, and that they mainly used it for polka at first.

Keywords: Acetate; Ampex Electric Corporation; Cleveland Recording Company; Columbia Records, Inc.; Improvements; Innovations; Monitor; Monophonic; New York (N.Y.); Polka music; Poor Girls, the (Artist); Recorders, mono; Recorders, tape (models): Ampex 300 monophonic; Recording; Records; WDOK Cleveland; Yankovic, Frankie

Subjects: Ampex Corporation; Columbia Records, Inc.; New York (N.Y.); Polka; Sound--Recording and reproducing; Sound--Recording and reproducing--Equipment and supplies; Yankovic, Frank

Partial Transcript: Yeah, I was, I was interested in that.

Segment Synopsis: Hamann explains that he learned from an engineer who worked for Decca about recording music, beginning with polka. He uses the term "transitional music" to describe the sound, specifically noting the Tracy Twins as an example of this style. He also explains that "race music" was another type of transitional music. He recalls the first time he ever recorded rock 'n roll was with his mentor from Decca recording Bill Haley live at the Masonic Auditorium.

Subjects: African American musicians; Comets (Musical group); Decca Records (Firm); Haley, Bill, 1925-1981; Polka; Presley, Elvis, 1935-1977; Punk culture; Randle, Bill, 1923-; Rhythm and blues music; Rock music; Sound recording industry; Sound--Recording and reproducing; Stereophonic broadcasting

Partial Transcript: Well, and, you know, how many groups were there?

Segment Synopsis: Hamann explains how he recorded various bands using a 3-channel system that incorporated an FM channel and an AM channel, and another that was a 4-channel recording incorporating 2 different FM stations. In both of these instances, the bands playing would be broadcast simultaneously from 2 different radio stations.

Keywords: 3-channel recording; 4-channel Recording; AM Radio; FM Radio; High school groups; Live music; Microphones; Mixing; Portable recording; Quadraphonics; Radio broadcasting; Recording; Remote recording; Teaching; WDOK Cleveland; WERE Cleveland; Wolf, Frederick C.

Subjects: FM broadcasting; Quadraphonic sound systems; Radio; Radio broadcasting; Radio frequency modulation; Sound--Recording and reproducing; Sound--Recording and reproducing--Equipment and supplies; WERE (Radio station : Cleveland, Ohio)

Partial Transcript: I know it's--I mean it's just incredible when you think about how much it changed in like 10 years.

Segment Synopsis: Hamann talks about how things in the Cleveland music scene changed in the early 1960s, and that younger musicians (high school or college aged) were the ones who innovated the sound of rock and roll. He also explains that he quit recording polka bands during this time because many of them had either quit or chose to record at a different studio.

Subjects: Musicians; Polka; Radio; Radio broadcasting; Rock music; Sound--Recording and reproducing; WIXY (Radio station : Cleveland, Ohio)

Partial Transcript: The ethnic communities were--I think they echoed what happened much later in Bosnia.

Segment Synopsis: Hamann mentions some of the artists that he recorded during the early 1960s, such as Joe Walsh and the Montclairs.

Keywords: 3 track recording; 4 track recording; Bosnia; Chart recording; Commercials; Ethnic communities; Fox, Jimmy; Happy Feet Time (Song); King, Tom (Artist); Montclairs, the (Artist); Promotional recording; Street fairs; Thompson, Kate; Tom King and the Starfires (Artist); Tormé, Mel; Walsh, Joe (Artist); Williams, Andy; Wolf, Frederick C.

Subjects: Bosnia and Herzegovina; Ethnicity; Montclairs (Musical group); Tormé, Mel, 1925-1999; Walsh, Joe; Williams, Andy, 1927-2012; advertising

Partial Transcript: Turns out that we have really about the only other machine in this country of that nature.

Segment Synopsis: Hamann tells about the German equipment in his studio, and about the time he and Fred Wolf went to Germany to learn more about equipment and how to reach the quality of recording they heard on German recorded vinyl.

Keywords: Beer halls; Berlin (Germany); Crazy Otto Medley (Song); Deutsche Grammophon; Germany; Human Beinz (Artist); Joy, Lenny; Lemon Pipers (Artist); Linear faders; Microphones, Neumann; Neumann, Georg; Recording lathes; Tape recorder; Technology; Vacuum tube; Wolf, Frederick C.

Subjects: Amplifiers, Vacuum-tube; Berlin (Germany); Crazy Otto; Deutsche Grammophon (Firm); Germany; Human Beinz (Musical group); Lemon Pipers; Neumann, Georg

Partial Transcript: Uh, we did a lot of other recordings with, uh, with that group.

Segment Synopsis: Hamann tells a story about destroying a piano in order to record a song with the Human Bienz.

Keywords: Cage, John; Carroll, Gene; Human Beinz (Artist); Pianos

Subjects: Cage, John; Carroll, Gene; Human Beinz (Musical group); Piano

Partial Transcript: But, uh, we were getting more and more innovative and some of the clients were getting more and more experimental.

Segment Synopsis: Hamann explains that as time progressed, the music became much more experimental mostly thanks to the fact that there were no unions present at his studio. Unions would typically control and segregate who was allowed to control the panel. The interviewer talks about recording at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida.

Keywords: Art; Artistic freedom; Cleveland (Ohio); Criteria Studios; Engineers; Experimentation; Innovation; Los Angeles (Calif.); Miami (Fla.); Mixing; Musicians; Nashville (Tenn.); New York (N.Y.); Producers; Producing; Recording; Unions

Subjects: Art; Cleveland (Ohio); Freedom and art; Labor unions; Los Angeles (Calif.); Miami (Fla.); Musicians; Musicians as artists; Nashville (Tenn.); New York (N.Y.); Sound engineers; Sound--recording and reproducing

Partial Transcript: So anyway, where was I?

Segment Synopsis: Hamann talks about experimenting with different artists in the studio, including some of what he considers to be his favorite artists to work with such as Joe Walsh, Terry Knight, and Grand Funk Railroad. He also talks about the different technological innovations they made in the studio that allowed for this experimentation.

Subjects: Grand Funk Railroad (Musical group); Guitar; Knight, Terry; Walsh, Joe

Partial Transcript: That's one thing I wanted to ask you.

Segment Synopsis: Hamann explains where he recorded orchestras.

Keywords: Classical music; Masonic Auditorium; Orchestras; Severance Hall

Subjects: Classical music; Orchestra; Severance Hall (Cleveland, Ohio)

Partial Transcript: Back to Terry Knight.

Segment Synopsis: Hamann explains that he had to fly out to New York to finish recording Knight's album, and then mixed the album in Cleveland before sending the masters to Capital.

Keywords: Baker, Tom; Capitol Records; Knight, Terry; New York (N.Y.); Pittsburgh (Penn.); Producers; Record Plant, the; Recording; Strings; Touring

Subjects: New York (N.Y.); Pittsburgh (Pa.); Sound--recording and reproduction