1980
click
on the pictures below for a larger image (some won't enlarge)
Production
Notes: Martin began working with Bruce Scafe (the original producer of Austin
City Limits) in producing video for the Texas Dept of Human Services.
Phantom's
first Austin music album and video was produced for "Dan and Dave"
who had been one of the favorite Austin "off the wall" bands. The
album was named "Legends in Our Spare Time." It was produced on
an Teac 80-8 (8 track) in Phantom's van and
mastered at Cedar Creek Studios with Martin, engineer Ben Thornton and producer
Peter Butcher, and at George Coyne's Parrot
Tracks Studio. Peter and Martin formed a partnership that spanned several
Austin music companies and took on an international scope.
Peter
Butcher and Martin met when Phantom was producing a promo at Lake Travis.
That work resulted in the formation of an Austin music company called New
Generation Production. The goal of the company was to identify the best music
coming out of US studios and promoting the music to publishers and record
labels. Peter's British experience in the music industry created some very
helpful ties internationally.
Martin
designed and began building a studio for New Generation Productions. The studio
later became the home for Riverside Sound Studio.
Music
Etcetera worked with quite a few bands during these years. One band that created
a large following was Shammy. The band members included James Mikulinka and
Wayne Gathright (previous Austin Music Lane Recording Studio owner). The band
owned its own recording studio built into a mobile home and included a great
Trident mixing board. Poster
One
of Phantom and Peter's early collaborations was the production of a demo for
the Cain Sisters who had secured backing from Willie Nelson.
This came about, so the story goes, by their blocking Willie's exit from his
ranch and talking him into to listening to some early tracks. That's Peter
(above) dancing to tracks at the on-location session. Poster
1981
Peter
secured the US marketing for the 1981 release of Leslie Gore's old hit "It's
My Party" by UK artists Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin. The record had
great success in Europe and made it to 73 in the US.
One
of the artists Music Etcetera worked with was Kim Meyers.
1982
Peter
took on an album production for Rich Michaels in 1982. 
Listen
to cuts from Rich Michaels
Rich
Records was created to produce and promote Rich Michael's album.
Martin
set up the duplication room and remodeled Austin Custom Records studio. He
was ACR's Chief Engineer during this time. The ACR record cutter is seen in
the picture above. We used a variety of ACR's and Phantom equipment.
They included the Teac Model 5, Model 2 (Phantom's original), 2340, 3340 (Phantom's
original), 7300, a great old original Teac Series 70H8 8 track, Sony 580 (Phantom's original
580). More pictures of Austin Custom Records studio are below.
click
on the pictures above for a larger image
1983
1984
click
on the pictures above for a larger image
1985
Artist
Management, SVHS video & the UK
Phantom
to this point was primarily providing on-location recording to musicians.
We realized that one of the ways we could be more helpful to the musicians
we were working with, was to begin handling the day to day tasks that enabled
the artist to pursue their music. This evolved into a role as Artist Manager
(although we soon found the role was more accurately described as "investor").
Video had already become a dominant media for promotion and it was expensive
for the musicians to buy production. We decided to also invest in video
production to see if it might give our artists an edge. We choose SVHS as
it provided a higher resolution and was much less expensive than Beta SP.
This
was a cool year, as Martin had met Chris and she joined the music business
on the first date with dinner and then an evening with Peter Butcher at "Rollingwood
Recording" an Austin recording studio.
1986
Chris'
roots were in England. Also, Peter felt the response to the new musicians
we were working with was much more helpful from the European record companies
and publishers. So we kept pitching new material that direction. On our
1986 trip back to Chris' home, we decided to try to pitch some of the artists
we were working with. We came up with an idea to take US NTSC music videos
we produced and see if we could show the material in the UK (where PAL is
the standard video format) It greatly exceeded our expectations and we were
able to actually meet with the International Rep at Island Records (it was
pretty neat to sit in the waiting room and see all the mailed demos from
artists all over the world). Our pitch was that we couldn't leave the NTSC
videos for the record company to look at later, so they would need to look
at them now...AND THEY DID!
One
publisher (Chelsea Music (publishers of "Curiosity Killed the Cat."),
asked
what Phantom got out of a deal if we found interest in the UK. Chris and
Martin said "nothing" as the musicians were friends. The publisher
said that Phantom's representation was so good, we should negotiate a management
contract. Thus began Phantom's management (investor) stint. Chris would
later move Phantom from providing resources to new artists to serious booking
contracts that brought income to the artist and Phantom. Some of the artists we originally managed toured Russia with the TIES project.
view video info
Dick
Dodd & the Standell's Austin Imitator
Chris
and Martin initiated the creation of a the Commercial Music degree program
at Austin Community College. Beginning in 1986 proposals and surveys were
continually provided to ACC to convince the college of the need. It took several
years and lots of help from others. It became a reality in the Summer of 1988
(regular classes began in 1989. ACC said if ten students showed up for the
first class, they would continue the program. Thirty-eight showed and additional
classes had to be created. Click for more.
1987
Production
Notes: Choose Panasonic SVHS as prime Phantom format.
Artist
Management: Housewives Choice, Skull Duggery
Phantom
also added a 4X4 Production vehicle 
This
is a picture of a quick living room set-up to record a demo for James Hinkle's
band.
click
on the pictures above for a larger image
Early
video editing suite.
Audio
& video editing areas.
1988
Phantom's
Chris and Martin being interviewed by Austin CableVision for 1987 SXSW.
Phantom
had just returned from Midem in Cannes, France and where we entered into a
partnership with David Case, Mass Productions, Milton Keynes, England. David
later became Phantom UK.
SXSW
- As Mass Productions and Phantom Productions, Inc. joined transatlantic forces,
we used the SWSW II Conference to announce our evolution. Trivia: Some interesting
items include: Peter Butcher was the person who brought folks from the New
Music Seminar in New York to Austin to look at creating a major festival (SWSX)
in Austin. Peter facilitated the introductions of Louis Black, Louis Meyers
and Roland Swensen to the New Yorkers. Also David Case and Mass Productions
was one of the first international participants in the Austin SXSW. Phantom
Associate Gary Taylor from Vancouver, Canada was one of the first panel participants
from outside the US.
1989
Pictures
from Phantom's showcase of Danny White in London. Click on picture (above right)
for larger image.
Phantom
Productions created Phantom Records and Phantom Video, using the Billboard
Spotlight on Austin in 1989.
click
on pictures above for larger image
Phantom
began operating out of Austin Center at 700 Brazos
