These pages were initially created to transfer photos from traditional scrapbooks to the internet in order to both preserve and make the pictures and history available to family and friends. It has become more extensive than I intended. However, I see it as a way to save the details before they slip away.
Martin began playing trumpet in the 5th grade. Alpine Band Concert program
Cover of Dixieland Devils music folder - After playing 4th trumpet with the Alpine High School dance band the Starlighters (above), Martin played 2nd trumpet in the smaller dance band Dixieland Devils during some of his high school years. Also did some of the recording for the band.
Martin's room early '60's
Some of the music in the Dixieland Devils music folder. In addition to playing in the bands, Martin began experimenting with small portable reel tape recorders. This also led to interest in electronics and Ham Radio.
Martin's ham shack John King (Martin's sister's boyfriend & later husband) introduced Martin to Ham radio
Martin ham radio KN5YCJ 1956
David Forchheimer in Martin's ham radio shack (Central school out window). Martin's friendship with David who was a classmate that worked at Alpine's KVLF radio station also peaked an interest in radio, recording and the music business.
David took a part-time radio announcer’s job at KVLF while attending Alpine High School in the 1960s and made broadcasting his life’s work. His expertise in country music programming from the 1970s through the 1990s put the stations where he worked in the top echelon of the market under the name Bob Young. Billboard magazine named him country music programmer of the year in the late 1970s. His work took him from coast to coast where he was program director for stations in Memphis, Philadelphia, Houston, Shreveport, New Orleans, Denver, Oakland-San Francisco, Sacramento and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Alpine High School Band in parade - Leyland Schultz Director
Alpine High School Band preparing for 1960 UIL marching competition
1964
The creation
of
Highland Sound Company/Phantom Productions, Inc.
In
the early '60s Martin spent a lot of time at Alpine's radio station KVLF with
DJ's Phil Wayne Evensburger, Bob Biel and David Forchheimer (a high school
classmate). He became "hooked' on the music and radio business.
The
photo above was taken in Alpine's KVLF studio at a time RCA was testing new
smaller video cameras. KVLF was only a radio station, however Gene Hendricks
(station owner) provided space to enable the trial of the new RCA equipment. The
person at the mike is a French foreign exchange student Claude Guillimet.
In the early 60's Martin began working with small tape recorders including the Monarch below sold by the Alpine Western Auto store.
One of his first jobs was recording camp fire songs at the Mitre Peak Girl Scout Camp
Martin also began managing the Alpine High School band recordings using the Sony 300.
When
the Believers (poster page 1, page
2) played at the AHS Junior Senior prom in 1964, Martin asked for
a copy of the tape recording made on their Roberts recorder (seen above).
The Believers
were a group of Sul Ross State College (now University) students. After the
prom the band members headed for their homes for the Summer of '64. Go
to Believers page
The
Lead Singer, Grainger Hunt (seen in the middle of the photo left)
stayed in Alpine with his family. Knowing Martin had a copy of the tape,
he
called and asked to hear it. Just the month before, for high school graduation,
Martin's parents bought him a Webcor stereo tape recorder which enabled "sound with/on sound." Grainger asked if
Martin would help him develop some new songs.
The
rest of the Summer was spent in numerous ("fun & learning")
sessions and the "draft" recording
of new material for the Believers, including the development of their
new song "Motor Mouth." The Believers
then went to San Angelo and recorded"Motor
Mouth" at Ron Newdoll's Accurate Sound
Company. The studio had a #1 hit with "Last
Kiss" by the Cavaliers.
Here's a picture of the ASC building as it looked in 2003 and 1960s inside the studio with the Cavaliers
Martin recorded a few more things for the Believers. The relationship with Ron Newdoll and Martin's pursuit of a recording career were the result of this first work with Grainger & Peyton helping in their music development. Ron's old building in San Angelo now has a mural about the Cavaliers and Accurate Sound Studios.
Ron later moved his studio to Dallas and subsequently to Menlo Park, CA where he built and serviced Ampex reel tape recorders and duplication systems. The company continues with new high tech energy equipment.
Accurate Sound Company amps were manufactured after Ampex quit producing them.
Sul Ross Band preparing to play for Lady Bird Johnson's arrival at the Marfa Army Airbase to attend the Fort Davis National Historic Site dedication. Tony Bronze, Carol & Martin in center of photo.
The Believers with Lady Bird Johnson
Crowd welcoming Lady Bird Johnson (secondary MAAF hangers in background)
Martin made reel to reel copies using the Webcor and the borrowed AHS Sony 300
As recording jobs picked up, Martin formed Highland Sound Company.
Phantom
Productions began as an audio recording company in Alpine,
Texas in 1964. Originally called Highland Sound Company (suggestion by Scottish grandmother), we produced record albums, radio
shows, film audio post production and music projects across Texas.
In
audio production microphones may be "phantom" powered. That is, remotely
powered. We liked the "behind the scenes" image that Phantom provided.
We work behind the scenes to provide professional services!
This is an on-location job at the First Presbyterian Church in Alpine. Early equipment included the Webcor Squire, a Radio Shack microphone mixer and a couple of Lafayette microphones. These microphones were replaced with the Electro Voice 665s, Shure 556s and EV 635s.
With his Mom's help, Martin built a mobile wooden recording console with a built-in custom microphone mixer. Here it is shown with the Webcor. The Webcor was soon upgraded to the Sony 600 tape recorder.
Here's a look at the mobile console with the custom microphone mixer with the Garrard Lab 80.
Here's the mobile console with the custom microphone mixer, and the Sony 600. Behind the mobile console is an additional custom microphone mixer with a "panning" control. This is built into another custom wooden console that also has a Sony 263-D deck for duplication and the Sony 620 for on-location recording duplication and playback. Also seen in the photo are the EV 665 and the Eico 8020 amp Martin built.
One of Martin's early recording jobs was assisting Peter Koch an Alpine photographer, add nature sounds to his movie. He had recorded the sounds in the Big Thicket of Texas and needed them processed and sequenced. The film Peter Koch produced enabled the Big Thicket to become a national preserve. Photo shows Peter Koch with David Forchheimer and two other men in the KVLF studios, Alpine, Texas (photo from Sul Ross University Archives). Note the ABC test panel and the lens on the left from one of the small test video cameras seen in the KVLF photo toward the top of this page.
Two rooms in Martin's parent's home in Alpine, Texas were converted into his first studio with a window for viewing the performers and sound proofing. Pictures here is the custom microphone mixing panel with panning effects, a Bogen mic mixer, the Eico amplifier and the Garrard Lab 80.
Control side with custom mix console - it added an early ability to pan audio during mix down.
Martin's recording studio in parents home
Martin's Mom helped him build both the top fixed console, as well as the bottom mobile console on wheels which had its own custom mic mixing panel.
This
photo shows the equipment in use in the early studio (1965-1966). The man
in the picture was the PR person for the Alpine ISD who recorded a weekly
radio program for the schools.
Mics in Studio A
The
pictures above are of a Phantom Productions (Highland Sound Company) remote
radio broadcast set-up for a concert at the Sul Ross State College's main
auditorium. The equipment included an Ampex 800,the Sony 600, a Bogan
MXM-A,
and three pieces of remote equipment from Alpine's radio station KVLF.
It
was difficult to buy recording and sound products in Alpine. Martin had upgraded
to Sony recorders and approached Sony Superscope in New York with a view to
represent them in the Big Bend area of Texas. Sony connected Martin with Miller and Associates who arranged Martin's relationship with Balco
Sound of Lubbock, Texas. The relationship resulted in Highland Sound becoming
the re-seller for Altec, Ampex, Electro Voice, Shure Sony and many of the
other major manufacturers. Martin's parents home and their commercial building
next door became showcases for recording tape and supplies, as well as the
full line of Ampex recorders.
This is the studio/sales room with brochures from numerous companies and a Sony 260 for sale at Highland Sound Company / Balco Sound = Ampex, Electro
Voice, Roberts, Shure Sony, Turner, etc
Sony connected Martin with Herman Tanner of Balco
Sound of Lubbock, Texas. The relationship resulted in Highland Sound becoming
the re-seller for Altec, Ampex, Electro Voice, Shure Sony and many of the
other major manufacturers.
Bob Simonetti - Bob and His Agents (Sul Ross students) recorded in Martin's Alpine Highland Sound Studio.
In the mid-60s Bob and His Agents went into Alpine's Highland Sound Company and recorded two tracks which were released as a single for Odessa's AOK label(making it one of the few releases on the label that wasn't recorded out on East County Road here in Odessa). "One-Sided" is a nice mid-tempo piece with a slight California feel, its main fault being the lack of a real guitar break, a fault with many a lesser song. A break woulda really moved it along. - lonestarstomp.blogspot.com
One of Martin's interesting on-location jobs occurred August 4, 1969 at the Thunderbird Motel in Marfa, Texas.
Two brothers Hector and Jesus Flores from Ojinaga, Mexico were hired by Pepper Brown to provide some tracks for the background of a movie Pepper was producing.
Martin set up a Concertone 800 in one of the motel rooms and miked the voices and guitars. The recording took place while the two players sat on the edge of the beds. As midnight neared, the players realized they needed to be back across the border by midnight.
One of Presidio County Commissioners was attending the session offered his car for Martin to drive them the 60 miles to the border crossing. It was a fast trip, however they didn't make it. The player s said " no problem, my uncle is the guard."
Additional tracks were recorded at Highland Sound's studio in Alpine on October 27, 1969.
In September 1964, Martin received a Music scholarship to Sul Ross State College in Alpine. In addition to continuing to record area original bands, he provided the recording services for the Sul Ross Music Department. With Carol and Music major Louis "Corky" Thornton, Martin recorded all the recitals, choir and band concerts during the four years he worked on his Bach of Music degree. This included on-location tour concert recordings. When the band was on tour, one of the perks was to be able to ride in the college station wagon (while everyone else rode the bus); get to each location in advance and set up the recording equipment. Martin used his own recorders and mics, however the Sul Ross band director (Lloyd Cook) had two custom made 30 ' telescoping mic stands that would capture great audio of each concert.
This was Carol & Martin's playback room in the late 1960's with the Altec Lansing Seville speakers, Eico amp, Fisher tuner and Garrard turntable.
Sony 630 Fisher tuner and Eico amp • Sony 630 and Altec Seville speakers
On May 13, 1969 Martin recorded the last Alpine, Texas recording which was for one of the believers. John Schweers asked Martin to record a Nashville demo for him. Martin used his Sony TC-630 reel tape recorder.
During his 35 year career, John Schweers has had over 200 cuts, written 16 top-10 songs, had 13 No. 1 records, and received over 20 awards from ASCAP and BMI, including the Triple Play Award for having three number one records in one year.
John Schweers, a native of San Antonio, Texas, moved to Nashville in 1972. That same year, Tom Collins signed him to a publishing deal with Pi-Gem and Chess Music. Within eighteen months, Schweers had three No. 1 records: "Don’t Fight The Feelings Of Love" and "Amazing Love" on Charley Pride and "Day Dreams About Night Things" on Ronnie Milsap. Other songs on Ronnie Milsap include: "What Goes On When The Sun Goes Down," "Let My Love Be Your Pillow," and "Silent Night After The Fight." Schweers also wrote "She’s Just An Old Love Turned Memory," by Charley Pride; "Looking Out My Window Through The Pain," by Mel Street; "Your Memory," by Steve Wariner; "Do Me With Love," by Janie Frickie; "Golden Tears," by Dave and Sugar; "No On Mends A Broken Heart Like You," by Barbara Mandrell; "It’s A Be Together Night," by Fresell and West; "Born Country," by Alabama; and his latest, "I Left Something Turned On At Home," by Trace Adkins.
Schweers resides near Nashville with his wife, Jane and has a daughter,Ashley.
Martin caught Joan Baez' concert in Denver in 1974
Marantz 5420 and Sony 580 in Martin's on-location recording gear in Odessa, Texas in the mid 1970's
Phantom's on-location recording gear Odessa 1977
Teac Model 2 mixer, Tapco 4400 reverb, Garrard Lab 80, Sony 580,Marantz 5420, Yamaha Amp, Teac A-3340, Altec Seville speakers, Teac, Shure and EV mics, Pickering headphones
Phantom's
on-location recording set-up in the late 1970s included the TeacA-3340, Teac mixer, Teac A-3300 2T master recorder, Tapco 4400 reverb and Marantz cassette master. Operating out of the Odessa/Midland, Texas area,
Phantom began completing on-location recordings for bands, schools and churches.
Austin Custom Records contracted with Phantom for albums in the Dallas/Fort
Worth and Houston areas.
Teac A-3340 4 track tape recorder mounted onto a hand truck with a guitar amplifier for portability
Odessa, Texas on-location recording
Due
to all the club noise, Martin asked this Odessa band if he could use their
equipment truck for isolation in mixing the live recording. The success of
that set-up resulted in Phantom's creating the on-location van below (bought new '77 Dodge van that had not been sold in Big Springs, TX 09/05/78).
This
van was customized for on-location recording in El Paso, Texas during the
Summer and Fall of 1978. Highland Sound Company and soon to be Phantom
Productions moved to Austin, Texas in November of 1978.
click
on the above pictures for a larger version
Inside
the van, we used the Teac A-3340, a Teac A-3300 2 Track, JBL L40 monitors, The
Teac Model 2 mixer with the MB-20 meter bridge, the Marantz 5420 for making
a cassette copy for review and the Technics amp..
We began to complete contract on location recording gigs for Roy Poole of Austin Custom Records in Austin, Texas. HSC recorded bands & choirs in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Odessa and Austin.
El Paso Highland Sound Company/Phantom Productions equipment included a Sony 8-Track cartridge recorder, Technics amp, JBL speakers, Tapco 4400 reverb, Teac A-3300 2 Track master recorder, Teac A-3340 4 track simul-sync recorder, built into a custom wood black laminated box and mounted on a hand truck over a guitar amp for portability. Also 2 Sony and 2 Teac electret condenser microphones, Shure 556, Electro Voice 665, Shure 516Eq and other mics which had custom hard travel cases; the Teac Model 2 mixer with the MB-20 meter panel and a 100 foot 8 channel snake on a roll up reel. All mic stands and booms were made by Atlas.
Customized HSC van interior
The CowPokes
(last concert), Viscount Club, El Paso, Texas. November 19 1978
Phantom Productions on location van outside Country Music venue in El Paso
Martin' in Phantom's recording van with Carol Wilson
Carol & Eddie Wilson
Phantom Productions on location van outside Houston church (below).
Cheryl with recording equipment in Houston church
Cheryl with recording equipment another on-location church
DHS News report on Cheryl and Martin's recording
Martin moved to Austin from El Paso in November, 1978
First Austin editing room 1978
In
1980 we also produced a booklet about starting your own recording business.
It provided information on sources of customers and hints on the business
aspects.12/06/79 Finished writing booklet on creating on-location recording business
When Martin moved to Austin, he continued the on-location audio recording. However, he also worked for the State of Texas Dept. of Human Services as a producer of training. In that role he had the occasion to work with the DHS Media staff where he began producing video. His video production mentor was Bruce Scafe, who was the original producer of Austin City Limits. Bruce left Austin City Limits after the first season and Terry Lickona, who was originally an intern took over. Bruce produced the video newsmagazine for DHS. Here's a TxDHS Telejournal segment hosted by Martin TELEJOURNAL
We continued to complete on location recordings for Roy Poole of Austin Custom records including this album for the Lon Morris College
03/26/80 Lon Morris College album engineered by Martin Theophilus
Before it closed in 1980 Martin attended Harry Chapin's concert at the Armadillo World Headquarters on 01/03/79. He sat by Harry's son Josh and listened to Chapin's playing Sequel which he'd just completed.
Tuesday April 10, 1979, Harry Chapin played the Paramount Theater in Austin and gave Martin this autographed photo.
Phantom
has always taken on a wide variety of production jobs. The first year in Austin
included everything from churches and private concerts, to Kade I Man at
Antone's (then in North Austin).
07/30/79 -Antone's - Great Northern Blvd., Austin
Phantom Productions' 1st Austin location recording job upon moving company to Austin was at Antone's in North Austin
Phantom
taped flautist Megan Meisenbach at an Austin Soiree sponsored by the owners of the San Antonio Street Piano Barn
.
Darryl Marler (below) helped with several Phantom recordings during this period.
10/12/79 ordered VTR & color video camera
Austin on-location job St. David's Episcopal
Church recording Mendelssohn's Elijah. June 19, 1980.
Phantom Productions on location van in Houston for Austin Custom records album production
Using Peavey system for playback
The Yellow
Page ad above reflects the period we were transitioning to our new name and
look.
Phantom recording session at University of Texas in 1981
Martin videotaped Dan & Dave at the Back Room on 02/29/80
Phantom Productions, Inc. Dan & Dave Backroom recording sessions
02/06/81 • 02/13/81
Mix sessions Cedar Creek and Parrot Track Studios
02/14/81 • 02/15/81
Martin produced the Austin Texas album "Dan & Dave Live at the Backroom" This is a picture of the Teac 80-8 and mixer set-up in the back of Phantom's van.
Roy Poole opened Austin Recording Company on the second floor of the Littlefield Building at 6th and Congress in the early ‘50s, the only recording studio in town was the Radio House on the University of Texas campus.
On 03/04/80 Martin took the position of Chief Engineer (replacing Bob Behem) at Austin Custom Records. Later New Generations Productions staff also located at the Austin Custom Records offices.05/10/80 Met with Pooles about operating NGP out of ACR
Teac Model 10 and extender at Austin Custom Records
Austin Custom Records
There was no glass in the window between the control room and the sound recording rooms. Engineer had to use headphones
Martin set up Austin Custom Records mix, duplicating and record cutting room on 05/11/80
Austin Custom Records Neumann Record Cutting Lathe
03/08/80 Set HSC van up at Lake Travis house for Len Clark event. Met and spend evening talking to Peter Butcher
Phantom van at Austin's Lake Travis. This picture shows some of Phantom's first on-location music video work in 1979. The video camera can be seen sitting on the left bench. It was tethered to the VHS deck (bottom right). The blue cable was the 8 channel 100 foot Whirlwind snake. The decks were the 4 track Teac A-3340 and the Teac A-3000 2 track mastering deck. Also included in the picture is the microphone briefcase, TV monitor, assessor trays, 4 channel dbx, Marantz 5420 cassette deck, Technics amp and JBL speakers.
Peter would later manage Ruff Cedar and Rollingwood studios
09/15/80 Sammy & James Mikulenka moved trailer with Sunny Skies studio to Metro site while NGP studio being built. Above Martin's Teac A-3340and dbx at Sunny Skies. 092180 and
092480 Martin engineered at Sunny Skies for Shammy on their Otari 8 track and I believe Y=Trident board.
09/08/81 Met w/Don Grefe at Sun Vista - new accountant
Martin responded to this ad when he first came across it in 1978 in El Paso. He had purchased the equipment previously, however wanted to connect with the referral service. On 02/2/780, Len Clark contacted Martin and indicated he had obtained my information when he bought Land Voice. A new company was formed that included Len Clark, Cheryl & Martin, Dennis Rowland, Harvey Campi, Kansas Pride and Peter Butcher. The new company was named New Generation Productions, Inc. More Land Voice info View video of Peter producing in Cedar Creek Studio
New generations productions staff in Austin Custom Records offices. Kansas Pride, Dennis Roland, Cheryl Theophilus, Sharon Giddings, Martin Theophilus, Leonard Clark, Peter Butcher
One of the Board members for NGP was Harvey Campi, Ray Campi's brother of Rockibilly. We produced and released the single "Little Young Girl."
New Generations Productions officed out of Austin Custom Records and eventually Martin designed and NGP began building studio and office space at the MET Center at Austin's East Ben White and Riverside Drive (pic right) Plan 1Plan 2
Initially NGP was also working with the band Shammy consisting of James Mikulenka, Larry & Wayne Gathright (Music Lane Recording), The group was originally from Victoria and owned a recording studio that was built into a mobile home. The MET Center allowed the band to park the trailer behind Building 1 and Martin engineered some of the groups sessions.
When NGP closed their offices, Riverside Sound eventually became the new owner. The studio was completed by Bill Johnson and Herschel Cunningham. One of Riverside Sound's first projects was recording tracks for Stevie Ray Vaughan's Texas Flood, for which the studio won gold records. read more... and more
01/27/81 Phantom van during recording & production of the Sweethome baptist Church album.
Below 1981 Highland Sound recording fees
06/05/81 Met /Dennis Parker to have Phantom logo designed
Phantom continued providing on-location audio recording services around Texas. Phantom vehicles 1981 in Austin
Music Etc Incorporated January 4, 1982
Alpine Presbyterian church 04/06/1980
When NGP dissolved, Martin & Peter joined to produce and promote music through Music, Etc. , and Rich Records.
While continuing Phantom Productions, Martin formed a new company with Peter Butcher. Peter and Martin had met while working on NGP projects. Using Peter's European resources, Music, Etc. worked to secure new music from recording studios in the US and promote them to international publishers and record companies. Peter and Martin also enjoyed success during this time charting a remake of Leslie Gore's "It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want To " by Barbara Gaskin and Dave Stewarton the US Billboard charts. See more
Peter, Cheryl and Martin produced recordings for Austin's Cain Sisters. There was a story that they had blocked Willie Nelson's exit from his home to ask he help them produce recordings.
Phantom mix studio Austin 1984
Hank & James recording
vocals among the corduroys • Dave & Pat
On location recording UT Austin 1984
Paula borrowed Martin's Pontiac to travel to Houston, so Martin used Paula's car to record Housewives Choice at UT. Sure wish I'd kept the van!
12/16/83 Martin and Bruce Newlin negotiate management of Housewives Choice. HWC gig at Continental Club nets each person about $10. Later James Hinkle takes over managing as HWC evolves.
James Hinkle Housewives Choice at Rollingwood studio
Jeff
Running Sound for Housewives Choice Austin 01/21/1984
Martin in Phantom Productions, Inc. Highland Sound Company van recording Kim Meyers on 2222, Austin, Texas in early '80's
occurred August 4, 1969 at the Thunderbird Motel in Marfa, Texas. 
Click
here to listen to some of the band
