Artists

First a little backstory: Sonobeat's quadraphonic experiments

It's 1972 in Austin, Texas, home to Sonobeat Records, whose co-founder Bill Josey Sr. is experimenting with quadraphonic audio recording and mixing techniques at Sonobeat's North Lamar studio. Bill anticipates that American consumers will flock to adopt at least one of the many new surrounding sound phonograph record playback systems that have been introduced beginning in 1970. By '72, the apparent leaders in the quad audio hardware race are ElectroVoice's EV-4, CBS/Sony's SQ, and Sansui's QS systems, all of which are "matrix" systems that encode the two front and two rear audio channels into standard two-channel stereo that is then decoded back to four channels during playback. These matrix systems make it possible to release a single or LP that will play in monaural, stereo, or quad, but quad playback requires the consumer's record player to be connected to compatible decoding hardware. Before 1972, many Sonobeat sessions are recorded on 4-track machines, but none are recorded or mixed specifically for playback on four speakers – front left, front right, rear right, and rear left – to create a 360° sonic experience. Although the Sonobeat logo on the Lee Arlano Trio's Jazz to the Third Power album includes the words "Surrounding Sound", intimating a 360° listening experience, that's strictly marketing hyperbole, since none of Sonobeat's commercial singles or albums are mixed or encoded for quadraphonic playback.

Bill's belief in quad is deep enough that he converts Sonobeat's custom 16-channel mixing console to quad using schematics and a four-channel mixing schema provided by Sonobeat co-founder Rim Kelley, which also includes a simple method to convert Sonobeat's steel plate stereo reverb to quad to reinforce the 360° aural experience. Bill convinces several artists he records from mid-1972 through mid-1973 to experiment with the format. He calls his quadraphonic mixing technique "Sonoquad" and even, for a brief period, renames his recording facility "Sonoquad Studios", anticipating a recorded music trend that, in fact, fizzles out long before it has a chance to catch on with consumers. Quad's downfall can be attributed to three factors: first, the lack of a single industry-standard technology means there are too many incompatible competing formats that confuse consumers; second, few albums and even fewer singles are available in any of the quad formats, discouraging consumer interest; and third, the cost of a quad system is more than double that of a standard two-channel, two-speaker stereo hi-fi system, putting it out of reach for all but audiophiles with money to burn. Although they fail as home playback systems, the ill-fated quad formats are predecessors to the surround sound systems that first appear in movie theaters in the 1990s and then finally migrate to 5.1-style home television theater setups in the 2000s.

Base (first incarnation)

To kickstart his quadraphonic experiments, Bill organizes an elite group of Austin rock musicians into a studio band he calls "Base". The name is inspired by the first track Bill records in quad, I Know Why, which features guitar virtuoso Eric Johnson on lead and three – yes, three – bass guitars. And, the studio band Bill puts together forms the "base" for his quad experiments. Hence, the name. The 1972 Base sessions are tracked and mixed at the Sonobeat Studios in the KVET Building at 705 North Lamar in Austin, Texas.

The June and July '72 Base sessions feature a cast of luminary Austin musicians with whom Bill has worked previously or who are otherwise friends of Sonobeat: lead guitarist Eric Johnson (Mariani), drummers Bobby Rector (Golden Dawn, a contemporary of the 13th Floor Elevators) and Jay Meade (New Atlantis), and bassists Ronnie Leatherman (13th Floor Elevators), Danny Galindo (13th Floor Elevators and Fast Cotton), Mike Reid (New Atlantis), and David Harrell. Bill has recorded every individual musician appearing in Base before, with the exceptions of Rector, who Bill knows indirectly through Danny Galindo, and Harrell, who Bill meets in '71 when auditioning the Austin band YOU. And Harrell also knows Eric Johnson, strengthening the connection. Ronnie Leatherman recalls that Stacy Sutherland (a founding member of the Elevators and whose tragic personal story is the subject of Vicki Welch Ayo's book), jams with Eric on at least one Base recording.

The 1972 Base tracks include several freeform jams. There are no known stereo mixes of these tracks in the Sonobeat archives, and none ever may have existed. Fortunately, the original 4-track session masters, literally mixed for quad reproduction, have been preserved in the archives and serve as the source for the new stereo mixes we present below, including a track featuring Eric Johnson, who at age 15 records with Sonobeat as a founding member of rock fusion band Mariani. When we begin digitizing the 4-track masters in 2008, we discover that Bill Sr. has written track notes on the paper leader tape separating takes on the physical masters. These unusual notes, along with Bill's annotations on the master tape boxes themselves, help form a picture of what he's trying to achieve in the early '70s by building a potential Austin supergroup. But in 1972, a new supergroup isn't his specific goal. It's pure experimentation in the quad audio sphere.

As summer '72 ends, Bill turns his attention to other recording projects, temporarily suspends his quad experiments, and puts aside the Base tapes, but he doesn't let go of his desire to record and release quadraphonic singles and albums. Major labels – Capitol, Columbia, Decca, and MCA among them – and the leading hi-fi stereo equipment manufacturers are heavily promoting quad recordings and playback equipment, and Bill firmly believes this is the next consumer audio breakthrough technology.

Base (second incarnation, featuring Ernie Gammage)

Bill reboots Base in 1973, when Austin rock songwriter, guitarist, and singer Ernie Gammage returns to Austin from a sabbatical in England. It's clear from Bill's actions that he now intends to produce commercial quad tracks with Base to sell to major record labels. Ernie, a seasoned songwriter with an ear for a great hook, is the headliner Bill believes will make that possible. With his participation in Base, Ernie now has made three appearances in groups Sonobeat records: first, in the Sweetarts, the band that launches Sonobeat with the 45 RPM stereo release, A Picture Of Me, in 1967; then in Fast Cotton, that records five original songs with Sonobeat in 1970 but breaks up before any can be released; and, finally, in this second incarnation of Base. The 1973 Base sessions that feature Ernie yield Lady, a soulful remake of his ballad that he first records with the Sweetarts and then again with Fast Cotton (both previous versions are unreleased and, together with the Base version, Lady is Sonobeat's most recorded original song), and a cover of Taj Mahal's She Caught The Katy And Left Me A Mule To Ride, a song borrowed from Fast Cotton's live performance repertoire. Ernie's participation in the '73 sessions is so fundamental that Bill changes the name of the group to "Ernie Gammage and Base". Ronnie Leatherman recalls that Roky Erickson and a reconstituted 13th Floor Elevators consisting of Ronnie, John Ike Walton, and Roky's brother Donnie record at least one track, Maxine, as part of Sonobeat's 1973 Base sessions, but we find no copy of the recording in the Sonobeat archives.

Bill sends the session tapes for Lady and She Caught The Katy, mixed in quad on Sonobeat's half-inch 4-track Scully 280, to his friend Ron Bledsoe at Columbia Records for processing with a CBS/Sony SQ matrix encoder. This process creates a quad/stereo/mono compatible 2-track master. We present Bill's audio instruction to Columbia SQ mastering engineer Bob McGraw below, which also provides a good description of how Bill has miked, recorded, and mixed the Base sessions for these tracks. Bill circulates SQ-encoded 2-track open reel dubs of the tracks as well as audiocassette copies to major labels, but nothing comes of the material, which remains unreleased.