You're one of the better known studio managers, and you are running a famous studio. But I guess it was the Sound City film that really gave you some visibility.
Paula Salvatore: I know. I think I'm the first woman to get in a movie for running a recording studio. Isn't that funny? I beat Rose Mann-Cherney, my mentor.
How many active studios are there in the building, not including mastering?
Patrick Kraus: We have five actual studios. A couple are production suites, which are basically spaces for people to write.
And the mastering studios as well, how many are there?
PK: Five of those. PS: Two of them have Neumann lathes.
Are you specifically on the studio end of it, as far as management?
PS: We oversee it all, but we have a guy who manages and books the mastering. It all funnels to Patrick. That's why I brought him in here. He's the leader.
Paula, how'd you end up managing studios?
PS: When I first came out from Rhode Island to California, I really wanted to be a musician. My dad had gotten me a sewing machine instead of a piano, so I went to school in Boston for fashion design, because it was right next door to the Berklee College of Music. I thought, "Okay. I'll meet musicians. I'll sell them clothes if I have to." That's what I came out to do in California. I started sewing for a few companies. We did clothes for the group Angel. I'd accidentally sewed my finger, and the girl managing was like a tyrant. I decided to hang it up and go get a job at Music Plus [record store] on Ventura, next to Du-par's Restaurant. It's now a Trader Joe's or something. That was fun. I got to meet the Toto guys. Every rock star was coming in, plus all the people from CBS Records. It was great. I started playing softball with a studio team, and a friend that worked at Music Plus with me introduced me to some people. He brought me to a studio called Sound Labs. I went in there and was like, "Oh, my god. This is so great." They were doing vocals, and I came out to use the bathroom and saw the office. I was like, "Oh, they have offices! I don't have to be a musician to work here." I had a boyfriend at the time who talked me into working with him, so I could go on the road with him. That didn't work out. I said, "You made me quit my job!" I went back to Music Plus, feeling like, "Woe is me. What am I going to do?" My friend said, "You know, this girl just quit Kendun Recorders in Burbank. She was in traffic." So I called my friend, Vini Poncia, who's a producer for KISS, Ringo Starr, Melissa Manchester, and artists like that. I said, "What do I need to learn to work at a recording studio?" He said, "Oh, 24- track; Dolby, non-Dolby." I said, "Okay, that's good." So I called them, out of the blue, and said, "Hi. I know 24- track and Dolby." They said, "Well, funny. We just did lose somebody." I went over there, and they said, "Okay, we'll get the manager to come over." I'm sitting in the waiting room and this very distinguished woman comes out. She's like, "You don't really have any experience. You sewed and worked at a record store." I said, "You know what? I have no bad habits. I'm ambitious. With those other girls, you're going to have to retrain them. They're going to give you attitude." So they hired me that day! She said to go down and talk to the president. My timing was impeccable. I was working there for a year. They had mastering with Jo Hansch, and Kent Duncan cut Stevie Wonder's Fulfillingness' First Finale. Quincy Jones was doing George Benson's Give Me the Night there. It was a happening studio. After a year the woman that was the manager got into an accident, so she decided to take time off. They brought in Rose Mann[-Cherney] from Record Plant. She was just amazing. We sat around a table and learned so much together. I did that for almost three years. Then I left because of a relationship break-up, and I'd kind of had it with music. I went back to the clothing mart downtown for six months and then I realized, "Oh, my god, these women are nuts." So I went to an AES show and ran into an engineer. He said, "They're looking for someone at Sound City." I went there and took the job. I was working nights there, and days downtown. The manager there was a producer, and since he didn't come in enough I got the job as manager.
How many years were you at Sound City?
PS: Nine. From '81 to '90.
A lot of great records got made there.
PS: Yeah, it was crazy. Rock and roll is fun but long hours. Sound City was broken all the time. The owners weren't putting a lot of money into the studio, so they'd get the weekend guy to tar the roof. It was nuts. In 1990 my boss said, "Go talk to Rick Plushner at Neve and tell him that we might get a console." We didn't have a dime, you know? We couldn't even tar our roof that kept it from flooding! I told Rick, "Let me take you to lunch. I'm not buying anything." Every time Sound City was going to buy a new console, they said, "We have this money coming from Korea." We'd always have this money coming, and then there would be a world event that would stop the money. It was the craziest thing. Rick called me back and asked, "Do you mind if we take two people from Capitol Studios to the lunch?" I'm like, "Yeah, but I can't pay for them." I didn't know they were checking me out. I was off the wall, talking about Sound City, life, and I even said how late I went in. I'm glad they didn't tell me, because I would have been much more reserved. They weren't looking for that. PK: Right. Who was it from Capitol? PS: Jeff Minnich. Back then Charles Comelli was the director here, and Jeff was the chief tech. Jeff's now running all the digital archiving of the Fox networks. He's a genius. He built Studio A. He was here for 20 years. A week later, Ellis [Sorkin] from Studio Referral Service called me and said, "I heard they're looking for a manager or director at Capitol Studios." I'm thinking, "I just had lunch with those guys! They didn't say a word." I was really offended. Then Jeff Minnich called me and said, "Hi. Would you like to go to lunch?" He took me out with the VP of Capitol Records. I said, "I'm going to Europe for the first time for a month." It was not even September 1st. "If you were to start working at Capitol, when would that be?" I said, "October 15th." No one's canceling my trip. They said, "Come over to check it out." The girl working here was running mastering, and they suggested I talk to her. I came in here and I was already having heebie-jeebies. It was not Sound City. There was no long hair. There were no rock and rollers. I remember thinking, "Am I ready for this?" This girl sits down with me and said, "You know, this is a corporation, Paula, and things don't run like an independent studio." I said, "Okay, fine." I went right out the door and said, "Who's that woman, and who is she to me? If she's anyone over me, I'm not coming." Jeff said, "No, no. She's equal to you." I said, "Okay." Then he took me around. Jeff is very studious. They called him Spock. We walked around, and then he brought me to the second floor, where I met Bob Norberg. There was one runner with long hair. I asked, "Do you work for us?" He said, "Yeah." I was just so indoctrinated from Sound City, you know? Finally Jeff brought me to the E floor, and he said, "What do you think?" I said, "It's big! It's very big. And nice. I've got to think about it." I really was freaked out. They said, "What do you need to live on?" Guess how much I was making at Sound City, after nine years. Take a guess. PK: In 1990? PS: Yes. PK: $35,000. PS: Well, I was making $28,000. They asked, "What do you need to live on?" I said, "Between $30,000 and $40,000." They said, "Okay, we'll give you 40." I said, "Do you want to know before I go to Europe?" He said, "That would be nice." It was that weekend and I said, "Yes." It did take me calling in to Joe [Gottfried, co- owner of Sound City] and asking if I could get my second week of vacation. He said he couldn't do it. I said, "All right, I'm gone." It was a hard move, but it was the best move I ever made.
Much more stable, right?
PS: My dad was an insurance man. He said, "Paula, you don't have insurance. Are you crazy?" Coming into this office, Studio A was brand new. It was a little slow. PK: It really is amazing, where we are at in this point of the business. You remember the '90s. All the mid-size studios went under, basically. The big studios had to cut their rates tremendously, and they didn't have any money to invest. These places started to fall apart.
