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Tom Dowd




As a young man, his talent for math and physics led him to work on the Manhattan Project at Columbia during World War II . He would later work with nuclear testing in Bikini Atoll. Once discharged from the Army, he began to apply his background in science to music.

Dowd began his career as an engineer recording Jazz records in New York . He then joined Atlantic Records and recorded seminal works by Ray Charles , John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman . Later in the 1960s he would record for Aretha Franklin , Cream and the Allman Brothers . In the 1970s , he continued his prestigious work and helped with albums by Rod Stewart , Lynyrd Skynyrd and was closely involved in the recording of Derek And The Dominos ' (who was headlined by Eric Clapton ) magnum opus, '' Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs ''.

He is credited as the engineer who popularized the eight-track recording system for commercial music, he invented the usage of channel faders as opposed to rotary controls on audio mixers. He also devised various methods for altering sound in post-recording phase.

He received a Grammy Trustees Award for his lifetime achievements in February, 2002 .


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