Tom Hidley

TTG Studios was a recording studio in Los Angeles, California, established by Amnon "Ami" Hadani and Tom Hidley. The company was founded on June 8, 1965.

"TTG" stood for "two terrible guys." The studio was at 1441 North McCadden Place near the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue, in Hollywood section of Los Angeles. The studio was notable as one of the first to be equipped with a 16-track Ampex tape recorder at a time when 4-track recording was still the norm, and for the very competitive rate of $55 per hour. Due to its high decibel level threshold, their studio became popular with the up-and-coming rock musicians of that time, including The Monkees, Eric Burdon,Frank Zappa with The Mothers of Invention, and Alice Cooper. Burdon introduced Jimi Hendrix to the studio and Hendrix "raved" about the studio's sound. Some parts of The Velvet Underground & Nico were recorded at TTG in May 1966. In the present day, the building that once housed TTG Studios is home to Studio 1444, a photo and video rental production studio facility owned by photographer Alen Lin, and WAX LTD, the multi-platinum production and songwriting record label of Wally Gagel and Xandy Barry.

TTG Studios' co-founder was Tom Hidley. He was born May 27, 1931 in Los Angeles, California. As a teen, he spent long hours playing the saxophone, clarinet, and flute, until ordered to cease by his physician after a physical breakdown. He then turned to non-performance aspects of music, and spent nights recording at clubs and days working at loudspeaker and tape-machine companies.

In 1959, "Madman Muntz" hired Hidley to assist in the development of the first car stereo. Among the first to own a Muntz car stereo was Frank Sinatra, the famous singer and actor. Through Sinatra's purchase, Hidley became known to a Sinatra associate Val Valentin, who invited Hildley to assist in the building of a new recording studio in New York. In 1962, they built the MGM/Verve studio. In 1964, Phil Ramone hired Hidley to work at his A&R studio as the audio technical manager. Also employed at that time by A&R was Ami Hadani. Hidley went on to found Westlake Recording Studios in the 1970s, a facility which was highly influential in standardizing acoustic design in the recording industry and which has been used by a large number of prominent vocal artists.

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