Throwback Thursday: The Famous Ranch

Bob Womack · #1 10-21-2021, 10:21 AM

In the '70s, with recording artists were being run ragged with incessant touring schedules. About thew only time they were allowed by the labels to have time off the road was to record a new album each year. That gave rise to a new concept - combining album sessions and vacation - and a new type facility - the destination studio. The first, and most famous, destination studio was Caribou Ranch Recording Studio in Nederlands, Colorado. That name showed up in the album credits of all the biggest names in the business and eventually became iconic to me as I started as a recording engineer forty years ago. The studio eventually closed and the gear and possessions were sold. But I recently found a little artifact that will remind me of my connection to Caribou, and you can read about that, HERE.

Bob

AcousticDreams · #2 10-21-2021, 11:37 PM

Great Story Bob....Thank you so much for sharing. I am so glad you finally got your very classy memento.

After hearing your story about Walsh, and reading a recent article about Joe Cocker--- just how broke & tired he was after his "Mad Dogs and Englishman" tour...Well, so glad I did not enter the music industry back then. If you just see the movie, you think everything was wonderful. But hearing the inside story you realize there was a big toll to pay.

Basically you were asked to give up any kind of normality, and just work, work, work. I know I would not have lasted.

Deadlines, pressure to produce, can make some high quality art. No doubt there. But the long term price of continual pressure? Hmmm, makes one think.

jricc · #3 10-22-2021, 07:43 AM

Cool story Bob. Yes I remember seeing Caribou Ranch Studio on a lot of lp covers.

KevWind · #4 10-22-2021, 08:38 AM

Having lived in Ft Collins Co. from 2010 to 2018 I remember hearing about the donations and the studio equip and memorabilia etc. auctions etc but did not get in on any of it . I had also planned to try to get up and see the property but never did even though not that far from Ft Collins

jim1960 · #5 10-22-2021, 01:07 PM

One of the first albums I ever bought was partly recorded at Caribou Ranch and named after the ranch... Elton John's Caribou.

DupleMeter · #6 10-26-2021, 08:51 PM

My dad's best friend was good friends with Jim Guercio, who owned Caribou Ranch. I remember being a kid, all of maybe 15 years old, and getting a private tour of the studio & the cabins (and the story of the one allegedly haunted cabin) on a visit to Colorado. I remember Jim having the engineer pull out the multitrack to one of Chicago's albums and play it back for me in the control room...and then grabbing a new reel and cutting off a few inches of 2" tape as a memento. We even went riding on the mountain...Jim raised & trained horses as well as having the studio. This would have been about a month before the fire, if I remember correctly. I was out visiting family for my birthday, which is in February.

Fast forward and I'm an full time engineer and hearing older bands/artists talk about Caribou Ranch and pretty much universally saying "oh man, the kick drum always sounded like ***** there because of the thin air!" ;-)

What I remember from that visit was how gracious Jim was to a teenage musician/engineer wanna be, indulging me and making me feel like I belonged there that day.

Bob Womack · #7 10-27-2021, 04:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DupleMeter

My dad's best friend was good friends with Jim Guercio, who owned Caribou Ranch. I remember being a kid, all of maybe 15 years old, and getting a private tour of the studio & the cabins (and the story of the one allegedly haunted cabin) on a visit to Colorado.<snip>

Fast forward and I'm an full time engineer and hearing older bands/artists talk about Caribou Ranch and pretty much universally saying "oh man, the kick drum always sounded like ***** there because of the thin air!" ;-)

That's great. Come to think of it, I was always focusing on the throaty toms. I wonder if everything just shifted down a few tones on the drums. One story I love was of Chicago recording high harmonies for one of their albums, don't remember which, during the sessions at Caribou. Then they moved down to L.A. to rehearse for the tour and found that they couldn't hit the harmonies they had been easily able to in the thin air. They had to hire background vocalists for the tour.

Quote:

What I remember from that visit was how gracious Jim was to a teenage musician/engineer wanna be, indulging me and making me feel like I belonged there that day.

What a great memory! That's exactly what you want to hear. I heard that part of the reason Jim didn't build back was that his girls and family lived there and served in the dining room and he decided he didn't want to expose them to the rough characters he hosted. Hilarious. The other half was the insurance issues with the fire. Thanks for your story!

Bob

Howard Emerson · #8 11-01-2021, 06:28 AM

Hi Bob,
We finished the Turstiles album at Caribou and rehearsed there for the start of the supporting tour.

I have a memento from my weeks at Caribou. I had my Twin Reverb modified so that one channel was for overdrive with an adjustable volume, so to get from one channel to the other I told the tech department at Caribou to make me a 'One Or The Other' box........

It still works, but is no longer in service.

Regards,
Howard Emerson

Bob Womack · #9 11-01-2021, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

Hi Bob,
We finished the Turstiles album at Caribou and rehearsed there for the start of the supporting tour. I have a memento from my weeks at Caribou. I had my Twin Reverb modified so that one channel was for overdrive with an adjustable volume, so to get from one channel to the other I told the tech department at Caribou to make me a 'One Or The Other' box........

It still works, but is no longer in service.

Regards,
Howard Emerson

Oh, how cool!

Bob

KevWind · #10 11-02-2021, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

Hi Bob,
We finished the Turstiles album at Caribou and rehearsed there for the start of the supporting tour.

I have a memento from my weeks at Caribou. I had my Twin Reverb modified so that one channel was for overdrive with an adjustable volume, so to get from one channel to the other I told the tech department at Caribou to make me a 'One Or The Other' box........

Regards,
Howard Emerson

Were you ever able to use it after that one recording session ? Or was that just a really rough couple of weeks