Tom Dowd

Tom Dowd was a innovative recording engineer and producer who's career spanned over seven decades.

Dowd's background was in physics. In the early 40's, he worked on the Manhattan Project which developed the first atomic bomb.

As a music producer, he is credited with the popularization of stereo sound and a innovator of multi-track recording. Atlantic Records was the first label to install an eight-track recording system into their studios. Sound on Sound: The Engineers Who Changed Recording (2004)

Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rod Stewart, Cream, Chicago, The Allman Brothers Band, The J. Geils Band, Meat Loaf, Sonny & Cher, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross, Kenny Loggins, James Gang, Dusty Springfield, Charles Mingus, Herbie Mann, Booker T. & the MGs, The Drifters, Otis Redding, The Coasters, Bobby Darin, Aretha Franklin

• October 20, 1925: Born

• 1942: Graduated from Stuyvesant High School

• 1944: Drafted into the military with the rank of Sergeant

• 1944: Manhattan Project contributes to the atomic bomb

• 1946: Unable to get college credit for his classified work on the Manhattan Project

• 1946: Takes a summer job at a classical recording studio

• 1954: Becomes a full time engineer for Atlantic Records

• 1958: Designs a multi trace recording system for Atlantic Records

• 1970: Oversees the design and construction of rooms at Criteria Recording Studios in Miami, Florida

• 1970: Relocates to Florida and Atlantic Records South is founded

• 1996: Nominated for a Grammy

• October 27, 2002: Dies of Emphysema