Rulen Records Studio #

This was a big deal for me because I was now in a recording studio. At the time of the interview, the recording setup was kind of lame and unimpressive. In Rubin’s office, there was a tiny window that looked into the studio and a very small plain mixing board. I think he may have only had the Studer 4 track at that time. However, we did some recording sessions on that little board and it was surprising what Rubin could get on that equipment. He did have a master’s degree in Audio Visual and wrote his thesis on mike placement. He taught me how to hear the sounds we want to record and how choosing the right mike and position of that mike made all the difference. In his opinion, EQ was just trying to correct those mistakes of not using the right mike in the correct position. His recordings were very clean as all these additional devices added additional noise that he did not have to deal with in the first place.

I met some interesting people that came through the studio. One I remember quite fondly was meeting Don Thompson. He was a steel guitar player from Lloydminster which is right on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan. I think the main street is the dividing line so the stores on one side of the street are actually in Saskatchewan and on the other because Alberta had the lesser tax, all of Lloydminster took on the Alberta persona. Oh, and Alberta and Saskatchewan are in two different time zones, think about how confusing that would be. Back to Don Thompson, he used to be the steel guitar player for the Tommy Hunter TV show and he also had a music store or something like that. I bought my first solid-body electric guitar from him and picked it up during one of my record-selling trips.

Rubin had a partner and with that inflow of additional cash, he did a renovation of the studio. Built a nice control room, with a brand new board and an 8-track Studer and big windows looking into the Studio, triple pained at an angle. I took a month off of being on the road to help with the renovations as I was Rubin’s helper and would do a lot of the goffer and clean-up jobs. There were opportunities for me to play on a few of these sessions and from there I got to meet other musicians from the area. There was this bass player who came from the German Pentecostal Church and he lived right behind me across the ally. He told me about this drummer who also lived in the area. I can’t remember the bass player’s name but what was also funny was that he packed around this huge Bass amp in a tiny VW Bug. I still remember him saying how he wished he had taken up the flute as he struggled to get his amp to fit in his car.

During all this time I also put together a band with my second cousin Harvey. I got involved in the Edmonton Teen Challenge recommended by my Uncle Larry, and there I met a bunch of people who would also become part of the band that we called “CornerStone”. The initial lineup for this band was a bit odd as we were missing a lot of the basic parts of a band. Nonetheless, we performed as a band for a few engagements that we got. The lineup was me doing the vocals and playing guitar, Harvey on Trumpet, another cousin of mine Edwin playing 2nd trumpet, and Brock who I met at Teen Challenge played the flute.

Over time we got in touch with Lonnie Burma who we knew from the Burma Family Band. He became our drummer and brought along his brother who was a bass player. Things also get a bit foggy for me as I have trouble keeping the timeline straight and the order in which things happen. During the week I would be out peddling records and on weekends when there was a session I would be Ruben’s assistant engineer. Didn’t give us a lot of time to practice or take on engagements. So, I don’t think the Burma brothers came on board at this time, it must have been after I made another move in my occupational career.

One day, the newest version of the Gladtones came to Rulen Records to enquire about making a record. While they were there I was in the studio taking down a session that might have happened the night before. This involves taking down mike stands and wrapping up cables. The mikes would have been packed away right after the session no matter how late it is when we get done. Anyway, Ruben overheard them talking to each other about how I was just a janitor at this place. He wasn’t too impressed with the comment when he told this to me. At the time, I thought maybe I was on the wrong approach to getting where I wanted to get to. However, in the present day, I have been listening to several podcasts from Bobby Owsinski where he interviews several famous engineers and producers and most of them started off the same way that I did. So, not understanding how to achieve the goals that I was after, I still by chance had made the right decisions to get there. These were the things that an assistant engineer did.

One time Rubin and I recorded a comedy record of these two old guys and their comedy routine. This was during Klondike Days, which is an annual county fair type of event. I believe that the comedy took place at a Legion Hall which was not on the fair grounds but took place at that time. I remember using this Sennheiser Manikin, which records like your were listening to it and gives another dimension as it puts the room and the audience into the recording. I don’t remember Rubin using that setup for anything else.

One night Ruben came to my place and offered to buy me a hamburger if I came with him to the airport to pickup an order of records and help him deliver them to the client. He was never comfortable around these guys as they had the energy of organized crime. I was there as his backup, and we did the transaction, delivered the records, Ruben got paid, and I got my hamburger. It was just a weird situation, and I certainly felt the same vibe but never sure if the client gave that vibe or if I was on high alert because of Ruben.

My band Cornerstone at the time when we had the biggest number of members, this included Drums, Bass, Guitar, Keyboards, Brass (trumpet and trombone) and backup singers, we recorded a few songs at the studio. We never did do anything with the songs and I think Rubin engineered. It might even have been when the studio was in the old format, I can’t really remember.