Elliot Mazer (September 5, 1941February 7, 2021) was an American audio engineer and record producer. He was best known for his work with Linda Ronstadt, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Band, and Janis Joplin. In addition, he worked on film and television projects for ABC and various independent studios, and taught at University of North Carolina at Asheville and Elon University.
Early life Mazer was born in New York City on September 5, 1941. His family moved to Teaneck, New Jersey, soon after he was born. Bob Weinstock, who was their neighbor and owner of Prestige Records, employed Mazer at the age of 21 to sort tapes and transport them to radio stations. He soon worked his way into the production process, ultimately creating the album Standard Coltrane in 1962 from a series of outtakes he had identified.Seah, Daniel. "Elliot Mazer, digital recording pioneer and Neil young producer, dies at 79", MusicTech. Accessed February 10, 2021. "Born on 5 September 1941 in New York City, Mazer relocated with his family to Teaneck, New Jersey shortly after his birth, where he found his entrance into the world of music quite literally next door. Bob Weinstock, the Mazer family’s neighbour, was the owner of the jazz label Prestige Records and hired a 21-year-old Elliot to organise and deliver tapes to radio stations."
Career Mazer subsequently worked for Cameo-Parkway Records. There, he produced albums from artists such as Chubby Checker, Big Brother and the Holding Company (Cheap Thrills), and Linda Ronstadt (Silk Purse). Mazer later moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and co-established Quadrafonic Sound Studios. He was first introduced to Neil Young by the latter's manager, Elliot Roberts, in January 1971. Young was visiting the city to appear on The Johnny Cash Show and attended a dinner party hosted by Mazer, where the two conversed about artists and studios. Mazer was somewhat acquainted with Young's music only because his girlfriend at the time played After the Gold Rush incessantly. One month later, Mazer invited Young to the studio with the aim of persuading him to record a new album there. Young soon asked Mazer to work on Harvest, which was released the following year and began a decades-long partnership between the two. Mazer was responsible for assembling a band of Nashville session players to record with Young. This consisted of Tim Drummond on bass, Kenny Buttrey on drums, John Harris on piano, and Ben Keith on pedal steel guitar. This group would later be dubbed by Young as The Stray Gators; Keith would end up recording with Young for almost four decades. Most of Harvest was recorded at Mazer's studio, with some of it also recorded in Redwood City, California, at the Broken Arrow Ranch owned by Young. It was in the latter setting that Mazer observed Young shout his memorable quote "More barn!" as he played the album for Graham Nash, who had overdubbed vocals on the record. The album was ultimately honored in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015.
Mazer went on to produce Time Fades Away (1973), Homegrown (recorded in 1975 and released in 2020), Everybody's Rockin' (1983), and Old Ways (1985) for Young, whom he also familiarized with digital recording. He also worked with Gordon Lightfoot on several albums, producing Back Here on Earth (1968) and the live album Sunday Concert (1969). Another live album Mazer compiled was In Concert (1972) by Janis Joplin. He worked on The Last Waltz (1978) by The Band, which turned out to be their farewell performance. That album went along with the documentary film of the same name by Martin Scorsese, on which Mazer worked as audio engineer.
Aside from record producing, Mazer served as a consultant to Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics from 1976 to 1984. He designed the world's first all-digital recording studio and co-invented "D-zap", which was a device to detect possible shocking hazards in the studio. Mazer served as President of Artificial Intelligence Resources Inc. in the late 1980s. Here, he developed the AirCheck Monitoring system, which was utilized to recognize songs for radio and television. He and co-inventor Jon Birger subsequently sold the system to Radio Computing Services (RCS). He subsequently became senior vice president of radio computing services at RCS. Mazer also looked after the music on the Wide World of Sports program by ABC.
Later life Mazer taught a course on record production at the University of North Carolina at Asheville in the spring of 2010. He went on to teach music business and production at Elon University from 2011 to 2012. One of the last albums he worked on that got released before his death was Young's Homegrown, which had been recorded back in 1975. At that time, Mazer visited the United Kingdom after completing some of the mixing. He played a recording of the album to the head of Chrysalis Records, who proceeded to inform Mo Ostin that he was certain that this would become "another five-million seller". However, Young had a change of heart, and Homegrown was not released until June 2020.
Mazer died on February 7, 2021, at his home in San Francisco. He was 79, and suffered a heart attack and was afflicted with dementia in the years leading up to his death. Young praised Mazer on his website, calling him "[a] master in the studio". He went on to credit him for his work on Harvest, noting how the album "is one of my most recognized recordings and it all happened because of Elliot Mazer".
Discography ArtistTitleLabelYear Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young CSNY 1974 Rhino 1974–2014 Bob Dylan The Basement Tapes (2013) Columbia 2013 Bob Dylan & The Band Live At Isle of Wight (1969) Columbia 2013 The Whybirds Cold Blue Sky The Little Red Recording Company 2010 Bo Allen Scarecrow Left Turn 2009 Neil Young Archives Volume 1 Reprise 2009 Jake Walker Confidence Man Left Turn 2008 Soulfege Soulfege Left Turn 2008 Chelsea On The Rocks Feature Film Mix 2008 Scott McCurry Left Turn 2007 Pegi Young (with Neil Young) Pegi Young Warner Bros/Vapor 2005 Toshi Reagon (produced by Craig Street) Have You Heard (remix) Righteous Babe 2005 Switchfoot The Beautiful Letdown (remix-Dual Disk) Columbia 2004 Frank Sinatra and Jobim (remix-Dual Disk) Reprise 2004 Frank Sinatra September Of My Years (remix-Dual Disk) Reprise 2004 Santana Supernatural (remix-DVD-A) Arista 2003 Santana Shaman (remix-DVD-A) Arista 2003 The Who Tommy (remix consult-SACD & DVD-A) Geffen 2003 The Rat Pack (Sinatra, Martin, Davis) Live & Swingin’ (remix-DVD-A) Reprise 2003 Frank Sinatra At The Sands (remix-DVD-A) Reprise 2003 Neil Young Harvest (remix-DVD-A) Warner Brothers 2002 Janis Joplin Cheap Thrills (remix-SACD) Columbia 2002 The Byrds Live At The Fillmore West Sony 2000 Gordon Lightfoot Song Book (box) Warner Bros. 1999 Janis Joplin Boxed Set Sony 1994 Neil Young Lucky 13 Geffen 1992 Leonardo Music Journal CD #1 Leonardo 1991 The Dream Syndicate Live at Raji's Enigma 1989 The Dream Syndicate Ghost Stories Enigma 1988 Jennifer Warnes/Rob Wasserman Duets MCA 1988 William Ackerman Sampler '88 Windham Hill 1988 Dead Kennedys Give Me Convenience Alt. Tent. 1987 William Ackerman Conferring With The Moon Windham Hill 1987 Michael Hedges Santabears First XMAS Windham Hill 1986 Phil Aaberg, M. HedgesThe Shape of the Land Windham Hill 1986 Scott Cossu Reunion Windham Hill 1985 Malcom Dalglish Jogging The Memory Windham Hill 1985 Neil Young (Home Video) Solo Trans Pioneer 1985 Michael Hedges Watching My Life Go By Windham Hill 1985 Uptones Uptones 415 1984 Willie Nelson/Neil Young Real Cowboys Columbia 1984 Neil Young Old Ways Geffen 1984 Neil Young Everybody's Rockin' Geffen 1983 Mazer, Rush, etc. Digital Domain Elektra 1983 Tammy Comstock Reason To Believe US/CBS 1982 Red Steagall Can't Hold A Workin' Man Down US/CBS 1982 Janis Joplin Farewell Song Columbia 1981 Tubes Sports Fans Capitol 1980 Neil Young Hawks & Doves Reprise 1980 Jo Allen & The Shapes Shimmy Shimmy 415 1980 Dūrocs Dūrocs Capitol 1979 Y & T Alcohol London 1978 Valdy Hot Rocks A&M 1978 Neil Young Decade Reprise 1977 Neil Young American Stars & Bars Reprise 1977 Juice Newton Come To Me Capitol 1977 The Band The Last Waltz Warner Bros. 1977 Dingoes Five Times The Sun A & M 1977 Frankie Miller The Rock Chrysalis 1976 Garfield Strange Streets Mercury 1976 Dane Donohue I'm Easy, Restless Feeling (45) Columbia 1976 David Soul David Soul Priv. Stock 1976 Barclay James Harvest Time Honored Ghosts Polydor 1975 Blue Life In The Navy RSO 1975 Andy Fairweather-Lowe Spider Jiving A & M 1975 Rab Noakes Never Too Late Warner Bros. 1975 Mike D'Abo Broken Rainbows A & M 1974 Leonard Bernstein Concert for Peace Columbia 1974 Neil Young Tonight's The Night Reprise 1974 Neil Young Time Fades Away Reprise 1973 Janis Joplin Joplin In Concert Columbia 1973 Rab Noakes Red Pump Special Warner Bros. 1973 Jack Nitzsche St. Giles Cripplegate Warner Bros. 1972 Jake Holmes How Much Time Columbia 1972 Neil Young Journey Through The Past Reprise 1972 It's A Beautiful Day @ Carnegie Hall Columbia 1972 Neil Young Harvest Reprise 1971 Tommy Live Charity EventLSO, Solo Artists Rainbow Theatre 1971 Jake Holmes So Close Polydor 1970 Area Code 615 Trip in the Country Polydor 1970 Nick Gravenites My Labors Columbia 1969 Michael Bloomfield Live at Fillmore West Columbia 1969 Bob Dylan Isle of Wight Columbia 1969 Area Code 615 Area Code 615 Polydor 1969 Jake Holmes How Are You? Polydor 1969 Gordon Lightfoot Sunday Concert U. A. 1969 Linda Ronstadt Silk Purse Capitol 1970 Big Brother and the Holding Company Cheap Thrills Columbia 1968 Richie Havens 1983 Verve 1968 Ian & Sylvia Full Circle MGM 1968 Paupers Ellis Island Verve 1968 Gordon Lightfoot Back Here On Earth U.A. 1968 Jerry Jeff Walker Five Years Gone Atlantic 1968 Pozo Seco Singers Shades of Time Columbia 1968 James Cotton Cotton In Your Ears Verve 1968 Jake Holmes Letter to Katherine Capitol 1967 Len Chandler Lovin' People Columbia 1967 "ABC Wide World of Sports" Music Supervisor 1966 "Death of a Salesman" Music Supervisor 1966 "Shop on Main Street" Music Supervisor 1966 "Juliet of the Spirits" Music Supervisor 1966 El Trio Los Panchos Sing Hank Williams Columbia 1964 El Trio Los Panchos Girl Columbia 1964 Clark Terry More Cameo 1963 Teddy Wilson Teddy Wilson Cameo 1963 Rufus Thomas Five On Eight Cameo 1963 Maynard Ferguson Come Blow Your Horn Cameo 1963 Clark Terry Tread Ye Lightly Cameo 1963 Chubby Checker Hooka Tooka/Loddy Lo Cameo 1963 Chubby Checker With Sy Oliver Cameo 1963 The Tymes To Each His Own Cameo 1963 Jack Elliott At Main Point Prestige 1962 Lightnin' Hopkins At Main Point Prestige 1962 Pony Poindexter Limbo Rock Prestige 1962 Dave Pike Bossa Nova Carnival Prestige 1962
References
External links UAudio Article Discography