New dance, club, hip hop and experimental music on NECODO. Download MP3, WAV and FLAC. This issue: Ron Murphy

On Saturday January 12th, Ron Murphy passed away at the age of 59 from an apparent heart attack.

As an audio engineer, he worked the reverb and echo units during Isaac Hayes' classic recording of "Walk On By" in 1971 at United Sound. He created his company, National Sound Corporation, and used his vintage cutting lathe from the 30's to master the music of almost every artist who put a record out from Detroit. The NSC logo was a stamp of sound quality. In the late 80's, he came to prominence in Detroit producing acetates and masters for the Legends of Detroit Techno. Murphy would master and cut metal prototype records, dub plates and acetates for artists to get their records mass produced or to have as tools to use in a club setting before pressing mass quantities. His attention to detail in producing a 12" singles as a work of art led to innovative and pioneering ideas and uses of vinyl as a tool. Loops and lock grooves had been used in records before, but in cutting a record at 33 and 1/3 he mastered tempo to one rotation. This allows a DJ to mix a single loop as a base and start using 3 turntables in sets. Jeff Mills utilized this feature on his earliest Axis releases. Messages in the grooves allowed Underground Resistance and Plus 8 recordings to have a positive competitive rivalry as well as send notes to fans and make statements. Ron cut records that played from the inside of the record outwards, put two songs in the same groove with what he called x2 technology and even cut entire songs backwards...

On Saturday January 12th, Ron Murphy passed away at the age of 59 from an apparent heart attack.

As an audio engineer, he worked the reverb and echo units during Isaac Hayes' classic recording of "Walk On By" in 1971 at United Sound. He created his company, National Sound Corporation, and used his vintage cutting lathe from the 30's to master the music of almost every artist who put a record out from Detroit. The NSC logo was a stamp of sound quality. In the late 80's, he came to prominence in Detroit producing acetates and masters for the Legends of Detroit Techno. Murphy would master and cut metal prototype records, dub plates and acetates for artists to get their records mass produced or to have as tools to use in a club setting before pressing mass quantities. His attention to detail in producing a 12" singles as a work of art led to innovative and pioneering ideas and uses of vinyl as a tool. Loops and lock grooves had been used in records before, but in cutting a record at 33 and 1/3 he mastered tempo to one rotation. This allows a DJ to mix a single loop as a base and start using 3 turntables in sets. Jeff Mills utilized this feature on his earliest Axis releases. Messages in the grooves allowed Underground Resistance and Plus 8 recordings to have a positive competitive rivalry as well as send notes to fans and make statements. Ron cut records that played from the inside of the record outwards, put two songs in the same groove with what he called x2 technology and even cut entire songs backwards.

Murphy was known for producing full and warm sounds and not allowing the bass to kick a needle out of a groove. His kick drum sounds were the soul to Detroit's mechanistic machine music. Ron mastered one side of a piece of vinyl to its maximum sound availability. Depending on the length of the song and the pitch of the record, either 33 or 45, Ron would maximize the sonic potential of each record. He generally wouldn't cut a single 12" at 33 rpm that was longer than 12 minutes or a 45 over 9 minutes so he could keep as much frequency range as possible.

Ron's health had been waning in the early 2000's. VMax/Underground Resistance artist, Heath Brunner, studied under Ron to learn his techniques as best as possible. No word yet on Murphy's last wishes or the status of the future for Sound Enterprises. For memorial information, to keep abreast of the situation and future regards, see www.soundenterprises.com