Jim Sennott grew up in NYC where from seventh grade he was enamored with classical music as well as electronics.  A typical Saturday found him roaming Manhattan records stores for LP records, and visiting downtown electronic shops displaying their latest HiFi and professional audio gear.  Putting up with many hours of Bach and Beethoven from his home built vacuum tube Hi Fi, his parents began to realize staying focused on piano lessons wasn’t going to happen.

His first big encounter with acoustics and professional audio came the day he wandered into his Brooklyn Tech high school, with its immense 3,000 seat auditorium and state-of-art sound system. High school is where he was first introduced to the Sabin sound decay formula, and did hands-on with the professional recording and broadcasting facilities at New York’s educational FM station, WNYE, also in the building. Weekends found he and his teenage buddies engaged in discreetly recording park concerts offered by Local 802 union musicians, a definite challenge given the bulky vacuum tube recorders and amplifiers of the era.

As an undergraduate Jim excelled in his electrical engineering coursework, becoming particularly interested in communications systems, information theory and the burgeoning areas of solid state electronics and computers, though still finding time for recording of classical and vocal ensembles on campus.  The stage was being set for a dual career path involving communication/navigation systems and professional audio/acoustics.

In his final Ph.D year at Carnegie Mellon, with a specialization in signal processing and radar systems, Jim found himself busy with job interviews in his electrical engineering specialization when a fateful phone call came in from a best friend not heard from since grade school.  Kemp was finishing up his M.D. at John’s Hopkins in Baltimore, and would soon begin his residency in ophthalmology.  He remembered Jim’s early interest in things electronic and HiFi and wondered if he’d maintained any interest.  If so would Jim possibly be interested in teaming up with him in building a professional recording studio, in Maryland? This would entail Jim finding suitable employment in the area, not just for himself but also for his wife to be, who was also graduating with her Ph.D in mathematics. With those jobs soon in hand, rewarding and challenging by themselves, it was time to build Track Recorders Inc.

Right away there were many business and studio design decisions, among them site location and build/buy decisions. Kemp had a friend in North Carolina owning a good sized music equipment store, and that guy was able to set up dealerships with Scully (tape recorders) and Gotham Audio (Neumann microphones). They also found a feasible space in Silver Spring Maryland, on the border wth the District of Columbia. This would entail substantial internal and external acoustical design elements that Jim would handle. Additionally there was the question of recording/mixing consoles. The pop music industry was then undergoing a rapid transition to multi-track recoding; major studios in New York and LA were currently at eight tracks, soon to be sixteen and later twenty-four. Jim designed and built the first console, supporting eight tracks and then expanded to sixteen. In the acoustics area, both the control room and studio were noise and vibration isolated, and novel Helmholtz slot sound absorbers and diffusers were built into the studio. Track Recorders soon became a state-of-art recording facility.

After two years Jim collaborated with the famous Neve company in England to develop a custom recording and mixing console, which became the heart of the studio complex.  Below that’s Jim pictured, Beatles haircut, with the new console. Among others, Country Music Hall of Fame artist Emmy Lou Harris launched her recording career at Track, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artists Linda Ronstadt and The Ramones recorded gold records there. Jimi Hendrix’s final gold album was mixed at Track.