Frank Heller
Related: rap - Enjoy Records
Biography
Frank Heller was a recording engineer, composer and musician from 1970 to 1996.
He recorded all of the Enjoy records in NYC from roughly 1979 to 1981. He also recorded Spoonie's "Spoonin' Rap" for Pete Brown.
He made up the groove and played the bass and drums on Spoonies record....The weird little percussion tracks were played by Spoonie and Frank Heller. Incidentally, the drums were recorded on a 16 track, bounced to stereo where 4 bars were looped on a 2 track machine and shot back to the 16 track...after which all the instrumental overdubs and vocals were laid on....making this the very first rap record ever to use a drum loop....2 years before the first sampler became available. It was recorded in a studio called Studio 21 Sound on 59th St and Madison Ave.
Frank Heller was Bruce Forest's partner and engineer from 1986-1989 and he was Marley Marl's engineer from 1991-1996.
Contact
=Frank Heller (res1ajae@verizon.net)
Enjoy
As far as I can remember, Peter Brown screwed Spoonie on his first disc. I think he paid Spoonie 500 dollars and then sold about 35,000 copies of that record out of the trunk of his car to every small black owned record shop he could find in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx...making somewhere around $150,000 in the process.
Peter Brown found my studio (Studio 21 Sound on 59th and Madison Ave. It went out of business in 1980) in a newspaper ad and set up a date to do Spoonie's first record there. He showed up with just Spoonie alone, fully expecting the studio to provide the music track. I explained to him that usually musicians do that. I told him that besides engineering, I could whip up a quick bass and drum track for Spoonie. I explained that I had been a drummer and guitar player for years and the last band I had been with was a black soul band. I was the only white guy in it...and its drummer.
I was in love with the funk and I had been experimenting with drum loops at the time. I ran pre-mixed looped recordings of my beats through the two tracks back onto the 16 track we had at the studio. I played a number of these beats to Spoonie. He picked one and we laid it onto tape. I overdubbed a bass line against the drums and Spoonie did two or three tracks of the vocals against that. The two of us scoured through a box of percussion instruments and laid 2 tracks of percussion against the vocals.
I mixed it a couple of times. One version had Spoonie's voice running through an effect that gave it a musical tuning in tune with the bass line. Pretty radical at the time. I think that version wound up on the "B" side.
When Peter Brown and Spoonie showed up for that first recording, Brown had been literally dressed in rags. The second time he came back, he was fully fur covered in pimp regalia, complete with a beaver skin hat. And he was now driving a brand new Lincoln Continental.
Now, he was bringing in 3-4 rap groups at a time and kept overdubbing each group against the same music track. Over and over. And he'd never give any of them them a second take. It was: get in, one take...next group. It was pathetic to watch. Then he'd send them all home and get a rough mix of each group against the track. Little did I know that he would simply put those roughs out as records.
When Spoonie (who was Bobby Robinson's godson) realized he'd been fucked over, he went to Bobby and told him the story. Bobby, who used to work for Atlantic Records as an A&R guy before running his 125th St record shop, knew the record business inside out and saw the dollar signs. He knew the potential of how much money could be made with this music, by cutting the major labels out of the loop and doing it on his own independent label.
He asked Spoonie who had played the music and recorded the track for Brown.
That's how I got into the picture. Bobby wanted to keep the whole thing self-contained. He hired the late Pumpkin to form a band for the recordings. On all of the Enjoy dates, Pumpkin played drums and overdubbed bass guitar. The guitarist was Jeff Washington, the percussionist was Bobby's nephew, Poochie (I'm not really sure how he spelled that) and I apologize, but I cannot remember the keyboard player's name. If anybody knows...drop me a line.
Pumpkin would work with the different rappers to form the musical arrangements, which were recorded first. Most of the breakdowns were built into in the arrangement by the group and band. As the we'd go through playbacks, we'd add extra breakdowns using the board.
These sessions were all done from roughly 10pm to 5am which meant that Bobby, who was in his late 50's, had to come in after working at the record store all day. So he'd take his usual position on the control room couch and would fall asleep by 11pm. Pumpkin and I had no choice but to produce the records ourselves. No one had the heart to wake him up. Together, we did roughly one or two records a month for about two years or so. I exaggerate a bit about Bobby being asleep all the time. He would pay attention to the energy of the recordings and make the group do it again if it didn't measure up. He was a professional and a real nice guy. He was a pleasure to work for.
Besides engineering and mixing the recordings, my job also entailed riding herd over the sessions. What I mean by riding herd is that that each group would bring a posse with them and that could mean that besides the group and band, as many as 30-40 kids might be running around the studio. I'd have to chase kids out of my chair because there wasn't enough seating the lounge and control room. But we always put 'em to good use.
We'd bring them into the studio and ask them to react to a rough mix playing back through a couple of speakers on the floor. We'd double track the kids as the "PartyCrowd" tracks on all of the tunes. We did the first one or two recordings at Studio 21 Sound and then moved over to the much larger J.A.C. Recording to accommodate the growing entourages.
The last 2-3 dates that I did for Enjoy were done at Unique Recording on 49th St. and 7th Ave. I believe these were Treacherous 3 recordings and didn't require partycrowd tracks. By this time, Arthur Baker had managed to track me down there. That's another story.
Frank Heller Discography
- 3rd Bass - Pop Goes The Weasel
- 7 A 3 - Brooklyn Way
- 7 A 3 - Funk To My Beat
- 7 A 3 - Kings & Queens
- 7 A 3 - Precious
- 808 State - How Long(Ooops)
- 808 State - Pacific State
- Age Of Chance - Dont Get Mad
- A'Me Lorain - Follow My Heartbeat
- Angela Winbush - Run To Me
- Artz & Kraftz - Give A Good Lovin'
- Atlantic Starr - Let The Sun In
- Bananarama - Ready Or Not
- Bell Biv Devoe - She's Dope
- Belouis Some - Some Girls
- Big Daddy Kane - Cause I Can Do It Right
- Black Britain - Real Life
- Black Sheep - Pass the '40'
- Blue Train - All I Need Is You
- Book Of Love - Happy Day
- Brian Slawson - Bach Beat
- Bryan Galligan - It's Over
- C&C Music Factory - Things That Make You Say Hmm
- Candy Flip - Red Hills Road
- Carly Simon - Interview
- Carol Lynn Townes - My Love Is Disposable
- Carrie McDowell - Casual Sex
- Chad - Fast Music & Love
- Chaz Jankel - Soulfire
- Cheryl Lynn - If You Were Mine
- Cheyenne - Calling Mr.Telephone
- Chocolette - Tell Me That You Like Me
- Christopher Gavin - Cant Put Out The Fire
- Chubb Rock - Lost In The Storm
- Climie Fisher - Keeping THe Mystery
- Club Paradise - Film Sound Track
- Clubland - Love Strain
- Conquest - Better Get It
- Conquest - Take It Easy
- Cover Girls - Spring Love
- Craig "G" - Now That's More Like It
- Da Youngstas - Rip A Rhyme
- Da Youngstas - Stick Up Kid
- David Cole - Take My Breath Away
- David Johansen - Big Trouble
- Debbie Harry - Backfire
- Deborah Sasson - Passion & Pain
- DeLeon - Time To Get Ripped
- DeLeon - Everything I Love
- Deniece Williams - I Cant Wait
- Denise Lopez - Saying Sorry
- Desiree - Take Me Back
- Devoe - Strapped
- Dhar Braxton - Jump
- Dominatrix - Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight
- Donna Summer - All Systems Go
- Dr.Ice - Calling Dr.Ice
- Earth Wind & Fire - Thinking Of You
- Ed Terry - Spend The Night
- Etienne Dahd - Patch Up My Heart
- Evelyn King - Heartbreaker
- Fat Boys - Crushin
- Fat Boys - Don't Be Stupid
- Father M.C. - Dance With Me
- Fearless 4 - Rockin It
- Force MD's - Love Letters
- Force MD's - Tears
- Freeze - A.E.I.O.U.
- Gail Ann Dorsey - Wasted Country
- Gail Ann Dorsey - Where Is Your Love
- Georgio - Lover's Lane
- Georgio - Tina Cherry
- GLOBE & WhizKid - Play That Beat Mr.DJ
- Go West - Dont Look Back
- Head - Head
- Heaven 17 - The Contenders
- Heaven 17 - Trouble
- Heavy D & the Boyz - Come On Heavy
- Heavy D & the Boyz - The Heavster
- Hothouse Flowers - Feet On The Ground
- Information Society - How Long
- James Brown/Bambaataa - Unity Rap
- Jennifer Holiday - Lovers Prayer
- Jenny Burton - Bad Habits
- Jenny Burton - One Night Affair
- Jerry Harrison - Rev It Up
- Jesse Johnson - Crazay
- Jesse Johnson - She(I Can't Resist)
- Jimmy Cliff - Cliff Hanger(Grammy Winner)
- Jimmy Cliff - Hot Shot
- JM Silk - Standing In The Shade
- John Adams - Strip This Heart
- Jonzun Crew - Lets Talk It Over
- Jonzun Crew - Lost In Space
- Kate Holmes - It's Heavenly
- Keith Thompson - Beleive
- Kevin Paige - Dont Shut Me Out
- Kevin Rowland - Tonight
- King Missle - My Heart Is A Flower
- King Tee - At Your Own Risk
- Kool G Rap - On The Run
- Kool Kyle - It's Rockin' Time
- LaToya Jackson - Heart On Fire
- Laura Branigan - Moonlight On Water
- Little Steven - No More Parties
- Living In A Box - So The Story Goes
- LL Cool J - Earrings Jinglin'
- LL Cool J - Get Off The Wall
- LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
- LL Cool J - No Frontin' Allowed
- LL Cool J - Pumpin' It Up
- LL Cool J - Rollin" With A Outlaw
- LL Cool J - She's Rockin
- LL Cool J - Stand By Your Man
- LL Cool J - Straight From Queens
- Lords o/t Undergrnd - Flow On
- Lords o/t Undergrnd - Here Come The Lords
- Lords o/t Undergrnd - Mad Skills
- Lords o/t Undergrnd - Sleep For Dinner
- Lorelei McBroom - Passion
- Lorelei McBroom - Sacrifice
- Loud Sugar - Cremesicle
- Lt.Stitchie - Big It Up
- Madonna - Everybody
- Melba Moore - Read My Lips
- Meli'sa Morgan - Through The Tears
- Mica Paris - You're My One Temptation
- Michael Cooper - You've Got A Friend
- Michael Cooper - Prove My Love
- Modernique - So Much Love
- Monie Love - Greasy
- Monie Love - Born 2 Breed
- Monie Love - For The Children
- Monie Love - Greazy
- Monie Love - There's A Better Way
- Monie Love - Wheel Of Fortune
- Movement Ex - United Snakes of America
- Movement Ex - Whole Nutha Story
- Nat Augustin - That Girl
- National Lampoon - The White Album
- Natural Selection - Do Anything
- New Edition - Candy Girl
- New Edition - Candy Girl
- New Kids O/T Block - New Kids On The Block
- New Order - Confusion
- Nice & Wild - Obsession
- Nikolij Steen - The New Message
- Nona Hendryx - Too Hot To Handle
- Nu Shooz - Are You Looking For Love
- Off Shore - I Can't Take The Power
- OMD - I Was Only Dreaming
- One 2 Many - Another Man
- Out Loud - It's Love This Time
- Pale Devine - Something About Me
- Parachute Club - Nuthin(Love is Fire)
- Paradise Project - Get Into The Grid
- Patti Day - No One
- Phil Saatchi - Wheel Of Fortune
- Phillip Bent - The World Is A Ghetto
- Planet Patrol - Planet Patrol
- Planet Rock - Planet Patrol
- PM Dawn - Set Adrift In A Sea Of Bliss
- Pointer Sisters - Shut Up And Dance
- Powerule - Young Stars From Nowhere
- Pretty Poison - Catch Me I'm Falling
- Prince - Seven
- Quincy Jones - Listen Up
- Red Hot Lover Tone - My Lady
- Red Hot Lover Tone - Like A Virgin
- Red Hot Lover Tone - Never Love Again
- Red Hot Lover Tone - Up And Down
- Rick James - So Tight
- Rick James - Sweet & Sexy Thang
- Rick Springfield - Rock Of Life
- Riff - Everytime My Heart Beats
- Riff - White Men Can't Jump
- Rock Melons - New Groove
- Roxanne Shante - The Rapper
- Royalty - Baby Gonna Shake
- Royalty - Romeo
- Shannon - Let The Music Play
- Skipworth & Turner - Cant Give Her Up
- Slick Rick - Childrens Story
- Slick Rick - The Moment I Feared
- Slick Rick - Whose House?
- Slick Rick - Young World
- Sly Fox - Como Tu
- Snow - Babylon
- Snow - No Mercy
- Spoonie G - Spoonin'Rap
- Spoonie G - Love Rap
- Steve Winwood - Roll With It
- Strafe - Coming From Another
- Swing Out Sister - Twilight World
- T.C.F. - I Want You To Sex Me Up
- T.J. Swan - All Girls Are Material
- T.J. Swan - All Girls Are Material
- T.J. Swan - Don't Make Me Beg
- T.J. Swan - Don't Make Me Beg
- T.J. Swan - Mellow Love
- T.J. Swan - Mellow Love
- T.J. Swan - Never Let You Go
- T.L.C. - That's The Way We Like 'Em
- T.L.C. - This Is How It Should Be Done
- Teen Dream - Slip Slide
- The Aleems - Fine Toung Tender
- The Aleems - Stay Another Day
- The Spinners - Put Us Together Again
- The Wild Marys - When She Goes
- Toni Smith - Who's Sorry Now?
- Tragedy - Still At Large
- Tragedy - Def Row
- Tragedy - Here We Go
- Tragedy - Life
- Tragedy - Same Game
- Tragedy - White Power
- Tragedy - Black Rage
- Tragedy - For Your System
- Tragedy - Thirsty
- Trisha Fisher - Empty Beach
- True Culture - Annihilation
- Val Young - If You Should Ever Be Mine
- Was Not Was - Boy Gone Crazy
- Was Not Was - Out Come The Freaks
- Was Not Was - Walk The Dinosaur
- Was Not Was - White People Cant Dance
- Wilson Pickett - Midnight Hour
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