Walter's Studio

Did anything come of the links to Walter’s music and book collections?

it would be amazing

So are we saying that Walter's 3M machines that I recently acquired would not be welcome in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or a future SD Museum?

Fascinating to see all the gear, been checking the drums out and particularly the cymbals. Ufip !!

Takes me back to my drumming days. It's a shame the studio had to go and everything sold off.

Thanks for sharing the video.

Apparently all of the gear from Walter's Hyperbolic Sound studio in Maui was photographed, and the guy that sold it all recently compiled a video from those pictures. Fascinating to see just the extent. From the video's description: "Back in 2005 my friend Skip Gildersleeve got in touch with me. He was working for Steely Dan then and he wanted to know if Walter Becker sent me a sea container from his studio in Hawaii called Hyperbolic studios could I sell all the gear. I said sure ship it over. I got a key fedexed to me and then the sea container showed up. I have been asked many times what was sent to me. Here are pictures of everything that was sent. Some of the gear was sent back as Walter changed his mind but for the most part I sold it all for him. The music playing in the background is from Walter's solo album called Circus Money. Enjoy!"

Hi D-Mod, After your beautiful post on July 10th I did some in- depth research regarding your dilemma with Walter's papers, notes, and etc.. I came up with some interesting information that I would like you to look over, however I have been having trouble getting it through to you.. If you can, please contact me so that I can finally forward this information to you! I have tried every possible address, and it just comes back to me. I think that it could be a great way to solve your problems with his archival material... Lary

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think this is such a unique and wonderful "project" (not sure if that's the right word), but regardless, when else has an opportunity presented itself to interact with those closest to the artist; I can't think of any. Sure, twitter allows a bit of that these days, but of course, not possible in our case. I love the fact that we can openly discuss Walter with those in the know, ask questions (personal and not), offer suggestions, share ideas, etc. and get a sincere, thought-provoking response. I look forward to seeing how all this further develops over the years to come!

In all modesty, there are so many good ideas en reflections from Mr. D-Mod (what's your name ? x), Mr. Favia and Mr. Kerns, that should have yielded something. The musical and textual legacy of Walter Becker simply must not be lost (here we think that everything is possible in te U.S.) Are you familiar with subsidies for cultural projects ? Is there support from Walter's immediate circle or family (perhaps a rude question) European cities will be welcomed. Good luck with everything !

I can give my personal feelings on this, for anyone who feels inclined ot listen to my ramblings: Walter Becker was important. He made a lasting contribution to popular music and to popular culture. It is not only interesting, but academically and historically important that we seek to preserve anything which lends insight to the way creative people consume and create art. If we have access to a list of the music Walter owned, the books he read, the ideas he jotted down, we have a more complete, and hopefully more true, idea of what went into the creation of his art. The academic issue is best addressed by institutions. Whether a museum or a library or a university would want to house the Walter Becker Archive is an interesting question, but one i want to shelve for just a moment. Another question is public access. It would be an undertaking to house and provide access to the public of the thousands of cds, books, pieces of ephemera, notebooks, printed lists, hand-written lyrics, scores, DATs, cassette tapes, multi-tracks, etc. in Walter's collection. But I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to believe that we can at least provide access to some of the information online. Maybe we can't set up a cd lending library where we physically send Walter's own copy of that one Art Tatum album to Bob in Peoria, but we could curate a list on some page on the web with a list of the cds Walter owned, and maybe links to places where an interested party could listen to or purchase these albums. So maybe we have a Spotify or iTunes playlist of Walter's library, or even smaller lists comprised of the songs that were in Walter's playlists on his iPod, or whatnot. Or a Youtube playlist with links to a publicly available version of the songs in the library. The books could work in a similar way, with a list of the books Walter had in his library and web-links to where those books are readable or purchasable online.

One idea I've toyed with is the creation of something like a Beckerpedia, a wiki for Walter. Something where the work could be crowdsourced to the kinds of people that care about legacy. The Hey 19 database is a good example of something like this. That was (and remains) a massive undertaking, but it comprises just a small sliver of who Walter was and why his legacy is so remarkable and important. Those are massive amounts of data for just one section of one song for 20 or 30 dates a tour for one decade. That's so fractional to Walter's legacy. Image we decided to document every cd he owned, ever book he read, every extant recording of every concert he played, every piece he wrote for steelydan.com, every album he produced, every song he wrote or co-wrote, ever cover version of those songs...the impact of this man was enormous. Quantifying and cataloging proves the point. And to return to the original idea, I do think that his collection belongs to a museum. I think the Rock Hall places primacy of importance on the visual. You can see a stage costume or a played instrument. I don't think they would appreciate 38 boxes of cds and a truck of books. And that's before we ask if Walter would have wanted his collection housed in a place that didn't even want those 3M machines. Maybe a smaller museum, either in a location that was important to Walter (Manhattan, Queens, LA, Maui?), or one that specializes in pop culture or rock and roll music specifically. Or we start the Walter Becker Museum and Concert Venue with a generous grant from whoever is giving out generous grants these days. Hell, you can visit the Towing and Recovery Museum in my hometown of Chattanooga, the Uncle Remus Museum in Eatonton, Georgia, or the Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum in Gatlinburg, Tennessee...and those are just the ones I can think of that are both ridiculous and within a few hours of my house. Why not a Walter Becker Museum? I'm only half-joking.

Hi Therese, That's some really nice, positive feedback on this studio discussion. I think that everyone's open to good ideas concerning the active continuation of WB's legacy. I do think that it's important to keep in mind all of the different issues in such an undertaking though. It would be a tremendous endeavor to try to put the studio back together, as it was, considering that it's been completely dismantled, and all of the equipment has apparently been sold or transferred somewhere else! It has been a remarkable achievement, by everyone involved, to get the Walter Becker Media website up and running, which takes an amazing commitment, and tremendous dedication, to actively maintain and to expand to the level that the founders envisioned, when it first emerged. With the level of insanity that makes up the world today, I think that everyone has about as much on their minds as they can handle, which is why it took me so long to respond to your suggestions.. I hope that this is helpful to you! Everyone welcomes your input.. Lary

Hi Lary, I live in Europe and have never seen Mr. Beckers studio in Maui (only know it from images) But there may be other solutions to bring Walter's dream space and his postmodern musical legacy to the attention (and that of Steely Dan) This could be in his native New York with the help of books, videos, films, libraries, music schools (Bard College) and exhibitions in museums. It requires good organisation and money, I understand that. But in my humble opinion it's worth a try. Greeting, Thérèse

Hi everyone, I'm thinking that the logistics of such a project would probably put the implementation of it out of the reach of most of us mere mortals. Even if the location was within the lower 48 states, I think that the success of this endeavor would have to rely heavily upon the donation of most of this high end equipment, and due to the fact that this isn't a low level home recording studio, I just don't think that there's any realistic way to rebuild the exquisite detail and capabilities of Walter's dream -space! The other factor involved here is that the greatest appeal of his studio is the incredible environment in Hawaii. But, using George Martin's experience as an example, the islands are frequently brutalized by the forces of Mother Nature, which proved to be the ruination of George Martin's dream.. So, despite the tremendous allure of Walter's creative wonderland, I'm just not sure about the practicality of trying to duplicate it! Lary

A few years ago, Walter Becker sold his Hyperbolic Sound studio in Hawaii and moved back to his native New York. Circus Money was written and recorded there, as well as at Klein's place in Los Angeles (source: SOS sound on sound) But I also read the bones of the buildings in Maui still stand. It's getting a console and a mind-boggling amount of equipment in there... I can hardly believe that expensive equipment isn't taken along to his other home (probably in New York ?) Or do I see it all wrong ?

Man oh man, what a great studio! This would have been the perfect environment for some inspired creativity! What a nice way to keep the W.B. spirit alive and growing! Thank you for sharing the picture..Lary

Hi hourstuff, I'm curious what you were thinking when you posted "are there future plans to make it available to the music community?".

there are some pics (the above is good, it's 1 of the 2 rooms). I think I also have the blueprints! Look for these in one form or another between now and mid-autumn

Yes, unfortunately, Hyperbolic Sound, Walter's professional recording studio on Maui, was dismantled several years ago, Very sad story.

He did continue to maintain, however, a home studio that allowed him among other things to record many of the demos you can hear on this site. I've recently gotten pictures of some of the home gear and maybe I can post those pics sometime in the next several months ... if there is interest in this sort of thing. Mainly for the Gear Sluts

I was under the impression that Walter closed the studio down, but I could be wrong ?