Keith: Heathkit is important to many engineers of our vintage because it provided the hands-on aspect.
Leslie: Absolutely.
Keith: I think many of us got those little kits, those “Build an AM Radio Kit” on our ninth birthday or whatever. I can do this, you know. They provided a breadboard, soldering iron, parts list, instructions, and off we went.
Leslie: Well, yes. Those classes helped me a lot because by the time I got the job at ABC, which was essentially making tape copies on an eight-hour shift, I had already learned quite a bit about sound. I was familiar enough with tape machines so that no one had to point and say, “That’s a seven-inch reel, that’s a ten-inch reel.” I wasn’t terribly nervous and I understood the basic process of recording.
I sometimes think now what happens is kids learn too much, and when they go into their first job, they’re not able to keep an open mind. I feel that some of the schools forget or don’t spend enough time on the fundamentals. Instead they emphasize learning how to run Pro Tools or an SSL (Solid State Logic) board.
And then, of course, they get to their first job and the place doesn’t use either one. So don’t overlook the importance of really mastering the basics.
Keith: Were there any early mentors who influenced you?
Leslie: There were many. I kept a really open mind and I asked a lot of questions. I was very eager to learn and jump right in and do new things. I was the person who raised my hand whenever there was an opportunity to take on something new. When you do that,
people naturally start to feed you more information.
But I would say my first main mentor was [engineer and producer] Roy Halee. And then after that, it would be [engineer] Fred Catero and [producer] David Rubinson. When I met Roy, he was head of A&R for ABC Records. And he came from CBS/Columbia Records. And actually he and Fred had both worked together in New York in the ‘50s and ‘60s. And then Roy moved to California and Fred moved to San Francisco.
Roy had engineered and produced Simon & Garfunkel, among many other great artists such as Blood Sweat & Tears, Bob Dylan, Journey, Laura Nyro, Boz Scaggs, and Paul Simon. When I worked with Roy, he was working with Rufus and other artists signed to ABC. And Fred, of course, recorded Janis Joplin, Santana, Herbie Hancock, The Pointer Sisters—every kind of major artist that was representative of the San Francisco sound—as well as Barbra Streisand, Chicago, and other CBS artists.
David Rubinson was the producer who developed many of those acts, and he and Fred were a team working together out of the Automatt [now a parking lot at Fourth and Folsom in San Francisco].
Keith: Now fast-forward to the present day. We mentioned your official job title. Let’s talk a little bit about your role in the day-to-day work-ings of Skywalker, because I understand you wear a couple of different hats in your job.