Music and the Wind Makes the Studio Hum
When I first joined the Avedon Studio in September 1952, there was no music and only a small Vornado fan to make fashions blow a little bit. After the move to East 49th Street in 1954 a Columbia Hi-Fi LP Record Player was added to enliven the sittings with mostly show tunes and jazz. That little fan soon gave way to a larger one mounted on a dolly, and the fashion shots showed much more movement.
Somewhere along the line, probably after moving to East 58th Street, we discovered the fabulously effective Mole Richardson Wind Machine (photo, above), long a standard tool in Hollywood movie studios. This device puts just as much wind as you want, exactly where you want it and nowhere else.
To further liven things up, at Dick's request I replaced the record player with a stereo amplifier, a Garrard record changer, and two large wall-mounted speakers just behind the camera position and aimed at the set. This set the mood with music by such performers as Sinatra, Fitzgerald, Satchmo, Miles Davis, Brubeck and others, along with Broadway tunes.
It all worked out so well that when I and my business partner opened our own studio in 1965, one of the first things we bought was the same model Mole Richardson Wind Machine — despite its almost outrageous cost. Along with this we installed a powerful amplifier, record changer, and really huge speakers, playing mostly rock, especially Beatles, Stones, Doors, Pink Floyd and others.
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