Elliot Mazer

Elliot Mazer (September 5, 1941 – February 7, 2021) was an American audio engineer and record producer. He was best known for his work with Linda Ronstadt, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Band, and Janis Joplin. In addition, he worked on film and television projects for ABC and various independent studios, and taught at University of North Carolina at Asheville and Elon University.

Early life Mazer was born in New York City on September 5, 1941. His family moved to Teaneck, New Jersey, soon after he was born. Bob Weinstock, who was their neighbor and owner of Prestige Records, employed Mazer at the age of 21 to sort tapes and transport them to radio stations. He soon worked his way into the production process, ultimately creating the album Standard Coltrane in 1962 from a series of outtakes he had identified.

Career Mazer subsequently worked for Cameo-Parkway Records. Mazer later moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and co-established Quadrafonic Sound Studios. One month later, Mazer invited Young to the studio with the aim of persuading him to record a new album there. Young soon asked Mazer to work on Harvest, which was released the following year and began a decades-long partnership between the two. This consisted of Tim Drummond on bass, Kenny Buttrey on drums, John Harris on piano, and Ben Keith on pedal steel guitar.

Aside from record producing, Mazer served as a consultant to Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics from 1976 to 1984. He designed the world's first all-digital recording studio and co-invented "D-zap", which was a device to detect possible shocking hazards in the studio. Mazer served as President of Artificial Intelligence Resources Inc. in the late 1980s. Here, he developed the AirCheck Monitoring system, which was utilized to recognize songs for radio and television. He and co-inventor Jon Birger subsequently sold the system to Radio Computing Services (RCS). Mazer also looked after the music on the Wide World of Sports program by ABC. He went on to teach music business and production at Elon University from 2011 to 2012. One of the last albums he worked on that got released before his death was Young's Homegrown, which had been recorded back in 1975. However, Young had a change of heart,

Mazer died on February 7, 2021, at his home in San Francisco. He was 79, and suffered a heart attack and was afflicted with dementia in the years leading up to his death. Rhino 1974–2014 Bob Dylan The Basement Tapes (2013) Columbia 2013 Bob Dylan & The Band Live At Isle of Wight (1969) The Little Red Recording Company 2010 Bo Allen Scarecrow Left Turn 2009 Neil Young Archives Volume 1 Left Turn 2008 Chelsea On The Rocks Left Turn 2007 Pegi Young (with Neil Young) Pegi Young Reprise 2004 Frank Sinatra September Of My Years (remix-Dual Disk) Pioneer 1985 Michael Hedges Watching My Life Go By Columbia 1984 Neil Young Old Ways Columbia 1976 David Soul David Soul Warner Bros. 1972 Jake Holmes How Much Time Rainbow Theatre 1971 Jake Holmes So Close Music Supervisor 1966 "Death of a Salesman" Music Supervisor 1966 "Shop on Main Street" Music Supervisor 1966 "Juliet of the Spirits" Music Supervisor 1966 El Trio Los Panchos Sing Hank Williams Columbia 1964 El Trio Los Panchos Girl Columbia 1964 Clark Terry More Cameo 1963 Teddy Wilson Teddy Wilson Cameo 1963 Rufus Thomas Five On Eight Cameo 1963 Maynard Ferguson Come Blow Your Horn Cameo 1963 Clark Terry Tread Ye Lightly Cameo 1963 Chubby Checker Hooka Tooka/Loddy Lo Cameo 1963 Chubby Checker With Sy Oliver Cameo 1963 The Tymes To Each His Own Cameo 1963 Jack Elliott At Main Point Prestige 1962 Lightnin' Hopkins At Main Point Prestige 1962 Pony Poindexter Limbo Rock Prestige 1962 Dave Pike Bossa Nova Carnival Prestige 1962