# 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. There, he produced albums from artists such as Chubby Checker, Big Brother and the Holding Company (Cheap Thrills), and Linda Ronstadt (Silk Purse). Mazer later moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and co-established Quadrafonic Sound Studios. He was first introduced to Neil Young by the latter's manager, Elliot Roberts, in January 1971. Young was visiting the city to appear on The Johnny Cash Show and attended a dinner party hosted by Mazer, where the two conversed about artists and studios. Mazer was somewhat acquainted with Young's music only because his girlfriend at the time played After the Gold Rush incessantly. 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. Mazer was responsible for assembling a band of Nashville session players to record with Young. This consisted of Tim Drummond on bass, Kenny Buttrey on drums, John Harris on piano, and Ben Keith on pedal steel guitar. This group would later be dubbed by Young as The Stray Gators; Keith would end up recording with Young for almost four decades. Most of Harvest was recorded at Mazer's studio, with some of it also recorded in Redwood City, California, at the Broken Arrow Ranch owned by Young. It was in the latter setting that Mazer observed Young shout his memorable quote "More barn!" as he played the album for Graham Nash, who had overdubbed vocals on the record. The album was ultimately honored in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015.
Mazer went on to produce Time Fades Away (1973), Homegrown (recorded in 1975 and released in 2020), Everybody's Rockin' (1983), and Old Ways (1985) for Young, whom he also familiarized with digital recording. He also worked with Gordon Lightfoot on several albums, producing Back Here on Earth (1968) and the live album Sunday Concert (1969). Another live album Mazer compiled was In Concert (1972) by Janis Joplin. He worked on The Last Waltz (1978) by The Band, which turned out to be their farewell performance. That album went along with the documentary film of the same name by Martin Scorsese, on which Mazer worked as audio engineer.
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). He subsequently became senior vice president of radio computing services at RCS. Mazer also looked after the music on the Wide World of Sports program by ABC.

## Later life

Mazer taught a course on record production at the University of North Carolina at Asheville in the spring of 2010. 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. At that time, Mazer visited the United Kingdom after completing some of the mixing. He played a recording of the album to the head of Chrysalis Records, who proceeded to inform Mo Ostin that he was certain that this would become "another five-million seller". However, Young had a change of heart, and Homegrown was not released until June 2020.
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. Young praised Mazer on his website, calling him "[a] master in the studio". He went on to credit him for his work on Harvest, noting how the album "is one of my most recognized recordings and it all happened because of Elliot Mazer".

## Discography

| Artist | Title | Label | Year |
| Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young | CSNY 1974 | Rhino | 1974–2014 |
| Bob Dylan | The Basement Tapes (2013) | Columbia | 2013 |
| Bob Dylan & The Band | Live At Isle of Wight (1969) | Columbia | 2013 |
| The Whybirds | Cold Blue Sky | The Little Red Recording Company | 2010 |
| Bo Allen | Scarecrow | Left Turn | 2009 |
| Neil Young | Archives Volume 1 | Reprise | 2009 |
| Jake Walker | Confidence Man | Left Turn | 2008 |
| Soulfege | Soulfege | Left Turn | 2008 |
| Chelsea On The Rocks | Feature Film Mix | | 2008 |
| Scott McCurry | | Left Turn | 2007 |
| Pegi Young (with Neil Young) | Pegi Young | Warner Bros/Vapor | 2005 |
| Toshi Reagon (produced by Craig Street) | Have You Heard (remix) | Righteous Babe | 2005 |
| Switchfoot | The Beautiful Letdown (remix-Dual Disk) | Columbia | 2004 |
| Frank Sinatra | and Jobim (remix-Dual Disk) | Reprise | 2004 |
| Frank Sinatra | September Of My Years (remix-Dual Disk) | Reprise | 2004 |
| Santana | Supernatural (remix-DVD-A) | Arista | 2003 |
| Santana | Shaman (remix-DVD-A) | Arista | 2003 |
| The Who | Tommy (remix consult-SACD & DVD-A) | Geffen | 2003 |
| The Rat Pack (Sinatra, Martin, Davis) | Live & Swingin’ (remix-DVD-A) | Reprise | 2003 |
| Frank Sinatra | At The Sands (remix-DVD-A) | Reprise | 2003 |
| Neil Young | Harvest (remix-DVD-A) | Warner Brothers | 2002 |
| Janis Joplin | Cheap Thrills (remix-SACD) | Columbia | 2002 |
| The Byrds | Live At The Fillmore West | Sony | 2000 |
| Gordon Lightfoot | Song Book (box) | Warner Bros. | 1999 |
| Janis Joplin | Boxed Set | Sony | 1994 |
| Neil Young | Lucky 13 | Geffen | 1992 |
| Leonardo Music Journal | CD #1 | Leonardo | 1991 |
| The Dream Syndicate | Live at Raji's | Enigma | 1989 |
| The Dream Syndicate | Ghost Stories | Enigma | 1988 |
| Jennifer Warnes/Rob Wasserman | Duets | MCA | 1988 |
| William Ackerman | Sampler '88 | Windham Hill | 1988 |
| Dead Kennedys | Give Me Convenience | Alt. Tent. | 1987 |
| William Ackerman | Conferring With The Moon | Windham Hill | 1987 |
| Michael Hedges | Santabears First XMAS | Windham Hill | 1986 |
| Phil Aaberg, M. Hedges | The Shape of the Land | Windham Hill | 1986 |
| Scott Cossu | Reunion | Windham Hill | 1985 |
| Malcom Dalglish | Jogging The Memory | Windham Hill | 1985 |
| Neil Young (Home Video) | Solo Trans | Pioneer | 1985 |
| Michael Hedges | Watching My Life Go By | Windham Hill | 1985 |
| Uptones | Uptones | 415 | 1984 |
| Willie Nelson/Neil Young | Real Cowboys | Columbia | 1984 |
| Neil Young | Old Ways | Geffen | 1984 |
| Neil Young | Everybody's Rockin' | Geffen | 1983 |
| Mazer, Rush, etc. | Digital Domain | Elektra | 1983 |
| Tammy Comstock | Reason To Believe | US/CBS | 1982 |
| Red Steagall | Can't Hold A Workin' Man Down | US/CBS | 1982 |
| Janis Joplin | Farewell Song | Columbia | 1981 |
| Tubes | Sports Fans | Capitol | 1980 |
| Neil Young | Hawks & Doves | Reprise | 1980 |
| Jo Allen & The Shapes | Shimmy Shimmy | 415 | 1980 |
| Dūrocs | Dūrocs | Capitol | 1979 |
| Y & T | Alcohol | London | 1978 |
| Valdy | Hot Rocks | A&M | 1978 |
| Neil Young | Decade | Reprise | 1977 |
| Neil Young | American Stars & Bars | Reprise | 1977 |
| Juice Newton | Come To Me | Capitol | 1977 |
| The Band | The Last Waltz | Warner Bros. | 1977 |
| Dingoes | Five Times The Sun | A & M | 1977 |
| Frankie Miller | The Rock | Chrysalis | 1976 |
| Garfield | Strange Streets | Mercury | 1976 |
| Dane Donohue | I'm Easy, Restless Feeling (45) | Columbia | 1976 |
| David Soul | David Soul | Priv. Stock | 1976 |
| Barclay James Harvest | Time Honored Ghosts | Polydor | 1975 |
| Blue | Life In The Navy | RSO | 1975 |
| Andy Fairweather-Lowe | Spider Jiving | A & M | 1975 |
| Rab Noakes | Never Too Late | Warner Bros. | 1975 |
| Mike D'Abo | Broken Rainbows | A & M | 1974 |
| Leonard Bernstein | Concert for Peace | Columbia | 1974 |
| Neil Young | Tonight's The Night | Reprise | 1974 |
| Neil Young | Time Fades Away | Reprise | 1973 |
| Janis Joplin | Joplin In Concert | Columbia | 1973 |
| Rab Noakes | Red Pump Special | Warner Bros. | 1973 |
| Jack Nitzsche | St. Giles Cripplegate | Warner Bros. | 1972 |
| Jake Holmes | How Much Time | Columbia | 1972 |
| Neil Young | Journey Through The Past | Reprise | 1972 |
| It's A Beautiful Day | @ Carnegie Hall | Columbia | 1972 |
| Neil Young | Harvest | Reprise | 1971 |
| Tommy Live Charity Event | LSO, Solo Artists | Rainbow Theatre | 1971 |
| Jake Holmes | So Close | Polydor | 1970 |
| Area Code 615 | Trip in the Country | Polydor | 1970 |
| Nick Gravenites | My Labors | Columbia | 1969 |
| Michael Bloomfield | Live at Fillmore West | Columbia | 1969 |
| Bob Dylan | Isle of Wight | Columbia | 1969 |
| Area Code 615 | Area Code 615 | Polydor | 1969 |
| Jake Holmes | How Are You? | Polydor | 1969 |
| Gordon Lightfoot | Sunday Concert | U. A. | 1969 |
| Linda Ronstadt | Silk Purse | Capitol | 1970 |
| Big Brother and the Holding Company | Cheap Thrills | Columbia | 1968 |
| Richie Havens | 1983 | Verve | 1968 |
| Ian & Sylvia | Full Circle | MGM | 1968 |
| Paupers | Ellis Island | Verve | 1968 |
| Gordon Lightfoot | Back Here On Earth | U.A. | 1968 |
| Jerry Jeff Walker | Five Years Gone | Atlantic | 1968 |
| Pozo Seco Singers | Shades of Time | Columbia | 1968 |
| James Cotton | Cotton In Your Ears | Verve | 1968 |
| Jake Holmes | Letter to Katherine | Capitol | 1967 |
| Len Chandler | Lovin' People | Columbia | 1967 |
| "ABC Wide World of Sports" | 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 |