Eventide was founded over 46 years ago by my friend and partner, the prolific inventor and visionary, Richard Factor. In the latest episode of the Gear Club Podcast titled, “Return of the Jedi,” Richard talks about his days as a ham radio enthusiast, his Beatle adventure and his early broadcast career as WABC radio’s “Evil Ox.” You’ll learn how Richard’s teenage dabbling in electronics led to Eventide revolutionizing audio with our earliest innovations like the Instant Phaser, the Omnipressor®, Digital Delay lines and the original Harmonizer®. Richard’s interview begins at 14:30 of the podcast.
As a young man, Richard landed a job with the world’s biggest AM top 40 radio station, New York’s WABC. Drive-time DJ Dan Ingram dubbed Richard “The Evil Ox”. Working as Dan’s engineer, Richard custom built sound effects boxes that Dan had endless fun with.
If you’re curious about what AM radio sounded like in 1965, here’s an ‘air check’ featuring the sounds of The Heen and The Hern from back in the day.
I first met Richard in late 1972 while I was pursuing a graduate degree in audio signal processing at CUNY. My only recollection of that meeting was Richard’s question, “Can you solder?” (I said “yes”); followed by his statement “I can give you a project but I can’t afford to pay you.” I said “OK” and have been forever grateful for his mentorship, his integrity and, most of all, for his friendship.
My friend Richard is, for want of a better word, memorable and, over these many years, I’ve been struck by how often people relate their personal memory of meeting Richard for the first time. Here’s one audio professional’s recollection. Susan Rogers, currently a professor at Berklee College of Music, was a young engineer working with Prince back in the day. Late one night, Susan took a chance and called Eventide…
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