Underappreciated Studios that Made the Hits

Part 1: Damon Recording

Smaller, independent studios from towns across America turned out some of the biggest hits of the late 1950s and 1960s. Damon Recording of Kansas was one of them. Here is the story of Vic Damon, a modern recording pioneer. 

(Story excerpted from Historic Recording Studios by Randy McNutt, HHP Books.)

Vic Damon in his studio, 1940s.

A Man and His Lathe: Vic Damon, Hit-Maker

Victor “Vic” Damon, a bank teller in Kansas City, made a bold move during the Great Depression in 1933. He quit his job and spent his savings on recording equipment. He opened Damon Transcription Facilities. He would become a pioneer in the early days of independent recording studios and labels. A few years later, he changed the name of his business to DAMON RECORDING STUDIOS, and operated at 1221 Baltimore Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri. From the beginning he recorded commercials, personal records, and local musicians on lacquer discs, the technology of the times. Clients would include some jazz greats, including Charlie Parker and Tommy Douglas. He did many on-location projects, using his disc-cutting lathe. Damon became a well-known figure in Kansas City music, recording on 10-inch and 16-inch discs. He drove a small car—a cross between a large riding lawn mower and a Crosley car—in parades, with “Damon Recording Studios” painted on the sides. The Sound Bug, as he called it, could have been mistaken for an amusement park ride, equipped with a sound system. Most people in the music field knew him and his business. Working in a cramped studio in the Midland Building, he began experimenting with cutting lacquer discs, and finding local acts. In the late ’30s he recorded some sessions at the Municipal Auditorium and did more live remotes. Writer Sean Dietrich said of the underappreciated studio: “Electric lights suspended high above a giant mess of cables. Omniscient microphones standing tall, appraising the heart of arrogant musicians who approach. Scribbled papers rest on music stands, while heated brawls are incubated among hot headed horn players.” In 1948, Damon formed his own national label, Damon Records, and released the top-five national hit “My Happiness” by Jon and Sondra Steele. Another client, big-band leader Al Trace (“Everybody Calls You Sweetheart”), found national success. Damon was known as the studio owner who defied the Petrillo recording ban by using non-union musicians. He continued to record in the late 1940s when the larger labels did not. His company pressed discs, recorded songs, and promoted them on his own label. In this respect, he was ahead of his time in the pop music industry. Sydney Nathan at King Records in Cincinnati began recording in his new studio about this time, but he was recording hillbilly and R&B. Unfortunately, when the 1950s arrived, Damon Records couldn’t equal the success it had in the late ’40s. However, some of the label’s other releases became regional hits. To obtain more studio space, he later relocated the studio to 117 West 14th Street, where he opened a spacious tracking room and a control room. In 1971, Vic Damon sold the studio to his young engineer, Chuck Chapman, who continued to operate it in one form or another for years. Vic Damon died in 1974.

Some Damon advertisements from 1948.

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