Memorial Set For Engineer Bill Porter
Chet Atkins (left) and Bill Porter at the mixing console
A memorial service for pioneering Music Row studio engineer Bill Porter will be held at 5:00 PM on Friday, Sept. 24, at RCA Studio B. He died at age 79 on July 7 of Alzheimer’s disease in Ogden, Utah. Porter was the long-time engineer at the famous RCA Studio B. As such he was behind the board for the giant hits of such stars as Roy Orbison, The Everly Brothers, Eddy Arnold, Elvis Presley, Chet Atkins, Dolly Parton, Dottie West and many more.
It is said that during one week in 1960, recordings that he engineered accounted for 15 of the top pop records in the nation. After leaving studio work, Porter became Presley’s live sound engineer on the road and during the superstar’s Las Vegas extravaganzas.
He developed the first college curriculum for audio engineering for the University of Miami School of Music and taught at the University of Colorado and at Webster University in St. Louis. Porter retired in 2005.
Click here for a more comprehensive obituary, reported in MusicRow on July 9.
A sad day for the industry. He had a very successful and pioneering life though.