ABSTRACT
One of America’s most notable recording engineers and producers, Nichols was born in Oakland, California, and was interested in astronomy as a child. Indeed, when he was in the seventh grade he constructed a hand-ground telescope lens, built a reflecting telescope, and used it to discover a comet in 1957. After graduating from high school, he won an appointment to the Air Force Academy, but declined and went to Oregon State University instead, and later completed nuclear engineering course through Capitol Radio Engineering Institute, in Washington, D.C. After earning his degree, he initially worked as a nuclear engineer at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in Southern California. While at San Onofre, he and two other sound-recording enthusiasts built a studio in Torrance, and worked there on weekends. Plans were canceled for other nuclear plants, and Nichols, who was becoming more interested in expert recording technologies than nuclear reactions, left for full-time recording in late 1969. Nichols has recorded and produced recordings in a number of musical styles. Those he has collaborated with read like a veritable performing who’s who, including John Denver (producer for 17 years), Steely Dan (engineering for 30 years, winning four engineering Grammys in the process), Donald Fagan (independently from Steely Dan), Frank Sinatra, Motorhead, Rosanne Cash, Reba McIntyre, Natalie Cole, Jim Messina, Gloria Estefan, The Beach Boys, Placido Domingo, Bela Fleck, Yo Yo Ma, Walter Becker, Michael Franks, Rickie Lee Jones, Lee Greenwood, John Klemmer, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Diana Ross, Flora Purim, Rodney Crowell, Sly Stone, Michael Bloomfield, Mark Knopfler, Frank Zappa, Patti Austin, John Lee Hooker, and numerous others. In addition, he has mixed soundtracks for a number of television shows and films. The material he has produced or recorded has been nominated for 11 Grammys, with seven of them winning, and he has had several TEK award nominations and wins. Nichols has been deeply involved in digital recording technology since 1977, and as part of his engineering work, he designed and built WENDELjr, a high-fidelity digital audio percussion replacement device used by many major artists, including Pink Floyd, Heart, Donald Fagan, and Paul Simon, as well as sound companies like Clair Brothers in the production of their albums and live shows. He has worked on a technique involving tape restoration process, as well as a completely new kind of microphone, with patents for three of his designs pending. He serves on the Board of Governors for the Miami chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS), gives master’s class lectures at the Berklee School of Music, the Musicians Institute, the Recording Workshop, Full Sail, and University of Miami. A sought after guest speaker, he has also given seminars on digital audio and recording techniques in Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Singapore, Sweden, and at various AES and NARAS functions in the U.S. He also serves as a consultant on digital audio technology for the Culpepper Archiving Facility at the Library of Congress. Starting in 1984, he archived and restored digital/analog tapes for The Big Chill soundtrack (Motown), all the Steely Dan original master tapes, the entire Roy Orbison catalog, early Blue Thumb catalog tapes for re-release, the JVC Jazz catalog, and many more. He also designed the recording curriculum for the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, and is a regular columnist and equipment reviewer for EQ magazine.
