Ken Kreisel and M&K Sound
The Man behind The Bottom End: The “K” in M&K Sound
For “The Bottom End” to be the most significant
track in English jazz club history, it is hardly surprising
that a genius was behind it all. In 1969 a young teenage audiophile, and recording
engineer by the name of Ken Kreisel teamed up with Jonas
Miller, who had opened up the world’s first “high-end audio
salon”. This place was called Jonas Miller Sound, and
it was based in Beverly Hills, 90210.
Ken had met Jonas during his last year at high school in 1969. He would take
his master tapes to Miller’s high-end audio store. Listening
to his equipment at the Beverly Hill’s salon got Ken interested in audio,
even though his interest in sound and recording started from a very young age.
Ken was a child prodigy, who amazingly began to develop his passion for stereo
equipment and recording at the tender age of nine years old. After getting a
part time job with Jonas, Ken got “bored” of his pre-med study,
and decided to work full- time that eventually led to him becoming a partner
with Miller.
Kreisel began to research acoustics, and did extensive studies recording many pipe
organs. This information helped solve another mystery in regards to the B-Side
of “The Bottom End.” For many years people wondered
why the B- Side had a 12 minute church organ solo, and assumed that it was connected
to the group on the A- side of the record. Valli Scavelli later
informed me that it was not Don Baaska playing the pipe organ.
Ken wanted to reproduce the bass that he knew was on his master tapes, in particular
the transient information from the low pedals. During his early partnership
with Jonas Miller, they sold Quad electrostatics and Magneplanar,
which was the best merchandise available at that time.
Through Miller, Ken got to know another mastermind, Dr. Lester M. Field.
Along with John Pierce, the “father of the transistor”,
Dr Field had invented the travelling- wave tube. Ken’s association with
Field had a major influence on his study, and development of acoustics, since
Fields speciality was acoustics itself. Kreisel did extensive research and experimentation
with him. It was a trip back to Harvard, MIT, and Bell Labs in 1971 that proved
to be significant turning point. Ken said that it taught him a tremendous amount,
and that this trip had influenced everything that he did ever since.
Walter Becker from “Steely Dan” asked Ken
Kreisel to design a speaker system to use for the mixing of their new
album “Pretzel Logic” in 1973. This system included
a revolutionary new subwoofer Kreisel had developed, that had an excellent transient
response. Everybody fell in love with that subwoofer, and all the guys in Steely
Dan wanted one. Miller and Kreisel’s cliental included some of the most
prominent artists in the record and film industry.
Many groups would come and record demo tracks at their salon. Even Ken’s
customers that owned Quads and Magneplanar were anxious to possess this subwoofer,
because it was very compatible with those speakers too. “Maggie”
dealers noticed how many of these speakers were sold, and wanted to know what
M&K’s secret was. When Miller and Kreisel revealed
this to them, they wanted to buy it too.
What made it so special was that it employed a 12” driver with a precisely
balanced magnetic drive system and suspension. It utilized a unique fibre cone
formulation; and had special attention given to cabinet structure, configuration,
and interior damping. It was said that in 1973 M&K basically invented the
satellite/ subwoofer configuration that dominates an entire sector of today’s
loudspeaker market.
It has also been said this M&K design made multi- channel home theatres
possible. This incredible subwoofer was called “THE BOTTOM END.”
Due to this success, in 1974 Jonas Miller and Ken Kreisel formed
a separate corporation that was used exclusively for the manufacturing of subwoofers.
On the second floor of their Beverly Hills store on Wilshire Boulevard, M&K Sound Inc was born.
Ken Kreisel told me about The Bottom End’s history. “The original
Bottom End subwoofer was a studio monitor I designed for Walter Becker and Donald
Fagen of Steely Dan in 1973 for mixing their “Pretzel Logic” album.
In 1974 Jonas Miller and I started M&K Sound to manufacture the subwoofer
for the “rest of the world.” We also did audiophile recordings.
We had generic album covers made so we could put test pressing etc. into them.
This is probably how you got your copy of “THE BOTTOM END”
jacket…it amazes me that the record was found in London.”
In 1976 M&K Sound decided to make Direct-To-Disc recordings.
Ken Kreisel was looking to make a special disc that demonstrated the sound of
this new recording method, as well as his latest Bottom End speakers. Ken went
to the “Celebrity Center” in California where he heard Don
Baaska and Valli Scavelli playing with their band. He liked their sound,
and wanted to use them for M&K Sound’s first Direct-To-Disc demonstration
record. Don Baaska said, “ I recall now that Ken was
more interested in the quality of the sound on his recordings, rather than the
musical content. It was all direct to disc at 45rpm with specially designed
mics and absolutely no editing of any kind. Really organic. Musicians were pleased
to record gratis under those conditions.”
This is what made Ken Kreisel such a genius, for he had the
ability to record and provide the most incredible range of sounds, that were
used as source material for the testing of subwoofer speakers. He would use
pipe organs with saxophones and orchestras, music boxes with high bells, real
howitzer cannons fired simultaneously for level and impact comparisons between
speakers. Ken also used marching bands, flamenco dancers, and even recorded
the sound of a steam locomotive using a microphone that was set a few feet away
from the wheels as they rolled by.
It has been said that M&K Sound’s “Bottom End Musical
Bass And Transient Test Record” is the most thorough test disc
for a subwoofer speaker. The jazz musician Jim Morris told me how he once saw
a young Ken Kreisel take apart a very expensive tape recording machine, and
improve its quality without any reservation whatsoever.
Even though Ken Kreisel’s interest was primarily focused on the sound,
he himself acknowledged the magic of the music that was being played at that
famous recording session which produced “The Holy Grail”.
Ken said, “I remember how fantastic the live sound was, and how “cooking”
the band was.” Ken played such a major part in the story, because the
musicians did not realize that they were being recorded. He continued to say,
“ Frequently, as soon as the musicians know there is a tape running, you
don’t get the same performance as when they are totally relaxed. As you
probably know, in a sense, the opposite is also true, that you can get a fabulous
edge on a performance when it is recorded live, when the musicians know they
must perform the set perfectly.”
If it were not for Ken Kreisel’s “vision”,
we wouldn’t have had the unique recording of “The Bottom
End.” Ken’s mind was made up as soon as it was finished,
for that was exactly what he wanted. Don Baaska said that he was shocked when
Ken said, “That’s a take!” I am sure that given the choice,
the musicians would have opted for a more conventional arrangement of the “Get
off the Ground”.
The sound on “The Bottom End” was absolutely outstanding,
which was cut at 45 RPM. This was the pinnacle of sound recording
during the mid-seventies, for it did not get any better than this. Ken explained
to me, “Part of the secret to the recording is that I had perfected, or
was in the process of perfecting some very special microphones which were used
on “Get off the Ground.” I also had a very specially modified ultra
high performance analog reel-to-reel 15 ips tape recorder.” M&K Sound
was the great pioneer of Direct-To-Disc records (direct to
disc recordings to the LP master Lacquer disc). M&K SOUND INC opened the
FIRST direct-to-disc recording facility. This was the first studio in the world
ever assembled that was used exclusively for direct-to-disc recordings.
Ken Kreisel and M&K continued to be a major innovator in audio history.
In 1976 M&K marketed the First “Satellite-Subwoofer” combination
called “The David and Goliath”. In 1977 M&K
debuted the Worlds very first “ Self-Powered” Subwoofer called the
“Volkswoofer.” Practically all subwoofers today are self-powered.
Ken was also designing and building professional screening rooms for directors,
producers, and the Hollywood elite. He was regarded as the main pioneer of “Home
Theatre” or “entertainment”, because he was creating the commercial
theatre environment for the home in 1978, before people had even become accustomed
with the term “Home Theatre”.
M&K Real Time Records were the FIRST label to release
Compact Discs in the United States, which I personally look upon as an incredible
achievement, and all of these recordings were (and still are) DIGITAL. In 1997
M&K introduced their first INWALL speaker the
SW-85. M&K Sound celebrated their 25th anniversary in 1999, but Ken Kreisel’s
incredible achievements continued to grow. A year later, M&K Sound introduced their first SELF-POWERED monitor, the S-150P/MPS2510P.
Ken Kreisel was so confident of his products that he decided to DOUBLE M&K's warranty as part of their anniversay celebration.
Kreisel’s incredible audio technology also reached the big screen in
the epic “STAR WARS” series. M&K provided Lucas
film, and Skywalker Sound with special monitor speaker systems
that were designed by Ken Kreisel. Lucas Film, and Skywalker
Sound used these systems to create and mix the soundtracks for the
remaking of the first 3 Star Wars re-releases of Episodes 4, 5, 6,
as well as Episodes 1 and 2.
Rick McCullum, who produced Star Wars Episodes 1 and 2 said,
“We selected Miller & Kreisel speakers to create the Star Wars Episode1
soundtrack and they proved to be the most accurate and best-sounding monitors
we have ever used.” The film industry’s top sound engineers/
editors depend upon Ken Kreisel and M&K Sound’s innovative
speaker systems, which have helped them in receiving the much-coveted Academy
Award (Oscar) for sound.
The following Academy Award winning movies for sound used M&K speakers
for the sound design:
2006: Christopher Boyes -“King Kong’’ –
Achievement in sound
2004: Randy Thom – “The Incredibles”
– Achievement in sound editing
2003: Christopher Boyes – “ Lord Of The Rings – The
Return Of The King”
- Achievement in sound mixing
2002: various – “Lord Of The Rings, The Two Towers”
- Achievement in sound editing
2002: Michael Minkler – “Chicago”
– Achievement in sound
2001: Michael Minkler – “Black Hawk Down”
– Achievement in sound
2001: Gary Rydstrom – “Pearl Harbour”
– Achievement in sound editing
The following nominated films used M&K:
Oscars nominated:
1999: Gary Rydstrom – “Star Wars Episode one”
- Achievement in sound and achievement in sound editing
2000: Randy Thom – “Cast Away”
– Achievement in sound
2003: Christopher Boyes – “The Lord Of The Rings”
-Achievement in sound mixing
2003: Christopher Boyes – “Pirates Of The Caribbean”
- Achievement in sound mixing
2003: Christopher Boyes – “Pirates Of The Caribbean”
- Achievement in sound editing
2003: Gary Rydstrom – “Finding Nemo”
– Achievement in sound editing
In 2001 Ken Kreisel moved M&K to a new
66,000 Square Foot facility in Chatsworth, California, while
receiving the coveted “The Absolute Sound/ Golden Ear Award”
the same year. He was inducted into the Beverly Hills High School Hall
of Fame, “Class of ‘69” the following year. In 2003,
M&K introduced an amazing concept in Home Entertainment. The speaker was
called the “Column Surround TRIPOLE” that was so
unique because it could be placed behind a sofa, which could not be seen in
the room, yet the sound would still be of the highest quality.
The latest Star Wars film again had Ken Kreisel’s
magical touch within its sound. In 2005, the Star Wars producer Rick McCullum
asked for M&K to contribute on his latest addition to the
series, Episode 3 - “Revenge of the Sith”. It is
quite phenomenal what Ken Kreisel has achieved in regards to
Audio Technology. Many would have been proud of just one of these accomplishments,
and I have only named a few.
I have so much gratitude towards Ken Kreisel for his sound,
and his vision in the making of “The Bottom End.”
He has achieved so much, and has worldwide acclaim for his contribution to sound
technology, but for me (and many others in the UK), there is no greater accomplishment
than his work on “The Bottom End.” I cannot express
enough what he has given us, and the exceptional part that he played in an almost
unbelievable story. Ken Kreisel thank you so much, for you gave so many kids
such a magical gift to dance to, and even after 23 years since
it was first discovered here, the spirit of “The Bottom End/Get off the Ground”
continues to touch people in such a special way. Ken Kreisel,
we all salute you.
The Original Miller And Kreisel (M&K Sound) 'Bottom End' Speaker
Copyright 2007 © Seymour Nurse
Ken Kreisel's phenomenal achievements at M&K Sound came to an end after 30 years, with the closure of the original company.
Read more about this in the Ken Kreisel interview/article:
M&K Sound: End Of Story
