Russ Terrana: Reflections Of Motown
Christina Chaffin
Russ Terrana grew up with a dedication toward music, and that dedication defines his history. He’s spent most of his life surrounded by music - from being an artist with his group The Glo-Worms, (who later became The Sunliners), to then becoming a recording engineer.
Throughout his career, he’s mixed a total of 89 no. 1 hits and 37 Platinum albums, and according to Terrana, what keeps him going is his love for music. “I love the emotion of it,” he said. Though his industry history is wide, a large piece of it was spent at Motown Records, and has been inspiring listeners to this day.
DAYTON, Ohio – Terrana said music has always played a major role in his life. By age 10, he, his brother Ralph Terrana and friends formed a musical group called The Glo-Worms, who later turned into The Sunliners. (After Russ and Ralph began pursuing solo projects, The Sunliners later reformed, becoming Rare Earth).
When The Sunliners were a group, Ralph said one of their memorable set of shows took place in New York, in 1963. According to him, the group had just finished performing in Canada and their shows didn’t go well. “At that point, we thought we were going home,” Ralph said. “Then we got a call to perform for a week at the Peppermint Lounge.”
Ralph said he, Russ and the rest of the group were unsure how their audience was going to respond to their shows because, according to him, “New York had a Rock n’ Roll that was flashier." Yet despite worries, The Sunliners went on to receive a positive welcome. "We were doing something New York had never seen before. We were doing Rock n’ Roll with Detroit R&B, and they had never heard it, and they loved it.” Though The Sunliners didn’t remain a group, Ralph said the band was very close, with goals to continue music.
Throughout his career, he’s mixed a total of 89 no. 1 hits and 37 Platinum albums, and according to Terrana, what keeps him going is his love for music. “I love the emotion of it,” he said. Though his industry history is wide, a large piece of it was spent at Motown Records, and has been inspiring listeners to this day.
DAYTON, Ohio – Terrana said music has always played a major role in his life. By age 10, he, his brother Ralph Terrana and friends formed a musical group called The Glo-Worms, who later turned into The Sunliners. (After Russ and Ralph began pursuing solo projects, The Sunliners later reformed, becoming Rare Earth).
When The Sunliners were a group, Ralph said one of their memorable set of shows took place in New York, in 1963. According to him, the group had just finished performing in Canada and their shows didn’t go well. “At that point, we thought we were going home,” Ralph said. “Then we got a call to perform for a week at the Peppermint Lounge.”
Ralph said he, Russ and the rest of the group were unsure how their audience was going to respond to their shows because, according to him, “New York had a Rock n’ Roll that was flashier." Yet despite worries, The Sunliners went on to receive a positive welcome. "We were doing something New York had never seen before. We were doing Rock n’ Roll with Detroit R&B, and they had never heard it, and they loved it.” Though The Sunliners didn’t remain a group, Ralph said the band was very close, with goals to continue music.
With aspirations to cultivate their musical ambitions, Russ and Ralph extended their careers by working at Motown Records. (Ralph’s Motown legacy went from 1969-1975, and will be discussed further in a separate article). Russ’ time at Motown started in 1966 as a recording engineer. He began mixing music for several artists and groups, including The Four Tops, The Miracles, The Supremes and many others. According to him, mixing was important, but in order to create a great mix of a song, the music had to have excitement.
“I’m a strong believer in dynamics,” he said. “If you get on a roller coaster without hills, there’s no big thrill. The roller coaster has to have hills to be exciting. That’s dynamics. Music needs dynamics as well. If the track is weak or doesn’t come across right, it won’t work. It has to have thrills to it.” |
Russ said he’s learned many lessons about music throughout his life, but according to him, one lesson he will never forget is something he was told before working at Motown. He said his cousin’s husband gave his group a music lesson and said to them, “It’s not the sound of the guitar or the piano in the song. It’s the combination of the sound.” Russ said he never forgot that message, and an example of those words rang true in 1970, when the founder of Motown Records, Berry Gordy, called him about a specific project.
Motown was headlining its offices in Los Angeles, but still functioned out of Detroit, Michigan, where Russ and other employees continued working. According to him, Gordy said, “We just finished recording an album with the Jackson 5 and I don’t like any of the mixes, so I’m sending the master multi-track tapes to you to work on.” Russ said he asked Gordy if he wanted it mixed a certain way, and according to him, Gordy trusted his judgment and told him to mix the album the way he thought would be best. “[Berry] had enough confidence in me to put the album together,” Russ said. The Jackson 5’s album ABC released in May of 1970 in the U.S., and spent 12 weeks at no.1 on the Billboard’s R&B album charts.
Motown was headlining its offices in Los Angeles, but still functioned out of Detroit, Michigan, where Russ and other employees continued working. According to him, Gordy said, “We just finished recording an album with the Jackson 5 and I don’t like any of the mixes, so I’m sending the master multi-track tapes to you to work on.” Russ said he asked Gordy if he wanted it mixed a certain way, and according to him, Gordy trusted his judgment and told him to mix the album the way he thought would be best. “[Berry] had enough confidence in me to put the album together,” Russ said. The Jackson 5’s album ABC released in May of 1970 in the U.S., and spent 12 weeks at no.1 on the Billboard’s R&B album charts.
According to him, mixing a song is intricate from beginning to end. When it came to putting final sounds together, Russ said there was no timeline as to when he would finish projects. According to him, some mixes would take two-to-three days, with multiple mixes created.
In 1971, he mixed the song “I Just Want To Celebrate,” for Motown’s 1969-signed group Rare Earth, and said the story behind the song’s mix is memorable. According to Russ, Harry Balk, who was the head of A&R’s department at the time, asked him to put together a rough mix of the song for him to listen to. After giving Balk the rough mix, Russ said he spent the next few days putting different mixes of the song together. According to him, “A few days later, I went back to Harry’s office and said, ‘Let’s go back to the beginning.’ We started over by listening to the original rough mix, and he said, ‘That’s the mix.’” Russ said the first mix he made was the official released song version. |
“Stevie amazes me,” he said. “In Detroit, I remember a time when I was at the main building on the 5th floor (the producers floor), and I’m walking down the hallway, and I see Stevie. When I walked up to him, he said, ‘Hi Russ.’ I said, ‘Hi Stevie,’ and then I said, ‘Wait, how’d you know it was me?’ Stevie said, ‘I knew it by your footsteps.’ The guy is amazing and he is extremely human.”
Wonder is one of many friendships Russ made while working at Motown and said he is thankful for his years there. His brother Ralph said he will always appreciate Russ’ contributions in music, saying, “I want people to always remember how good he was at Motown and beyond that, and to know he has always loved music.”
Today, Russ said he looks back at his memories in music with happiness. When speaking of the people who have listened to the songs he's mixed over the years, he said, “I just want them to enjoy it. Let them keep enjoying it and sharing it with other people. If they love it, that’s all that matters to me.”
Photos copyright: Russ Terrana, Ralph Terrana
Wonder is one of many friendships Russ made while working at Motown and said he is thankful for his years there. His brother Ralph said he will always appreciate Russ’ contributions in music, saying, “I want people to always remember how good he was at Motown and beyond that, and to know he has always loved music.”
Today, Russ said he looks back at his memories in music with happiness. When speaking of the people who have listened to the songs he's mixed over the years, he said, “I just want them to enjoy it. Let them keep enjoying it and sharing it with other people. If they love it, that’s all that matters to me.”
Photos copyright: Russ Terrana, Ralph Terrana