Jim Beck

Country music sound engineer, producer, talent agent, record promoter, recording studio owner (Jim Beck Studio), A&R engineer and music publisher. In addition to recording at his won studio, Beck also did engineering for the Imperial, Bullet, and King labels. By 1950, the sound quality of the demo recordings made at Beck’s studio had begun to attract the attention of the major record labels. Columbia executive Don Law eventually brought artists from as far away as Shreveport, Nashville, and Los Angeles to record at Beck’s studio in Dallas. He was born on 11 August 1916 in Marshall, Texas. In the spring of 1956, however, Beck was hospitalized after forgetting to open a ventilator or window while cleaning the heads of his recording machine with the toxic chemical carbon tetrachloride. He died a few weeks later, on May 3, 1956, and was buried in Hillcrest Cemetery in North Dallas. For the dixie jazz drummer, please use Jim Beck (2) and for the blues saxophonist, please use Jimmy Beck