National Sound Corporation

Detroit, Michigan, USA Legendary mastering studio where releases by many Detroit techno artists were mastered, cut and engineered. In 1989 Steve Martel and Ron Murphy decided to open a store specializing in old phonograph records, situated at 17610 W. Warren in Detroit, Michigan called National Sound Corporation. Ron Murphy had been mastering records since the mid 1960's for recording artists such as Isaac Hayes and Forest Hairston. When forming National Sound Corporation, Ron and Steve had the idea of also being able to cut Dub plates and records for use in their customer's jukeboxes, and so some record cutting equipment was also set up in one of the shops back rooms. Shortly after opening, they were visited by Derrick May and Juan Atkins who, while looking for records, noticed the cutting lathe and asked about having some acetates made. After cutting a couple of dubs for Derrick and Juan, Ron was told that there were a lot of Detroit producers that needed a local place to have dubs and masters cut. Ron decided to upgrade the equipment while Derrick and Juan spread the word about the new cutting service. The first master to be cut was Plus 8 Records Ltd. label, followed a week later by Underground Resistance label. Since those first masters back in '89 there have been thousands that have followed, all inscribed with the initials NSC. Producers were encouraged by Ron to make their records unique, by including information and phrases written onto the records, and even going as far as to talking Kevin Saunderson into cutting one of his records in reverse, and cutting locked grooves for Jeff Mills' 12764 project. The death of Steve Martel in 1994, and the subsequent problems that arose with the remaining estate, led Ron to purchase the equipment and relocate the recording service to a new location, the success of which had already led to the closure of the retail side of the business. The new name chosen was the Sound Enterprises, however Ron continued to put the old NSC logo on each master produced, in memory of Steve Martel without whom the business would have never been started. Sadly, Ron Murphy passed away on Saturday, January 12th 2008. Other releases mastered with NSC-X2 Groove Technology: Underground Resistance 20055 Metroplex 13408 KMS 6573 Axis 947 430 West 10778 Direct Beat 25703 Interdimensional Transmissions 25546