R.I.P. Dr Edward J Wolfrum

View full article

RIP Sir

Glad you knew of your fame and gratefulness in our world.

Ed

A man whose musical influence and expertise behind the scenes has been appreciated by countless people over the years - even if they didn’t know it. RIP.

Ed was a genius ,besides being Chief Technical Director at Golden World ,Chief Engineer at United Sound , he engineered numerous Detroit Soul Classics and invented The Wolfbox a direct box which transformed recorded music not only in Detroit ,but at Abbey Road and Blue Note .

I was honoured to spend time in his company at his home in Detroit ,taken there by Rob Moss ,he told us great stories of the Detroit music scene ,and demonstrated mixing techniques on his state of the art home equipment ,priceless !! It was also fantastic to listen to a talk with Ed ,Dennis Coffey and Paul Riser in The Snake Pit at Motown ,a mind blowing day .May Ed rest in peace ,the world is a much poorer place today .

Rest In Peace Sir, A true Legend in your field of expertise........

R.I.P Mr. Wolfrum ! Here's an interview from 2013.

I had a chance meeting with Ed Wolfrum in October 2018. 

I was in Detroit to visit the Motown museum and hopefully find a few records.  I also tried to visit the United Sounds Studios it was closed every day whilst I was there. However on the last time of trying I bumped in to Ed Wolfrum in the car park. He was being interviewed by the author of a book on music production. I listened in and soon realised who he was.  He subsequently invited me back to his house to chat further, see studio photos and to listen to his unreleased mixes on his awesome hi fi, whilst he narrated who the musicians were at every break. I was like a kid in a sweet shop. I visited his studio upstairs and saw the Wolfbox prototype. We even discussed upgrading his VW Beatle with disc brakes and his desire to visit Bletchley Park.  He was so passionate about every detail in the music and instantly made me feel very welcome. As a fellow engineer I was in awe of how, in his career, he had been able to combine his passion in engineering and music. I left feeling extremely privileged to have met him. 

 

RIP Ed Wolfrum

 

Thanks for sharing.  I met with Ed around 2004.  I was at the University of Michigan and was writing a paper on the Detroit studio scene of the 1960s and interviewed him several times for that.  I got the same treatment it sounds like as several mentioned here.  Sat in the living room and listened to Golden World acetates played at maximum volume through Ed's Klipsch horn speakers and the music never sounded so good, went upstairs to the studio to listen to Funkadelic master tapes, looked through all the old studio and artist photos he took, got dinner with Sue and Artie Fields.  Ed had a wealth of knowledge and really was in the center of it all, I'm glad a lot of this history got transmitted out before his passing.  I got an A+ on my paper thank to him!  RIP Ed Wolfrum.