Daniel N. Flickinger was an audio engineer in the late 1960s and 1970s, who designed and manufactured some of the era's most important music recording consoles

Mixing console

In professional audio, a mixing console, or audio mixer, also called a sound board, mixing desk, or mixer is an electronic device for combining , routing, and changing the level, timbre and/or dynamics of audio signals. A mixer can mix analog or digital signals, depending on the type of mixer...

. He designed recording consoles for Sly Stone

Sly Stone

Sly Stone is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly & the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of...

, Curtis Mayfield

Curtis Mayfield

Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...

, Ike Turner

Ike Turner

Isaac Wister Turner was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. In a career that lasted more than half a century, his repertoire included blues, soul, rock, and funk...

's Bolic Sounds, Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash

John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

, and Funkadelic

Funkadelic

Funkadelic was an American band most prominent during the 1970s. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...

, Muscle Shoals Sound Studio

Muscle Shoals Sound Studio

The Muscle Shoals Sound Studio was formed in Muscle Shoals, Alabama,in 1969 when musicians Barry Beckett , Roger Hawkins , Jimmy Johnson and David Hood left FAME Studios to create their own studio...

, Motown Records

Motown Records

Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...

, Cinderella Records, and United Sound Systems among many others.

Flickinger revolutionized recorded music through the "sweepable EQ," an original equalization

Equalization

Equalization, is the process of adjusting the balance between frequency components within an electronic signal. The most well known use of equalization is in sound recording and reproduction but there are many other applications in electronics and telecommunications. The circuit or equipment used...

 scheme. Many credit Flickinger with the first design of a working sweepable EQ, while others contend he was one of many who did important work in early EQ innovations. Either way, Flickinger's design of these EQ's would influence his own circuit design, and the work of others worldwide.

Flickinger Innovations

--development of 'audio control surface' concept now in wide use in digital audio consoles.

--invention of remote-controlled gain devices: Remote-Gain Preamp.

--development of modular bar graph illuminated metering, known as Level Lites. Ubiquitous in consumer audio now in LED form.

--invention of the first in-line recording console

--advancement of assorted equalization schemes.

Flickinger's work has since become highly esteemed among recording professionals; Steve Albini

Steve Albini

Steven Frank Albini is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman, and Flour, and is currently a member of Shellac...

wrote "I will go to my deathbed claiming Flickinger consoles are the best sounding mixing desks ever made. Period."

Recording Studios Using Flickinger Consoles

Studio Black Box, Noyant-la-Gravoyère, FR

The Distillery Costa Mesa, CA USA

Keyclub Recording Company Benton Harbor, MI USA

Rock City Studio Ann Arbor, MI USA

Montrose Recording Richmond VA, USA