so fat that I became addicted to it.

"Although that studio was a little longer and a little narrower than Studio 3 at United Western, it was basically the same and it was a brilliant room. I didn't actually know how good that room was until I left Heider's and started recording in other rooms that weren't nearly as forgiving.

"We'd usually put the drums and bass on the right side of the room and the guitars on the other side, and I did a live Tom Jones vocal in there and got away with it. I also cut [Cream's] 'Badge' live in there with Felix Pappalardi's piano, and again we got away with it, even with Marshall amps going full blast. It was just a very forgiving room.”

Having helpedWally Heider record 1967's Monterey Pop Festival, Bill Halverson was already familiar with David Crosby. He had also met Stephen Stills, having helped Jim Messina track a Stills overdub on Buffalo Springfield's album Last Time Around in Studio 1. However, it wasn't until he engineered a demo session in late 1968 that Halverson really got to witness Stills' remarkable talent.

"He came in and played some acoustic guitar and did some vocals and played some bass,” Halverson recalls, "and then he rented some drums from Studio Instrument Rentals — which was the big rental company out there at that time — and played those, too. The song was '49 Reasons', before it became '49 Bye‑Byes' — it was an eight‑track demo, and when he wanted to turn the tape