The L.A. Times reported yesterday that Larry Levine, Grammy-winning recording engineer and integral part of Phil Spector's "Wall-Of-Sound" sessions, died last Thursday. He was 80.

Levine was picked by Gold Star Recording Studios management to work with the notoriously temperamental producer when Spector's "Wagnerian Pop" was still an idea. According Gold Star co-founder and Levin's cousin, Stan Ross, it was Levine who introduced Spector to the idea of using an echo chamber. According to Ross, the inspiration to use the echo chamber was borne out of simple, practical necessity:

"Phil had a tendency of overbooking the room, and there were more musicians than there should have been in the studio. . . it began to saturate the walls, and you couldn't make it happen unless you get some separation, and the only way you could do that is by getting some echo and making the room sound larger. . . if Phil had gone into another place to do it, it would have been a normal record without any wall of sound."

Levine won a Grammy in 1965 for his work on "A Taste of Honey", possibly the most famous track cut by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Aplert later recruited Levine to design and oversee the first recording studio at A&M Records.

Levine engineered albums for Eddie Cochran, The Beach Boys, Sonny and Cher, Wings, the Carpenters, Dr. John, and reunited with Spector in the late 70s working on albums by The Ramones and Leonard Cohen.

(L to R) Levine, Spector and Wall-Of-Sound session clarinetist Nino Tempo