Post #718837 by Dustycajun on Sat, May 31, 2014 4:37 PM

On 2014-05-30 13:58, JOHN-O wrote:
From an interview with Martin Denny...

Arthur Lyman also performed there...

Not only did Arthur Lyman perform there, he recorded most of his albums in the famous Hawaiian Village Kaiser Dome.

The Hilton Dome, and the first of its kind in the world, went up in just 24 hours at the corner of Kalia Road and Ala Moana Boulevard. The famed Hilton dome, a Buckminster Fuller-designed geodesic dome, was erected on January 15, 1957 and made out of Kaiser aluminum, of course. It took 38 workers less than 24 hours to erect it at a cost of about $4 a square foot, or $80,000.

Most of Lyman's albums were recorded in the Kaiser dome auditorium. This space provided unparalleled acoustics and a natural 3-second reverberation. His recordings also benefited from being recorded on a one-of-kind Ampex 3-track 1/2" tape recorder designed and built by engineer Richard Vaughn. All of Lyman's albums were recorded live, without overdubbing. He recorded after midnight, to avoid the sounds of traffic and tourists, and occasionally you can hear the aluminum dome creaking as it settles in the cool night air. The quality of these recordings became even more evident with the advent of CD reissues, when the digital mastering engineer found he didn't have to do anything to them but transfer the original 3-track stereo masters to digital. The recordings remain state-of-the-art nearly 50 years later.

Here is a great areal photo showing the dome, the hotel grounds, and the adjacent Waikikian complex.

Many other famous Hawaiian musicians played in the dome, including Don Ho.

The dome was demolished in 1999 to make way for the Kalia Tower which opened 2001.

DC