Putnam leased the Folsom location from its aging owner, John Vitlin, a Russian immigrant who co-founded Global Merchandising, an import/export company in San Francisco.

Columbia assumed operation of Coast's Studios A and B, bringing in Roy Halee—known for experimental recording techniques that conflicted with union rules—from New York as chief engineer.

[8] Roy Segal, also from Columbia New York, was enlisted to engineer and to manage the facility, and A&R-man and producer George Daly developed performing artists.

[8] Columbia found it difficult to attract San Francisco artists who were instead booking time at Wally Heider Studios because of its casual vibe and its string of hits.

Fred Catero, a successful engineer and New York native, doubted the wisdom of by-the-book Columbia operating in the laid-back atmosphere present in the Bay Area.

Segal was more successful bringing in Bay Area artists; he recorded Big Brother & the Holding Company, Sons of Champlin, and Sly & the Family Stone.

He encouraged his favorite Columbia engineer Fred Catero to leave his job—and a newly completed home in New York—to bring his family to the West Coast and to partner with him on recording projects.

[13] The mixer that Rubinson had bought was a Harrison 4032 mixing console with programmable mute keys, and he had a Michael Larner-assembled Allison Research Memory-Plus Automation System based on the Zilog Z80 microprocessor.

[13] As well, the Automatt offered a 4-track monitor system for the musicians, a revolutionary development which gave each performer greater freedom to optimize his or her own headphones mix.

[13] The studio monitors were Big Reds, popular boxes based on the Altec Lansing Duplex 604 coaxial speaker, powered by McIntosh MC75 tube monoblock amplifiers.

[13] The first session that Rubinson brought to the Automatt was Heartsfield, a vocal rock group that recorded their album Collector's Item in late 1976.

CBS mastering engineer George Horn fine-tuned songs by Rubinson clients Phoebe Snow, Santana and Patti LaBelle.

[14] Bassist Ron Carter recorded his album Third Plane at the Automatt in July 1977, with Tony Williams on drums and Herbie Hancock on keyboards.

The group (composed of four members of the 1964-1969 Miles Davis Quintet with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet) was signed to Columbia, but the mixing process was difficult because of the two different acoustic performance spaces, and the Automatt was chosen for the task.

Hancock was displeased with the level of artificial reverberation applied to the piano per his earlier instruction—he wanted to change how much EMT plate reverb was in the mix.

[13] At the Automatt's grand opening party in early 1978, Clive Davis and Roy Segal listened to the VSOP master tapes, and an array of well-known San Francisco Bay Area artists, engineers and producers attended.

[13] Prompted by this setback, Rubinson arranged with master lease holder Putnam to sublease the whole building, and re-opened in 1978 with three studios in operation.

Other gold- and platinum-level engineers who polished their craft at the Automatt include Jim Gaines, Maureen Droney, Ken Kessie, David Frazer, Michael Rosen and John Nowland.

[15] For three weeks in September and October 1978, singer Joe Strummer and guitarist Mick Jones of the Clash appeared at the Automatt to record overdubs for the album Give 'Em Enough Rope.

They saw their acquaintance Nick Lowe and met his girlfriend Carlene Carter (the step-daughter of one of their musical heroes: Johnny Cash) after seeing her sing.

Between takes at the Automatt, Strummer and Jones listened for the first time to the Bobby Fuller Four version of "I Fought the Law" on one of Rubinson's jukeboxes, and when they returned to England they re-made the song into a Clash standard.

The "Friends" consisted of the Tower of Power horn section, vocalists Jo Baker and Annie Sampson from Stoneground, and guitarist/vocalist Tom Johnston of the Doobie Brothers.

David Kahne, A&R director and staff producer for 415, operated out of a small upstairs office at the Automatt, signing and recording bands such as Translator and Wire Train.

Producers Geoff Workman and Kevin Elson, both former recording engineers, helped the band trim the collection down to 11 for the album Departure.

"[13] In her office, Zarin held Friday afternoon wine-and-cheese parties with producers, artists and engineers who had worked at the Automatt during the week.

There, he recorded Dream Syndicate's Medicine Show album in 1984, and kept the room busy with smaller projects, including mixes by disc jockey François Kevorkian.

[13] From 1980, Narada Michael Walden booked a great deal of time at the studio, completing the transition from being a successful drummer to producing artists, composing music and drumming.

[27] Next, Walden brought Whitney Houston to the Automatt to record "How Will I Know", in the process helping to create one of three chart-topping hits from her debut album.

He sued the building's former tenants for making structural changes without permission: Bill Putnam, Coast Recorders, American Zoetrope, Francis Ford Coppola, the Automatt and David Rubinson.

Various insurance companies paid Vitlin a settlement, and he collected Rubinson's escrow account holding the earlier, lower lease payments.