Mass media is clearly one of the most powerful institutions in society. The structure of the mass media has fundamental implications for the political and cultural orientation of the public. Hence, an understanding of the mass media will throw considerable light on the structure of Western society, the relationship between the public and those who possess power, as well as the ideologies produced by the media and their impact on the public.

“The business of a journalist now is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, fall at the feet of Mammon and sell himself for his daily bread. We are tools. We are vessels of rich men behind the scenes, we are jumping jacks. They pull the strings; we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are the properties of these men. We are intellectual prostitutes.”
[Source: http://www.mediamonitors.net/mosaddeq32.html]

Corporate Lies - a new audio concept release.
Enjoy the noise.

“All I could do, was put my hand over my eyes.
The blast was so bright I could see my bones through my skin.”

In 1947, the U.S. Army Air Corps built a top-secret movie production studio on Wonderland Park Avenue. The location was hidden from view and surrounded by an electric fence. It is claimed that it was the world’s only completely self-contained movie studio. With 100,000 square feet of floor space, the covert studio included sound stages, screening rooms, film processing labs, editing facilities, an animation department and several climate-controlled film vaults. It also had a bomb shelter, underground parking and a helicopter pad.

Over its lifetime, the studio produced some 19,000 classified motion pictures – more than all the Hollywood studios combined [which I guess makes Laurel Canyon the real ‘motion picture capital of the world’]. Officially, the facility was run by the U.S. Air Force and did nothing more nefarious than process AEC footage of atomic and nuclear bomb tests. The studio, however, was clearly equipped to do far more than just process film.

There are indications that Lookout Mountain Laboratory had an advanced research and development department that was on the cutting edge of new film technologies. Such technological advances as 3-D effects were apparently first developed at the Laurel Canyon site. And Hollywood luminaries like John Ford, Jimmy Stewart, Howard Hawks, Ronald Reagan, Bing Crosby, Walt Disney and Marilyn Monroe were given clearance to work at the facility on undisclosed projects. There is no indication that any of them ever spoke of their work at the clandestine studio.

The facility retained as many as 250 producers, directors, technicians, editors, animators, etc., both civilian and military, all with top security clearances – and all reporting to work in a secluded corner of Laurel Canyon. Infos vary as to when the secret facility exactly ceased operations. Some claim it was in 1969, while others say the installation remained in operation longer. In any event, by all accounts the secret bunker had been up and running for more than twenty years before Laurel Canyon’s rebellious teen years, and it remained operational for the most turbulent of those years.

The existence of the facility remained unknown to the public until the early 1990s, though it had long been rumored that the CIA operated a secret movie studio somewhere in or near Hollywood. Peter Kuran was the first to learn of its existence, through some classified documents he obtained while researching his 1995 documentary, ‘Trinity and Beyond‘. And yet even today, some 15 years after its public disclosure, one would have trouble finding even a single mention of this secret military/intelligence facility anywhere in the ‘conspiracy’ literature. [source: see links below]

The Making of - The Base

On March 8th 2009 I went on a trip to Laurel Canyon, accompanied by Jen and Randy from One Trick Pony [Great band! Buy their music!], since I wanted to do one of my typical field recording sessions. So we took my car and just cruised around. The afternoon turned out to be an entertaining and slightly philosophical sight-seeing tour, with some reflective contemplations [mostly by Randy] about everything from L.A. design houses and iPhones to American flags or how odd it is to bartend at a Christmas Party in Bill Murrays house.

I first heard of The Base through my friend Christopher [Franke] who told me about it at one of our occasional brainstorming sessions. He knew LMAFS through the soundtrack for a sci-fi movie he produced with Tangerine Dream back in 1983 ['Wavelength'], because the location was used as part of the film set.

You can imagine I was more than keen to see the place but in fact you would barely see anything when you just drive by 8935 Wonderland Avenue. Going further up the hill unveils only a partly view on the main building of the compound… but all the trippy stuff is below earth’s surface.

We were just on our way back to the city, passing by the former top-secret address, when we suddenly found the gate to the location open. We encouraged us to take the chance and just drove in, which felt a little like driving into the parking lot of a supermarket. Only a few seconds after we have jumped out of the car John Ladner, one of the two owners [beside artist Mark Lipscomb] welcomed us friendly and took us on an amazing tour outside and inside The Base, while my field recorder was still running…

What we actually saw would exceed our imagination [ok, we have not seen any aliens though!]. There are more than 100ft long labyrinth-like corridors, vast vaults formerly used as cinemas and production facilities, renovated, with paintings on the wall, like if you’d visit an art exhibition.

But there are other parts, with skillfully sealed doors to subterranean areas of the compound, closed down before the army moved out in the late 60s. It is rumoured there were even secret tunnel systems that would lead to wherever. Let’s assume that’s just another myth, like the one saying that LMAFS was even involved in faking the Apollo moon landing…

The Base is an audio documentary, a collection of snapshots taken during this Laurel Canyon trip. Sound would stay more in the background this time, because my focus was to capture the specific mood of that trip, the ironic perspectives on the typical hillside life of L.A. combined with the unexpected opportunity to visit the probaby strangest historic place Laurel Canyon has to offer. I am sure the audio can transport that, if you take your time to get into it. Apologies for a few recording parts would lack proper quality [forgot the micro wind deflector!] but I hope it doesn’t affect the listening experience too much. Headphones strongly recommended! If you have missed the link, click here to proceed to the download page. Big thanks to Jen, Randy and of course - to John.

Enjoy the noise,
NF

Sources:
http://tubearoo.com/articles/66767/Atomic_Filmmakers_Behind_the_Scenes_of_Hollywoods_top_secret_film_studios.html
http://www1.shore.net/~mfoster/Lookout_Mt.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lookout_Mountain_Air_Force_Station
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Lookout_Mountain_Air_Force_Station
http://www.vce.com/LookoutMt.html
http://articles.latimes.com/p/1997/oct/22/local/me-45459
http://ludb.clui.org/ex/i/CA6081
http://www.nv.doe.gov/library/factsheets/DOENV_1142.pdf
http://www.deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-698.html