Enoch Henry Light (18 August 1905, in Canton, Ohio – 31 July 1978, in Redding, Connecticut) was a classical violinist, bandleader, and recording engineer. As A&R chief and vice-president of Grand Award Records, he founded Command Records in 1959. Light’s name was prominent on many albums both as musician and producer. In the 1930s, Light studied conducting with the French conductor Maurice Frigara in Paris.

He is credited with being one of the first musicians to go to extreme lengths to create high-quality recordings that took full advantage of the technical capabilities of home audio equipment of the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly stereo effects that bounced the sounds between the right and left channels (often described as “ping-pong”).

The first of the albums produced on his record label, Command Records, Persuasive Percussion, became the first huge hit based solely on retail sales. His songs received little or no airplay on the radio, because AM radio, the standard of the day, was monaural. Light went on to release several albums in the Persuasive Percussion series, as well as a Command test record.

Enoch Light released myriad albums in various genres of music under a variety of names during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Some were released under Grand Award Records, a subsidiary label he founded earlier. The music was intended for older audiences, as opposed to most popular music of the time, which was usually aimed at teenagers. During this time, he pioneered many recording techniques, such as the use of 35 mm opical sound film instead of magnetic tape, thereby reducing the effects of “wow” and “flutter”. The recordings were released under the “35MM” series, starting from “Stereo 35-MM” released by Command Records. Musicians who appeared on Light’s albums include The Free Design, The Critters, Rain, Doc Severinsen, Tony Mottola, Dick Hyman, and arranger Lew Davies.

In 1965, Light sold the Command record label, which had released the Persuasive Percussion series, to ABC Records, which itself was subsequently sold to MCA Records. ABC continued the Command label, and launched an experimental rock label ABC Command Probe as part of the division. This label was the first home of the Soft Machine. When ABC Records issued quadraphonic records in the 1970s, they were issued on the Command label.
Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.