June 2024: Volume 24 - Issue 9

Newsletter for the Alumni and Friends of Hicksville High School - Hicksville, New York

Dear Readers,
We hope you enjoy our latest issue. If you log into the website, you can click on Features and then Biographies to submit your biography to the site! As you will read in the Etcetera section, we are preparing to write about Senior Trips. We would love to have your memories and photographs for the article, along with your name and graduation year. Please send it to us at  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 
 - Your HixNews Team

Hicksville's Aquatic Center and Alumni Swim Meet

by, Wendy Elkis Girnis (HHS Class of 1977)

One of the first questions I remember being asked as a Hicksville High School 10th grader in 1974 was, “Have you seen the pool on the roof yet?” Most of us, who didn’t have older siblings, thought that was cool that the school had a pool, only to find out  it  was just a joke played on incoming students. There never was a pool on the roof. Today the question that is asked of incoming students is, “Have you been to the Aquatic Center yet?”  The latter is located at the back of the school where the tennis and handball courts were. The Aquatic Center exists.

Ground Breaking Hicksville Public Schools Site

Construction on the Hicksville Public Schools Aquatic Center started in December of 2019. By October 2021, the public was given tours as part of the Homecoming Fair. The Aquatic Center boasts a 6-lane heated lap pool with starter blocks and with a diving board. USA Swimming requirements are followed.

The building itself is 17,952 square feet. The building is connected to the main building through a series of corridors and vestibules. There are male and female locker rooms with showers, offices for the coaches, bleachers for a cheering crowd, and a concession stand. The center opened on March 9, 2022.

Opening Day Courtesy of Patch.com

The girls’ Varsity Swim Team and the Hicksville Middle School Girls Swim Team practices and competes there during the fall sports season, while the boys’ Swim Teams practice and compete during the winter season. Since acquiring their own pool, the ranking of the Hicksville Teams has skyrocketed per SwimCloud https://www.swimcloud.com/team/5137/.  It has also allowed for an increase in participation. 

The Aquatic Center is open to the residents of Hicksville on a limited basis.  There are specific times for Senior Swim, Public Lap Swim, and Interscholastic Swimming and Diving for students from 4th -12th grades who want to improve their swimming and diving skills. There are strict rules that need to be followed.  One rule is that those attending are expected to swim laps and not use the pool for recreation. 

On June 1, 2024, the Aquatic Center had its Alumni Swim Meet.  Deborah (Elkis) Abuhoff (‘80) has been a swimmer since she was 4 1/2 years old.  She started competing at 6 and swam for Levittown Swimming Association (LSA), AAU, and for Hicksville starting in 9th grade.  Today, she swims for U.S. Masters for team EXCEL out of Nassau County Aquatic Center.  Deborah swam in the Alumni Meet at the Aquatic Center on June 1.  It was a fun meet, and she enjoyed catching up with some old friends and Mr. Walt Olsewski, who coached the team. 

Hicksville Swim Team 1977 (Deborah (Elkis) Abuhoff -2nd Row 4th from left)

As for the Aquatics Center, Deborah gave it a “Thumbs Up”.  She is happy that there are men’s and women’s Varsity teams.  This opens up more opportunities for those students to be approached by colleges for scholarships.

Memorial Day 2024

by Arthur Mayer

(husband of Gail Schwartzman Mayer, Class of 1973)

A few weeks before our annual Hicksville Memorial Day Parade, I attended one of the high school’s concerts, which included our daughter’s final performance, as she is a graduating senior.  In our school’s lobby, encased behind glass, is a simple tribute to Kevin T. Kolm, USMC, a son of Hicksville killed while serving his country in Iraq in 2004.  While I have viewed this window many times, because it was May and Memorial Day would be fast approaching, I began to think about how much the town of Hicksville and, particularly, our Hicksville schools, have held fast to its commitment to honor and pay tribute to those who have died in service to our country.  To gain a deeper appreciation for how our town embraces the effort to “Always Remember” the ultimate sacrifices made by its young people, I decided that a visit to our Memorial Garden, adjacent to Hicksville Middle School, before Memorial Day was essential. I visited on a quiet day when I could get up close to the plaques and monuments.  

Veterans Memorial at Hicksville Middle School

Not having grown up in Hicksville, I was surprised when the first monument I chanced to view revealed a dedication dated July 4th, 1919, honoring those who died during the First World War.  From the sketchy history I have acquired online or in conversations, I knew that the building we refer to as our Middle School, in fact, opened in 1924 as the combined Middle and Senior High Schools.  So the initiative to honor Hicksville’s war dead had its seeds planted at yet Nicholai Street School (Photo from Classmates.com)another high school building located, on Nicholai Street.  What followed, I can conclude from the serene, understated beauty of our Memorial Garden, is a continuing effort to maintain an enduring tribute, reflecting the utmost respect for those we lost throughout the years in faraway places, including Europe, Korea, Vietnam/ Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.  The trail of tragic loss had spanned the early 20th century through 100 years into our 21st century Hicksville when war took the life of Kevin T. Kolm in 2004.

There are many variations of the statement that “…a hero can die twice, once with their actual demise and twice if they are forgotten and their name not spoken again.”  My solitary visit to our Memorial Garden and attendance at our Hicksville Memorial Day Parade and ceremonies, joined by our first responder heroes,  local veterans and benevolent organizations and lodges, serves to reinforce that Hicksville will always keep the promise of remembering those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

The Editors found the names of those listed on the Memorial Plaques erected at the Middle School published in the Nassau Observer:https://antonmediagroup.com/hicksvilles-memorial-day-parade-2024/

From World War I — Joseph Barry, Charles A. Wagner, Walter Wheeler

From World War II — Fred Anderson, Henry A. Gebhart, John Halubowicz, John Haughey, James Madden, Andrew Manelski, Robert Matschat, Arthur F. Noeth, William J. Pakaluk, John Looney, Anthony Petrone, William Remy, Melvin Rohrbach, Wallace Schaefer, Ellsworth Steinert, Gregory Stock, Robert Ulmer, John Zeiler, Raymond Zeltman

From the Korean War — Albert J. Cullen, John Jay Entsrasser, Richard Gogan, Frank Hanson

From the Vietnam War — William A. Aldag, William Chomyk, Edward P. Jackson, Carl N. Kozma, Joseph M. Massone, Paul C. Sawtelle, Ralph Shiavonne, James E. Stolz, Stanley R. Tomasovic, Paul Walkowski, Joseph Waters, David Stanley Wilenski, James O’Neill

From the Iraq War — Kevin T. Kolm

Altogether, from World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the  Vietnam War, and the Iraq War, 40 Hicksville Heroes are remembered for sacrificing their lives for our nation. Many thanks should be credited to the Organizing Committee of the Hicksville Memorial Day Parade 2024.

–Submitted by Hicksville Historical Society’s Recording Secretary, Michael Christodoulou

.

Autobiography of Richard Simpson, Class of 1961

One of the most common pieces of advice and often a necessary requirement for vinyl mastering is monoing the bass frequencies. It means that mastering engineers and pressing plants will first advise you to master your music with everything below 150, 200hz, or 300 hertz in mono for a smooth transition to the vinyl format. Indeed, stereo low-end may cause serious difficulties to cut a master disk, it may also cause playback issues such as a skipping record. But is this always the case?

RPM Records spoke with Richard Simpson, cutting engineer for RCA, Contemporary, and Erika Records. Holding a solid 50 years of experience in record cutting, winning a number of Gold Records and working within the most professional mastering environment, Richard shared his insights of the record cutting craft and drew a clear picture of what it takes to cut stereo low-end explaining why you may want to take a risk in doing so.

Early Days at RCA

I started working for RCA RECORDING STUDIOS in New York in 1966. First in quality control obtaining a good background in what problems can occur in the recording process. Next step was working with the cutting engineers and learning the process of cutting the master lacquers, also working in the studios assisting the recording engineer. Early on I realized that microphone placement was the most important step in the recording process. I was lucky enough to work with my father Bob Simpson, the mastering engineer and Grammy winner, working on a Count Basie session seeing how the minor change in mic placement effected the sound. He would have me come out into the studio and listen to the band go back into the control room and listen. If the sound in control room didn't sound as good, he would make slight changes until the sound matched. Studio work was great, but my interest leaned more towards cutting records.

My first record as a mastering engineer or cutting engineer was John Denver - Take Me Home Country Roads. The record was already released but not doing as well as expected. I approached Milt OKUN, Johns producer and suggested re-cutting the lacquers adding level and slight EQ changes. A lucky break for me, the record went on to become a smash hit selling millions of records. I was rewarded with my first Gold Record which turned into 10 more and a ten-year relationship cutting all of John Denver's hit records.

Along the way I was cutting records for The Monkees, Guess Who, David Bowie, Kinks, Lou Reed and Elvis Presley. The eighties came with cutting lots of dance, hip hop N.W.A, ICE-T, Warren G. The nineties brought electronic sounds, my favorite being drum 'n bass, I was cutting records for artist producer Eric Hull" E-sassin", Sound Sphere Records. Cutting the loudest records possible, competing with levels being cut at the Exchange UK.

For many years all the records I cut went through a standard EQ process involving the low-end vertical roll-off (VRO). A combining network centering the bass later on newer systems had the elliptical equalizer (EE). I used one or the other for many years, that's the way I was taught. Using this low-end EQ allowed the cutting of safer and louder records.

The two major problems that can arise in the mastering of records is phase issues that cause the groove to narrow to the point the playback stylus can not track the groove. Often the groove being cut would cause the cutter head to lift off the lacquer causing the groove to no longer be a continuous groove. This would also cause problems in plating, since the groove wasn't continuous it would tear or pull apart when separating the stamper from the mother. The use of the EE made it easier to cut a good, safe-sounding record.

Sibilance is the second problem. The heavy "Sssss" sound or hissing sound not corrected in the recording or mixing stage will cause problems when transferred to the master lacquer. Such as tracking problems and distortion of the "Ssss" in playback of the finished record.

Cutting Stereo Low-End

It wasn't until I started working with Pete Lyman in early 2000 that my approach to cutting the low-end changed. Like I said, the low-end EQ roll-off or monoing the bass was the norm. Pete questioned this practice and didn't think we should cut all records using elliptical equalizer (EE), instead to try using a more or less EQing of bass frequencies and not just rolling off and monoing the overall bass frequencies.

For the most part, the sound was a fuller more pleasing sound when bypassing the use of VRO or EE in the transfer from a source to a master disk. To the other extreme, while cutting at RCA Hollywood in the mid-seventies, we were cutting all the Motown releases using a graphic equalizer called the Motown filter, we had a standard practice of cutting off everything below 70 cycles and everything above 12khz. They wanted a loud punchy sound for radio air play.

To me, stereo bass was recording the bass guitar or other low-end instruments using the A/B stereo recording technique to create a sense of width in the recording. Another technique called Blumlein Pair will capture a greater portion of the room sound and adds a bit more ambience to the stereo image. The use of 2 bi-directional mics with figure 8 pattern placed 90 degrees so that their capsules coincide at a single point will give you this effect. In general, recording the bass in mono works better. Many believe our ears are not good at obtaining directional information from low frequencies, so it makes little sense to create a stereo image for any low frequency instruments.

Again, that's not always the case and many believe that stereo low-end adds to the overall sound experience. I myself agree with that statement. For example, listen to the band Dire Straits or records produced by Mark Knofler. When the music is heard on a record or streaming, the low-end surrounds you with a very full sound. That spaciousness of sound is the stereo low-end.

The cutting of stereo low-end will continue as it has. It comes down to if the recording is done right along with good mixing, the master lacquers will be cut and sound as close as possible to the source material. DMM is affected the same way as conventional mastering. The DMM process cuts directly into a copper disk skipping the lacquer mastering step. In theory, the noise level should be lower and the issue of pre and post echo should not occur.

When I first started cutting at RCA, the releases were cut in mono and stereo. The first Monkees album is a good example of mono versus stereo. If you can find a mono record, you can hear a big difference in level. The mono was cut 3 to 4db hotter than the stereo version. After this release I was told to cut the mono and stereo at the same level.

Cutting Jazz Records

I cut a lot of Jazz records right after RCA closed its studios in HOLLYWOOD . Lester Koenig, the owner of Contemporary Records hired me even before RCA closed. He needed me to re-cut just about all his great jazz records from the catalog, because the mothers and stampers were all worn out.

Daily, I would compare a record to the master 2-track tape before cutting the master lacquers, making sure the sound and level matched the original pressing. Again, the mono records were louder than the stereo. Lester stated that his cutting engineer during the period when mono was being replaced with stereo found it hard to cut stereo at the levels of the mono records. This was caused by the placement of instruments the same as in the mono recordings. Bass off to one side, drums off center, piano centered and sax off to right of center. Cutting in mono had no problems, but stereo was a problem. I couldn't cut the same levels, too much vertical action, along with lateral groove swing and changes in the mix were needed. Centering the kick drum and bass helped solve the cutting issues.

Over the years, before I started working for Contemporary Records, several major figures in the music business worked for the label. Among them were Atlantic Records executive Nesuhi Ertegun, writer Leonard Feather, recording engineer and studio designer Howard Holzer, engineer Roy Dunan, and mastering engineer Bernie Grundman, and myself, honored to be among the names associated with Contemporary Records.

Some of the best sounding jazz records were produced at Contemporary. Again, an example of stereo low-end feeling of the room size and shape can give you that spaciousness sound; perceiving sound as coming from a multidimensional space. This low-end sound creates a shift from sounding like it is in your head to arrival from all around you.

Vinyl Mastering

The use of equalizers, stereo widening plug-ins, compressors, limiters, spacial enhancers, multi-band, and so forth in the mastering or pre-mastering stage for vinyl as well as streaming is a sensitive subject. My approach goes against the grain. From my experience, in the cutting of records over the past fifty plus years "LESS IS BETTER'. When the artist, producer and engineer begin the recording process, the INTENT is to make the best sounding record possible using the best studios and gear available.

Once the final mix is ready for the cutting of the master disks, little or no change to the sound will be needed unless the above mentioned didn't do their job. Not to say that a touch of EQ wouldn't help in the final stage of mastering. It is my job to make sure the cutting system is reproducing the sound accurately (in a way that is correct in all details, exactly). This is my intent or purpose when cutting the master lacquers. I can't imagine producers/ engineers like Bob Simpson, Phi Ramone, Bruce Swedien, Al Schmitt or present day producer/engineer F.Reid Shippen handing over their final mastered files and telling me to do whatever I want or think should be done when cutting the master disks!!

We, as record cutters, can give our opinion, suggest minor EQ changes that might benefit the overall sound of the record. This is what a reference disk is used for- to cut one flat and another with a touch of EQ and let the artist, producer, and mix-engineer to decide which one sounds the best.

I must say - all bands or artists and engineers don't have the funds to take advantage of the best available when recording their projects. They do the best they can and rely on the numerous pre-mastering/ mastering rooms to also do the best they can do in the final mastering for records or streaming.

Spaciousness and Listening Experience

By doing some research, I realized that my definition of stereo bass is kind of wrong and, in some ways, right. I have been talking about the imaging or placement of instruments across an imaginary sound stage. Low-end bass is not about our ability to place the apparent location of an instrument at low frequencies, it is about a sense of envelopment or spaciousness at low frequencies. When the effect is present, it is what allows bass to sound like it is coming from outside of our heads.

This spaciousness creates a shift from sounding like it is in your head to a feeling of sound all around you. This is a better definition of stereo bass (taken from an article written by David Griesinger - one of the leading advocates for stereo bass). The room or size of the studio has a great effect on the overall sound experience. For example - the Count Basie sessions mentioned earlier.

Another process where you will hear stereo bass is the direct to disk recordings. I was involved in many over the years. My best memories come from a recording project involving three cutting systems: my AM32B Lathe with SX74 head, a VMS70 with custom Ortofon head, and a Westrex Scully system. The three of us - myself, Stan Ricker, George Piros, and John Meyer in charge of microphone placement in the vast hall. John had the scientific ability to place a few microphones in strategic locations, using acoustics to create a feeling that the sound was coming from all around you.

Three days of recording/ cutting along with eating whole lobsters... What a treat!!! The following week, all the involved parties got together to listen to all the test pressings from the 3 days of cutting. All the disks sounded great, but the Ortofon head won out for the most part because of its low-end response. Or maybe because of its name Ortofon that comes from the Greek words, meaning ORTO (correct) FON (sound).

What's Next

With the VINYL REVIVAL we've been experiencing over the past 10 years, maybe it's time to return to the fuller, more dynamic sound. Many great records are being produced on vinyl by the major labels and popular artists. Also, many projects that don't sound that great due to excessive EQ compression and less dynamics have become the norm. The mastering of music changed some time ago when digital replaced analog, with the decline of records, and CDs became how we heard our music. Presently, CDs are no longer the way consumers hear music. Streaming has become the choice of the masses, along with the revival of records, finding a whole new generation of vinyl fans.

What's next? For me, cutting records has been a lifelong involvement in music and the recording process. Maybe going back to how music was produced during the heydays of vinyl is the answer! Artists, producers, and engineers recording and mixing the project and then working closely with the cutting engineer. Get away from brick wall mixing, use less compression, bypass the overuse of plugins, and get back to a natural and more dynamic sound!!!

Etcetera for June 2024

 The editors of HixNews are preparing an article about our Senior Trips. If you have memories and pictures to share, please email them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ron Wencer shared these photographs from the 1956 Comet yearbook, when seniors flew to Washington, D.C.

.  

 In Memoriam - Names are listed by class on our website.

These are recent submissions. Click the name to open the obituary. It is always sad to learn of the passing of our classmates.

Thomas J. McBride, Jr. (Class of 1989) Passed away May 18, 2024

Gail McCormick Gallo (Class of 1977) Passed away April 23, 2024. Gail lived in Florida, but the link to her obituary doesn't say much. Evidently, she was diabetic and must have experienced some medical emergency and was found by her neighbor. If more information becomes available, we will post it. Thank you to Jeanne Dagna for sharing the news.

Angela DeFendis Davis (Class of 1968) and wife of Steve Davis (Class of 1968), passed away April 11, 2024.

 This is a separate reunion from the multi-class reunion that is planned. 

Those interested in receiving registration info should please contact Ken Marcus, HHS Class of 1967, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..