Colleagues at Bias
Who Shaped TortoiseClimbing™

Bill McElroy

One of Mr. McElroy's earlier experiences in the recording industry illustrates how small the recording world was in Washington, DC. Prior to Mr. McElroy and Mr. Dawson starting Bias in 1973, one of the jobs Bill worked was as a recording engineer at Edgewood Recording Studio in Northwest Washington, DC. (It was initially at 1129 Vermont Avenue NW near Thomas Circle, then moved to 1627 K St., NW). 

That intersection with David's life was thru David's college choir director, Professor Springmann (1933 - 1983). He took David to one of his editing sessions at Edgewood Recording Studio, thus introducing David to what a recording studio can accomplish. (Mr. Fague K. Springmann recorded a number of LP albums there. He had a magnificent bass-baritone operatic voice "to die for.") (See Our Roots). Thus, Bill McElroy's working at Edgewood, is sort of a shared link to David's introduction to recording studios.

Bill has a knack for being supportive and helpful to his clients, and getting them comfortable recording in the studio. During the time David was recording Solo Collection his father was undergoing a series of health issues that at times unexpectedly prevented David from making scheduled recording sessions with Bill. The amount of flexibility Bill granted David during those times built a rapport that was a determining influence why David now records with Bill in his new location at SlippedDisc.

In about 1993, right after TortoiseClimbing™ Audio completed the private Solo Collection, for personal reasons Mr. Bill McElroy decided to go do other things in life and phased out of his role as partner at Bias. (Note. As noted in Original TortoiseClimbing, our plans are to upgrade that original album to meet our upgraded goal/mission and publicly release as Nostalgic Solos in late 2024)

Bill suggested Ms. Gerber-Salins, the assistant Bill had been mentoring, be designated as the replacement recording engineer for me, rather than another employee of Bias. She helped complete final touches of Solo Collection. She continued as TortoiseClimbing Audio™'s recording engineer for the next project. (More about Ms. Gerber-Salins below.)

Upon leaving Bias, Mr. McElroy followed his dream to work with trains in a couple different jobs. But after a couple years, in order to be near his son, he moved to Richmond, Virginia, and returned to working in a portion of the recording industry by establishing a mastering studio in Scott's Addition, VA (a neighborhood in Richmond, VA). Then in 2001 he opened SlippedDISC recording studio in the small town of Ashland, Virginia, because it has railroad tracks running through the town. Ashland is just north of Richmond, and just south of the King's Dominion theme park at Doswell, VA.

As a result of these evolutions of people's lives, TortoiseClimbing Audio™ has essentially come full circle to again working with Mr. McElroy at his new studio, SlippedDISC.  For more information about Mr. McElroy's new recording and mastering studio, click on SlippedDiscAudio.

Heidi Gerber-Salins'

The next significant colleague to influence TortoiseClimbing Audio™'s evolution was Heidi Gerber-Salins. She came to work at Bias in 1991, with Bill McElroy as a significant mentor. In that role, as part of her responsibilities, she occassionally assisted Bill in David's recording sessions for TortoiseClimbing Audio™.

That too has it’s own back-story regarding Ms. Gerber-Salins' choice after college. While she held several different jobs, she was not attracted to them. One idea was to pursue becoming a gourmet cook. However, a chance course in recording convinced her recording engineering was a natural fit for her, and she continued studies at Omega Studios' School of Applied Recording Arts & Sciences. Upon graduation from Omega's program she was hired by Bias.

Following completion of Solo Collection, over the next 4 years, they slowly worked on the envisioned album of Romantic Duets, dominantly from the early to mid 1990's, many made famous by films and musicals. In contrast to the solo piano dominantly used on Solo Collection, all accompaniments on the new recording were Karaoke sound tracks. Heidi played a significant role in facilitating some wonderful draft duet recordings with various artists.

She also facilitated David and others becoming involved with DC branches of several music organizations, where he met others working in the field.

For more detailed insights into evolutions of TortoiseClimbing™ from its simple beginning, see Evolutions.

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