Fred Forrester Mitchell, Jr.

Mr. Fred Forrester Mitchell, Jr., 66, died Tuesday, June 14, 2016, at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, MS. Graveside services were held at 11:00 A.M. on Friday, June 17th, at Memorial Park Cemetery, with Rev. Mike Childs officiating. Interment was in Memorial Park. Porter Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. Fred was born July 11, 1949, in Louisville, MS. He was a 1967 graduate of Louisville High School. Fred had a long and storied career in the music industry. Fred started in broadcasting in the late 1960’s as an engineer for WHFS-FM. Later he went on-air for WRBC, WJMI-FM. He later moved to WJDX-FM in Jackson, MS, to aid in a “drastic format change” to rock music on the FM station. He later expanded his career to the recording industry. In 1968, Fred started Jackson Sound Studio, and by 1970, Jackson Sound had evolved into one of the most state-of-the-art studios in America. Many of the techniques and standards that Fred developed then are still used in recording today. Jackson Sound Studio attracted many artists to come and record there, including Three Dog Night, Delaney & Bonnie, and the legendary Paul Davis. In 1971, Fred was contracted to oversee and record “The Celebration of Life Festival” music festival in Louisiana, which was produced by the same producers as Woodstock”. Throughout the years, Fred was called upon by industry professionals to handle projects that on one else would attempt. In the mid 1970’s, Fred was asked to come to Pasadena, CA, to teach recording techniques at the University of Recording Arts. By 1978, Fred became chief engineer at Studio 54 in Pasadena, CA, where he would oversee recording sessions with such artists as Prince, Lee Retenhour, Little Richard, and many Motown artists. In 1979, Fred became fascinated with digital technology, which lead him to co-found CMS Digital Inc., which became the most important digital audio company in the United States. Fred designed the first compact disk mastering facility, which created the digital music data for most compact disks of that era. Fred himself mastered the compact disk for Whitney Houston’s first release, “Whitney”, which was the biggest compact disk of all times. Fred participated in 150 Gold & Platinum releases, and was directly responsible for the technical oversight of 13 Grammy Award Winning CD/s. Fred’s interest in digital data and the ability to store vast amounts of information triggered his involvement in CD ROM, which led to WORM (write once ready many) technology, and this is what we commonly refer to as drives in computers today. On October 1, 1987, Los Angeles as hit by a magnitude 5.9 earthquake, followed by a 5.7 earthquake. Fred headed to Mississippi – never to return to California….. After returning to Louisville, Fred went on to work at Gator Computers in Louisville and Starkville and started an online radio station, Deltamusic called Delta Handpicked. Fred was preceded in death by his parents, Elizabeth Fair Boren Mitchell and Fred Forrester Mitchell, Sr.; a sister, Jane Boren Chambers; and a brother, Tommy Mitchell. . He is survived by two sisters, Sara Burney Mize and Julia Boren Baker, both of Oxford, MS; and a number of nieces, nephews, and cousins. To sign the guestbook, please go to www.porterfuneralhome.net.