The 12-inch single was reserved for DJs until the release of "Ten Percent," but disco had begun to exploit the 12-inch's allowance for higher volumes, better sound quality, and longer playing time, but no record companies had yet seen commercial value in the new format.
Ken Cayre, the head of Salsoul Records, decided to sign a number of famous musicians and bands to the label, hoping to "consolidate the success of the faceless Salsoul Orchestra," and Double Exposure was chosen as the newly-signed band whose first release, "Ten Percent," would feature the orchestra and be promoted with a 12-inch single as well as the typical 7" format. Walter Gibbons was a DJ, not a producer, but his innovative skills, along with his punctuality and serious nature, got Gibbons the "Ten Percent" assignment at Salsoul Records. One of his original techniques was "taking two records and working them back and forth in order to extend the drum breaks," a technique he applied to the "Ten Percent" mix, which displeased the original songwriter, Allan Felder, but which was supported by Salsoul in the front-page story in which Billboard Magazine covered the release. It was "mostly an exercise in stretching the original track out," and Gibbons transformed it from a "four-minute song into a nine-minute-forty-five-second-cut-and-paste roller coaster."
youtube audio link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttc1jfrxpvE
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