in 1971 as a partnership between himself, artist manager Vic Beri, music publisher Frank Hooper, and Bob Reid of Vancouver, B.C. VMI was housed in Porter's United Recording building. The first VMI release was in December 1971—the album was To Be Free and 18 by Sandi Scott, which did not take off. Better results came soon; in the first year of business, VMI songwriter Ronnie Gaylord wrote "I Will Never Pass This Way Again", a modest success for Glen Campbell, the song covered by others including Brenda Lee, Vikki Carr and Wayne Newton, who closed his show with it at each performance. Las Vegas singer Benny Hester's first album Benny and a related single were announced by VMI in late 1972. Other artists recording with VMI included Sammy Davis Jr., Andy Williams, Sérgio Mendes and Brasil '77, Ike & Tina Turner, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Danny Thomas, Harry Belafonte, Bobby Darin and Louis Prima. Porter was named director-at-large of the Country Music Association (CMA) in October 1972. He prepared a booklet for the organization in December, an instructional primer on sound techniques, describing microphones and their usage, loudspeaker types, audio mixers, and giving operating tips. VMI's publishing business never scored a major hit, and Porter was frustrated by what he saw as bad business decisions forced on him by the partnership. In January 1973, he resigned. On October 14, a "mysterious fire" burned out United Recording of Nevada, including all VMI's papers, stored master tapes and cases of pressed records, and Porter lost all of the recording equipment stored inside, a total he estimated at $250,000—about $ in today's dollars. He still had his outside electronics company and he concentrated on that. As a freelance engineer, he continued to work recording dates with famous artists including Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross and Sammy Davis Jr. By 1980, he had served as engineer on more than 7,000 recordings. University of Miami In 1975, Porter took a call from Jerry Milam of Milam Audio and Golden Voice Recording in South Pekin, Illinois, informing him that there was an audio engineering teaching position forming at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music. Never having graduated from college himself, Porter went to Florida to create and co-author the first college level curriculum for the discipline. Porter was their second director of recording services, heading the teaching staff and audio facilities, for the Music