#86 - Remembering Al Schmitt - the Era Passes

The last time I talked to Al Schmitt was a few months ago on a Zoom call with a couple of dozen engineers discussing immersive sound. Al’s contributions to any conversation with other engineers were always thoughtful and with consideration of the future of our industry. Beyond his abilities as one of the finest engineers ever to walk the earth, he was a leader for us. Someone we turned to when faced with difficult questions that could affect the entire music world.

Now, I realize that figuring out where to place a speaker in a multichannel playback system might seem trite, but when you're in a group of the 30 top engineers making decisions on playing back the music for the first surround sound Grammys, this is a big deal. A group of 30 recording engineers who come from pop, classical, jazz and all other genres are rarely sharing the same space and listening back in the same way. It would be our decision, in that group, who would win the first surround sound Grammy. Our choice would have an impact on future generations.

Somehow, by fate, I was the only woman engineer in the group for the decision. We all wanted it right, but getting 30 engineers to agree on speaker placement for surround sound had its challenges. The one thing we did agree on was that Al Schmitt should set up the speakers. :) So, after a half day of arguing, that is what happened. We left the room and Al set up the speakers (with help) so that 30 of us could sit in the middle of these speakers and make decisions. Standards were established at that first meeting that few of us had considered before and would last to today. Live concerts vs studio mixing, “real sound” vs reverb/effects in the rear speakers, do we view the video of the live concert or not - things you never think of until you listen back to HUNDREDS of surround recordings and have made decisions alone in your studio prior. Al helped us think of the long term result of our decisions in his calm, gentle manner.

The first time I met Al was at Capitol Recording Studios working on a Charlie Haden record back in the early 1990's. It was early and I was listening back to a mix we had done the night before. "Everything Happens to Me" included a brilliant performance by Chet Baker (singing) that Charlie had obtained the rights to crossfade between with his version. Standing at the control room door was this man with a cup of coffee. He was leaning against the open door just listening. I noticed he was pretty well dressed wearing a lavender shirt and brown pants. 

I joked, "Well, you're not crawling under any pianos to set up mics today." He laughed and said "no" and introduced himself. I didn't really know him at the time. He asked what I was working on and I told him. When the Chet Baker recording came on he said, "I recorded that". My mouth dropped and the genius of Al Schmitt was immediately revealed to me. :) I've been a fan of his ever since.

Even Paul McCartney left a heartfelt tribute on his Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/COdSIW2nr1J/?utm_source=ig_embed

Al was a fixture at Capitol Recording. I was lucky enough to chat with him on many occasions and get a glimpse of his genius and love of the art of recording. Al's influence will continue to live on through us.

To learn more about Al Schmitt, please view the Wikipedia page or this google search:

https://www.google.com/search?q=al+schmitt&sxsrf=ALeKk02knEeytD5kzlCAcYe...

Cookie Marenco
Recording, mixing and mastering engineer, 
Founder and Producer 
Blue Coast Records and Music