Working with Al Schmitt

by Norman Cooke

What a great interview! It brought back memories of when I was in charge of installation and maintenance at RCA's new studios being built in the old NBC radio building at Sunset and Vine, in Hollywood in 1959. (I believe the building is now a bank.) Al engineered the first recording in the BIG room (and many, many more.) I don't remember what band it was. In 1960 I got my name (as assisting engineer) on the album he recorded of Tony Martin at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas. In 2005 I met up with him again at the AES convention where he was roasted. Just like old times. He was the best! It was an honor to have known him.


One more small note.. I see in the right column here, an ad for Howard Tremaine's Audio Cyclopedia. Howard was the founder of the University of Hollywood (formerly the Hollywood Sound Institute) which I attended in 1950-51 and started on my 50 year career in audio engineering (I retired from Abbey Tape Duplicators in 2001). Howard was responsible for the launching of a lot of audio engineering careers. Great guy. Great book!

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