Albert Harry Schmitt : April 17 , 1930 – April 26 , 2021
Photo : Chris Schmitt www . chrisschmitt . com
A TRIBUTE TO AL SCHMITT //
THE MASTER OF MICROPHONES , MIXING , AND MUSIC by Bill Gibson
This tribute to Al Schmitt makes two points . Both are very important !
1 . Al was a great man who was an incredibly important contributor , on the highest level , to the arts of music recording and production .
2 . Al brought the best of the old school to the best of the new . I ’ ll give specific examples that you won ’ t want to miss in this second section .
PART ONE : A TRIBUTE You probably already did the math , but Al died at the ripe old age of 91 ! Here ’ s how that ’ s supposed to work . You can tell someone ’ s fading through their golden years and then they develop a condition of some sorts that really slows them down until they eventually blink out . One can get emotionally prepared for such an experience .
But that ’ s NOT the way it worked with Al . Not at all ! Al was still at the peak of his game to the end . He lived his youth and entire adult life at the top of the recording industry . He recorded literally everyone of note in the music world . The list of his credits includes all of the most important musical figures across a few generations , AND he was as active as ever up to the end . In the past few years , he recorded a couple Paul McCartney albums , three Bob Dylan albums , and in the past year , his 24th Diana Krall album , Robert Cray , Melody Gardot , Gregory Porter , and the list goes on .
To stand and talk to Al was exactly like talking to a 50-year-old man at his peak , or even a 30-year-old man if you mentioned anything about cruelty to animals - Al ’ s intense love of all living creatures was a guiding light that spoke volumes about his character . There was no fading , just a sudden and unexpected death . It was a surprise , and it hurt a lot , for everyone who knew him .