Article

Friday, July 23, 2010

Remembering Albert Leccese, May 11, 1953 – July 17, 2010

Albert Leccese’s three rules of live sound:
1) Make noise
2) Continue to make noise
3) Make it sound good if you can

Albert Leccese lost his 5-year battle with lung cancer early in the morning of July 17, 2010 with his family at his bedside. His wife, Denise and his two sons Paul, 22, and Steven, 19, survive him. He was far too young to go. Beyond that, he was far too good a man to be taken from us so early. 

I share a birthday with Albert - same date, same year. My first contact with him was as a staff member for the Live Sound Workshop, held annually just before the Winter NAMM show through the 1990s. Out of the blue in 1994, when I was product manager for TOA Electronics, Albert called me up and offered to try out the first prototypes of our second-generation DSP at the north stage of Woodstock ’94. 

What an experience! Four days of three hours of sleep a night. Same meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Snapple Tea only, not even water. Multiple stomach pumpings due to copious amounts of bad drugs being passed around… And cleaning the snake when it was over? Oh, mercy! As a manufacturing dweeb, I remember thinking I’d be willing to wait another 25 years before doing that again. But it was no big deal to Albert, just another gig. And yes, I watched him clean that snake. 

Albert and a big Audio Analysis rig at Giants Stadium in support of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
(Photo credit: Clive Young)

Albert was one of the pioneers of the touring sound industry. The list of tours he worked is endless, including Avril Lavigne, Blue Man Group, Bruce Springsteen, Linkin Park, Mark Knopfler, Norah Jones, REO, Ricky Martin, Ringo Starr, Sammy Hagar, Sarah McLachlan, Styx, and so on, as well as multiple Papal visits. 

Albert’s official role was co-owner and vice president/director of engineering at Audio Analysts in Colorado Springs, and he also served as an invaluable resource to numerous manufacturers and engineering departments, providing considerable insights on product development and equipment evaluation.

Albert (far right) teaching an evening session on stage monitoring at a 2005 SynAudCon seminar in Colorado Springs.

Armed with an EE degree, he developed the first linear-phase DSP in the industry (detailed in the October 2006 issue of Live Sound International), and worked closely with Crown on the development of touring industry power amplifiers. He was also closely affiliated with JBL, contributing to many touring loudspeaker system designs.

JBL VP Mark Gander:

“My thoughts go to napkin designs that turned in to world-class tour sound systems… 2 AM weekend calls to expedite replacements for rained-on tour system woofers… shipping hundreds of speakers to build the “Monsters of Rock” tour system… TEC Awards banquets at AES conventions… Albert exchanging trade show badges with Ron Borthwick of Clair Bros. to confound the uninitiated manufacturers… AES dinners with the tour sound engineers… pub crawls and meetings of the ‘Sambuca Brothers Society’...  Montreal, Plattsburgh, New York, Colorado Springs… and tour stops all around North America and the world. Endless shows at load-in, backstage, meals with the crew at catering, sitting at FOH, walking the hall even to the nosebleed sections, on the bus… very late nights in LA… the Audio Analysts “audio crib” in Marina Del Rey for wayward crew members… Albert contributing his time to teaching seminars whenever asked, and every year at the Live Sound Workshop… Albert frustrated with a humble student’s lack of comprehension, almost angry, then an under-the-breath sigh of resignation, followed by patient explanations of how the theory works in the real world, and how the get results that please the client and the audience…”

Whether it was the Live Sound Workshop, an evening stage monitoring presentation at a SynAudCon seminar in Colorado Springs, or an employee training session with me at Audio Analysts, Albert would never refuse to share his seemingly endless knowledge of audio.

Audio Analysts colleague Ken Toal:

“He treated everyone like they were a million-dollar customer, like they were Bruce Springsteen, even if they were just some young kid.”

Beyond that, Albert was fun! Everyone always wanted to go to dinner with him because he was just so likeable, and road-dog war stories would always accompany the meal. The only caveat was no chicken. Albert had an absolute intolerance to chicken, having been forced to partake of far too many rubber chicken meals on the road to ever touch it again. And the meal, invariably at a good Italian restaurant (he was a French-Canadian of Italian ancestry), had to end with a shot of Sambuca. 

During one of the workshops, Albert and Mick Whelan (then of Electrotec) were doing a presentation on microphone applications. Albert was busy discussing the attributes of, I think, a beyerdynamic M 201, a big mic, and he was holding it slightly below his waist while speaking. Standing next to him, Mick was holding another mic, a much smaller mic. And then he disappeared behind Albert and came out holding an Electro-Voice RE20 below his waist – an even bigger mic, and an even bigger grin on his face. The whole room erupted into laughter, while Albert just looked at Mick and rolled his eyes.

In 1990, friends at an AES party at Mark Gander’s house. Left to right: Dan Healy, Grateful Dead sound man; the late Don Pearson, Ultrasound; Ron Borthwick, Clair Brothers; the late Craig Schertz, Showco; Dennis Fink, digital audio consultant; the late David Martin, Martin Audio; Dave Bearman, Martin Audio; the late Albert Leccese, Audio Analysts; Mick Whelan, Electrotec Productions (holding daughter with protruding foot); Neil Shaw, Menlo Scientific Acoustics Consulting; Jim Brawley, JSB Assoc. Consulting; Mark Gander, JBL.

Virtually everyone who has contacted me since Albert’s passing has mentioned the Live Sound Workshop. It started out in 1989 in association with Don and Carolyn Davis as a SynAudCon workshop, though it was ultimately headed by Paul and Cris Gallo, then of Pro Sound News, with a wonderfully cooperative association of Albert, Mick, Will Parry, Dave Scheirman, Howard Page, David Robb, Dave Revel, and myself. Sound gear was always graciously supplied by Dave Shadoan and Sound Image. 

Over the years, the workshop also benefited from a number of other industry luminaries as instructors, including Ron Borthwick, Roy Clair, M. L. Procise, and Craig Schertz, to name but a few. But the basic outline of the educational program was created by Albert, who took it to heart, gave it life, and due largely to his efforts, influenced at least a thousand audio professionals worldwide.

A staff dinner at Mama Cozza’s Restaurant in Anaheim, capping the 2000 Live Sound Workshop. Left to right, far-side of table: Renee Gander, Susan Scheirman, David Scheirman, Cris Gallo, Howard Page, Steve Dupaix, Paul Gallo. Left to right, near-side of table: John Murray, Albert Leccese, Mark Gander, David Robb, David Revel. (Mick Whelan manned the camera.)

Brenda Brown of SynAudCon:

“Together we were in the beginning stages of planning a Live Sound Workshop for 2011. On July 8, I received an email from Albert apologizing for not getting back to me as he was in the hospital and that the cancer had taken a turn for the worst. Here is a quote from his letter: “I am sorry! My friends but I really, really tried to stretch this out.” He wanted this workshop for the live sound industry. He, of course, would have been on the list of instructors and doing what he loved – sharing his knowledge with others.”

I’d love to see a resurrection of the workshop, and this time, it should be in the name of Albert, because it always was largely his anyway. Let’s call it the ALLS, for Albert Leccese’s Live Sound Workshop. It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?

Albert, my friend, now we get to stand on your shoulders…

John Murray is a 34-year industry veteran who has worked for several leading manufacturers, and has also presented two published AES papers as well as chaired numerous SynAudCon workshops. He is currently the principal of Optimum System Solutions, a consulting firm.