by Bob DePugh on Sat Aug 02, 2008 7:48 am
I absolutely loved Malcolm Chisholm. I took 16 hours of engineering classes with him at Columbia in the mid '80s - as many as were offered. If the folks I'd found working in the studio business in Chicago had been anything like him (and if I'd really wanted to work nights) I probably would have continued on my trajectory to being a sound engineer, instead of opting for publishing instead.
A lot of people thought MC was a total asshole, and I guess you could look at it that way. But it doesn't matter so much whether someone is nice or not, what matters is that they are consistent and you know what to expect from them. Malcolm was totally that. If you were willing to stand up and respect yourself as much as he respected HIMself, then he respected you. There was never any petty bullshit, and I liked him immensely.
Someone here said they learned about far more than just audio engineering from MC, and that's really true. He was a living example of how to be truer to yourself. I have never forgotten him, and I still have ALL of my notes from his classes. I only ended up on this web site today because I had an odd home audio problem, and on a whim googled his name. 20 years later, I still figure he'd be the best person to ask.
I'm glad I knew him, I'm sorry he's gone. Your comments brought back a lot of memories. Like the way he always wiped the chalk off his fingers inside the pockets of his polyester slacks. Or the way he explained, with clenched teeth and lighted cigarette held face-high, how if you were working with a certain amount of voltage and happened to connect the wrong wires YOU WILL DIE!
RIP MC, Thanks much.