I’d be remiss if I didn’t open my gob about Steve’s untimely passing. I know his work of course, but I did not know the man personally. I did see him speak once and he was, as you might expect (or maybe not) funny, charming, insightful, unbelievably knowledgeable and unwilling to speak anything other than his truth.
His knowledge and experience were unparalleled but there were more important things about him than just that.
Knowledge is absolutely meaningless if you are unwilling or unable to share it.
Steve was both willing and able. He was no gatekeeper of his methods and could (and would) explain complex ideas with clarity and ease. And that is what struck me most about him. He could explain, for example, tape bias with such clarity (and lack of ego) that you’d walk away never forgetting it. Not just how to bias a tape machine, but what bias was, how it worked, what it meant. I mean, sure, he had an ego, but as far as I can tell, never when it came to passing along knowledge. Never.
I dunno, I’m rambling now because there is so much I want to say and my thoughts are still jumbled.
Godspeed Steve. Thanks for everything.
