RIP Tal Herzberg

[goose]

http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4053983,00.html

The original article is in Hebrew but says that the 40 year old producer died from a "serious illness". Too young (says this 40 year old), way too young.

Tal wrote the DAW World column in the recently defunct EQ Magazine, as well as for other magazines.

[Anthony Caruso]

It feels weird writing about this on a messageboard, but I couldn't let this drop off the page without saying something. It's been staring at me for the last few days.

Tal was a great friend and teacher of mine. We worked closely together for 5 1/2 years. I met him when I was a runner at Record Plant, and when I became Ron Fair's assistant he really became a mentor and bro. He was selfless with his knowledge and taught me almost everything I know about Protools, and a few things about life and business. Later I was the engineer at a studio he had with an ex-Geffen exec. I remember getting a call from Tal and rushing down there for the first time to help him set up the studio for the first client, who was showing up in 2 hours! Like, literally setting up a studio from scratch. But we pulled that shit off and I worked there for a year and a half, and it was always awesome when I'd show up while he was finishing up, or he would drop by when we were working. He had such a great vibe when walking into a room, whether it was friends or strangers, all the same to him.

Did I mention he was a ripping bass player? He always had this little smirk on his face when he was playing. He had it, that perfect flow that some musicians have. He'd go from the captain's chair one minute to strapping on the bass and ripping with word class session players. Tal knew when to listen and when to play. Inspiring to listen to and watch.

He was a frikking inventor. He devised several very clever and useful studio devices and was talking to companies about getting them made. I got to help him test a couple of them on sessions. I hope that Tal's inventions maintain their trajectory and help all of us on a session someday.

He had a perspective and honesty that is soooo hard to come by in the fucked up world of the LA music industry. You always knew he wasn't bullshitting you. Tal never felt entitled to be where he was, and never EVER treated anyone like shit, unlike plenty of the big-shot industry people. One of his favorite jokes was (in moderately thick Israeli accent): Two surgeons are washing up after a long day. One guy says "My patient's heart stopped. I tried to massage it back to life with my hands. I lost him." The other guy says, "Tell me about it. My patient had been hit by a car and I had to rebuild his entire skeleton piece by piece. He'll be paralyzed for life." The first surgeon says, "Whew, what a tough day. Hey, look on the bright side, at least we're not making records."

Anyway, I just had to say what an amazing person was lost. I could never thank Tal enough for all he did for me, and I know he had an impact on many people's lives, careers, and art. He had it all, soul of a musician, heart of a bro, hand of a craftsman, mind of a businessman. He is missed.

[goose]

Thanks for sharing Anthony, I'm sorry that you've lost your friend and mentor.

I didn't know Tal, just some of his work, and happened upon his obit on Wikipedia which is why I posted this.

I'm glad you came forth and helped frame this a little, no a lot, better.

This is a fairly small community we have here and it's good to know there are guys like Tal and it's now a little less bright with Tal gone.