Paul Hamann (1955-2017)



sumadesk
The Control Room at Suma, desk designed and built by Ken and Paul Hamann.
Paul Hamann died September 14, 2017 in a Cleveland hospice. He was 62.

He engineered nearly every Pere Ubu album since 1980 at his studio, Suma (Painesville OH). His father, Ken, who died in 2003, was the band's engineer/producer before retirement in 1979.

"Paul, like his father before him, was one of a kind," David Thomas noted. "Over the last year and a half he struggled against a range of cancers without comment. He worked to the end. As we recorded the last Pere Ubu album I could see he had reached a unique level, burning with inspiration and ideas.

"The abiding memory I have is the hours we sat in the control room, silently working, listening. An event would pass by on tape, I'd shoot him a glance, he'd adjust something on the channel control strip, I'd make an approving noise and on we'd go without further exchange. There were no words needed. And now there are no words adequate."