Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Dan Sable attended Ohio State University in 1949 to study music. He paused his college education for a military break and served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. When he returned to college to complete his education, Dan wrote an opera and played the trombone. He graduated in 1955 with a masters degree in music composition.
He continued pursuing music at Tanglewood, where he learned much and was inspired by such distinguished composers as Aaron Copeland and Leonard Bernstein. Understanding that it was important to focus on earning an income, Dan had various jobs in New York. One of them was working the night shift identifying music at ASCAP, circa 1956.
He met Shirley, a dancer in the Radio City Music Hall Ballet, and they married in 1957. Her good friend Norman, who played in the pit orchestra there, and his wife (also a ballet dancer) were good friends with Dan and Shirley.
Norman quit the orchestra to start his own sound company. After a year of marriage, Shirley suggested that Dan go see Norman at his company on Park Avenue in Harlem. Dan did, and that boosted his interest in sound.
Norman told Dan to study audio engineering at RCA Institute. He took that advice but didn’t graduate because he got a job as an engineer at a radio station in Mt. Kisco, New York. After a few months, Dan got a call from Norman, who needed a transfer man at Filmsounds at 41st and Lexington. They worked on the music and sound effects for “The Defenders” with composer Frank Lewin. After a year, Norman urged Dan to get into sound editing, and his first editing and mixing project was a commercial working with Dick Vorisek.
As Frank Lewin became Dan’s mentor, he encouraged Dan to work his way in to a steady career in the sound editing business. Eventually, he was recruited to start a sound editing group at Magno Sound where he worked for a few years, then started a group at TransAudio. Over the years, some producers and directors Dan worked with encouraged him to start his own company, which he did in 1979. It was called Hastings Sound Editorial and was situated at various film sound houses in Manhattan at various times, including the Brill Building.
Always curious about the newest audio technology (as well as any other gadget), Dan was an early adopter in digital sound for film starting in the ‘80s. He also mentored several talented sound editors, and many of them have entertaining stories about working with such a generous man.
Having supervised many films for Woody Allen and Brian De Palma, Dan was proud that he never had a spotting session with De Palma, which meant the director had a lot of trust in Dan’s creativity. This collaboration led to Mr. De Palma mentioning at times that Dan was a contributing factor in his choice to make the film “Blowout” a story revolving around a sound expert. While Dan was working on De Palma’s film “The Untouchables,” he got a call from the producers of another film for which Dan, because of miscommunication, had thought he didn’t get the job. With his great managing skills, Dan was able to complete that second film even as it was conflicting — and “Dirty Dancing” became a hit coming-of-age movie.
Outside of his work, Dan loved carpentry and working with wood. He built a lot of his own furniture, and in the early ‘80s, he designed and built a family cabin in the Berkshires. The family also enjoyed world travel and the arts. They frequented Lincoln Center for a symphony or ballet and enjoyed many performances at Tanglewood.
Dan and Shirley lived a quiet non-chaotic life, staying entertained with the latest smart home technology, puzzles, and industry screeners.
They lived in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York since 1960. His daughter, Lynn Sable, learned his craft and worked with him for the first 20 years of her career. After Dan retired in 2000, Lynn continued working in New York and then Hollywood until she retired from Local 700. Lynn and her husband, Daniel Sharp, survive Dan and live on the West Coast.
–Lynn Sable
