chennai if there was something every music director artist and singer looked forward to while working with veteran audiologist k sampath it was the line ramakrishna thenga udachuko ramakrishna break that coconut the instruction would come after hours of prepping just before the first take it used to be the most fulfilling moment as though everything was coming together and magic was about to happen says tamil film composer deva who recorded his first film manasukketha maharasa 1989 and later several others at avm studios with sampath deva who invited the beloved sound artist to his studio as recently as six months ago to record a song is among the many in tamil cinema who are coping with the vacuum left behind by the passing of sampath on may 1 he was 87at times i would sing a track to test and every time sampath sir heard an unpleasant word in the lyrics he would say dont use that word maybe ask the lyricist to change it to something more uplifting he also remembered the name of every person in the orchestra by their name it was inspiring how much people mattered to him says devasampath worked on close to 6000 songs he joined avm studios as an apprentice in the mid1950s at a time when dialogues were still recorded live but he became adept with the digitisation of sound engineering and was respected for this dynamism his sound knowledge of the craft was cultivated with years of working with exemplary engineers of the time including mukul bose chief sound engineer for most of avms hindi films s p ramanathan and j j manickam sampath went on to win three state awards and a national award for the malayalam film ennu swantham janakikutty 1998 there were times he clocked in almost 20 hours at the studio worked till 3am went home and would be back by 7am and despite these schedules he was a stickler for punctuality says veteran director s p muthuramanfor some of the greatest singers of the industry having the pleasure of working with sampath meant an impeccable output and a generous dose of kindness i remember when we recorded the song naalai intha velai uyarndha manithan in 1968 his command over sound systems was such that even on days i felt my voice wasnt cooperating he made it sound magical with effortless ease says celebrated vocalist p suseela i will never forget his encouraging words when i joined the industry in the 1980s he will be dearly missed says vocalist k s chitrafilm producer and a close associate of sampath srinivasan shivpprasadh recalls how renowned musician k j yesudas paid a surprise visit to sampaths residence sat on the floor and started singing when yesudas had called sampath one day his wife padmavathi told she couldnt attend his concerts due to her arthritis sampaths goodwill was such that the veteran vocalist decided to take the concert to their home he says