Grammy-Winning Producer & Engineer (Steely Dan, Whitney Houston, Carly Simon)
Bill Schnee is an internationally renowned producer, engineer and mix master. He has 135 Gold and Platinum records and 50 top twenty singles, and is known as an engineer’s engineer.
Bill has worked on dozens of Grammy-nominated and winning albums, and has been personally nominated 11 times for The Best Engineered Album category, winning twice for Steely Dan’s Aja and Gaucho. He also has won an Emmy Award for Best Sound Mixing for a Variety Special and a Dove Award.
In his 50+ year career, Bill has found success in every musical genre, from Pop to Rock to R&B to Gospel to Country. He’s an absolute legend in the industry, working with the likes of Ringo Starr, Whitney Houston, Steel Dan, Dire Straits, Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond…his credits list reads like a “who’s who” of the Golden Age.
Bill also recently wrote a book about his storied career, Chairman of the Board. We highly recommend it for the amazing advice and tales!
We also trusted his discerning ears with our final prototype of the original V13 Tube Condenser many years ago. From Bill:
“I’m always being asked to listen to some new piece of equipment, and very seldom do I oblige. But about seven or eight years ago, someone I’d never met (Vanguard co-founder Derek Bargaehr) called and asked if I would listen to a prototype of a large diaphragm tube microphone he was wanting to sell in the thousand-dollar range. I can’t say why, but this time I said, “sure.” He dropped it off at my studio, where it sat for several weeks. When he finally called and asked what I thought, I realized I’d better give it a listen. Over the next several days, I compared it to several of my vintage tube favorites that were valued then between $10,000 to $25,000. I was quite shocked at how well the prototype compared to them!…People are always asking me for an affordable large diaphragm tube microphone, and without hesitation, I tell them about the Vanguard V13. Everyone I have recommended it to has bought it and loves it.”
Many thanks to Bill for his years of support, and for giving the time of day to an exuberant kid and his goofy-looking microphone.
We recently did an interview with Bill about his journey through the industry, career advice for aspiring engineers, and why he loves simple analog gear. Check it out!