Albert Harry Schmitt (April 17, 1930 – April 26, 2021) was an American

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

and record producer. He won twenty

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

s for his work with

Henry Mancini Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini, ; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Award ...

Steely Dan Steely Dan is an American rock band founded in 1971 in New York by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Initially the band had a stable lineup, but in 1974, Becker and Fagen retired from live ...

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, pla ...

, Toto,

Natalie Cole Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of American singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to success in the mid-1970s as an R&B singer with the h ...

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

, and others. He also won 2 Latin Grammys, and a Trustees Grammy for Lifetime Achievement.

Biography

Early career

Schmitt grew up in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and lived in Brooklyn until the late 1940s. He bought his first 78 at the age of 10,

Jimmie Lunceford James Melvin Lunceford (June 6, 1902 – July 12, 1947) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era. Early life Lunceford was born on a farm in the Evergreen community, west of the Tombigbee River, near Fulton, Mis ...

's record "White Heat." Schmitt's favorite band was Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra. He had a younger sister, Doris, and two younger brothers, Richie and Russell, both of whom became audio engineers. His family was poor so some Saturdays he worked at a shop doing shoe repairs. On the weekends, Schmitt would spend time at his uncle's recording studio,

Harry Smith Recording Harry Smith Recording was the first independent recording studio on the east coast of the United States, founded in the 1930s by Harry Smith.The studio was located at 2 West 46th Street in New York City, and was taken over in 1944 by Fred Hall (mu ...

(Smith had changed his name from "Schmitt" to "Smith" because of the anti-German sentiment of the era). From the age of 8, Schmitt would ride the subway himself from Brooklyn to Manhattan to go to the studio. Smith's studio was the first independent recording studio on the East Coast, engineered sessions for

Brunswick Records Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916. History From 1916 Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing produ ...

including with

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

, and the

Andrew Sisters The Andrews Sisters were an American close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews (July 6, 1911 – May 8, 1967), soprano Maxene Anglyn Andrews (January 3 ...

. Smith was his father's brother and also Schmitt's godfather. Schmitt considers Smith one of his mentors for recording along with

Tom Dowd Thomas John Dowd (October 20, 1925 – October 27, 2002) was an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multitrack recording method. Dowd worked on a veritable "who's who" of recordings ...

. Smith was friends with

Les Paul Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid-body electric guitar, and his prototype ...

, who became "like another uncle" to Schmitt. Schmitt and Paul remained friends for life.

Apex

After serving in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

, he began working at Apex Recording Studios at the age of 19 as an apprentice. He got the job based on a recommendation from his uncle. His job was primarily assisting on engineer

's recording sessions. After a few months, he was engineering small demo recordings (mono recordings at 78 rpm). On a Saturday afternoon, Schmitt had a recording session with

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

and his Orchestra — not the small demo recording he was expecting. Schmitt was the only one at the studio and couldn't get the owner or engineer Tom Dowd on the phone so he did the session in person. Schmitt said he told Ellington many times, "Mr. Ellington, I’m not qualified to do this". Ellington responded by patting him on the leg, looking him in the eye and saying, "It’s okay sonny, we are going to get through this". They cut three songs in four hours. He worked at Apex for two years until it closed. When Apex closed, he moved to Nola Studios for a year (Tom Dowd told him of the opening) then worked at Fulton Recording. At Fulton, he worked with engineer Bob Doherty who taught him how to mix large orchestras. In 1958, Schmitt moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and became a staff engineer at

Radio Recorders Radio Recorders, Inc. was an American recording studio located in Los Angeles, California. During the 1940s and 1950s, Radio Recorders was one of the largest independent recording studios in the world. Notable musicians recorded at Radio Recorder ...

Santa Monica Blvd Santa Monica Boulevard is a major west–east thoroughfare in Los Angeles County. It runs from Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica near the Pacific Ocean to Sunset Boulevard at Sunset Junction in Los Angeles. It passes through Beverly Hills and West H ...

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

. In 1960, he moved to

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

in Hollywood as a staff engineer, the first engineer hired for the studio. While at RCA he engineered albums for

Moon River "Moon River" is a song composed by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was originally performed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 movie ''Breakfast at Tiffany's (film), Breakfast at Tiffany's'', winning an Academy Award for Best Original ...

"),

Cal Tjader Callen Radcliffe Tjader Jr. ( ; July 16, 1925 – May 5, 1982) was an American Latin Jazz musician, known as the most successful non-Latino Latin musician. He explored other jazz idioms, even as he continued to perform music of Afro-Jazz, ...

Al Hirt Alois Maxwell "Al" Hirt (November 7, 1922 – April 27, 1999) was an American trumpeter and bandleader. He is best remembered for his million-selling recordings of "Java" and the accompanying album '' Honey in the Horn'' (1963), and for the them ...

Rosemary Clooney Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as " Botch-a-Me", " Mambo Italiano", ...

Liverpool Five The Liverpool Five were a beat group that was part of the British Invasion-era of the 1960s. The group played throughout Europe and Asia before achieving the peak of their success in the United States between 1965 and 1967. Career Formed in En ...

The Astronauts ''The Astronauts'' ( Polish: ''Astronauci'') is the first science fiction novel by Polish writer Stanisław Lem published as a book, in 1951. To write the novel, Lem received advance payment from publishing house Czytelnik (Warsaw). The book b ...

Sam Cooke Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred ...

(" Bring It On Home to Me," "

Cupid In classical mythology, Cupid (Latin Cupīdō , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, lust, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus (mythology), Venus and the god of war Mar ...

," "

Another Saturday Night "Another Saturday Night" is a 1963 hit single by Sam Cooke from the album '' Ain't That Good News''. The song was written by Cooke while touring in England when staying in a hotel where no female guests were allowed. It reached No. 10 on the ' ...

") in 1961. He also did a lot of motion picture scoring work for

Alex North Alex North (born Isadore Soifer, December 4, 1910 – September 8, 1991) was an American composer best known for his many film scores, including ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (one of the first jazz-based film scores), '' Viva Zapata!'', '' S ...

and

Elmer Bernstein Elmer Bernstein ( '; April 4, 1922August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 origi ...

. In addition, Schmitt worked with

Jascha Heifetz Jascha Heifetz (; December 10, 1987) was a Russian-born American violinist. Born in Vilnius, he moved while still a teenager to the United States, where his Carnegie Hall debut was rapturously received. He was a virtuoso since childhood. Fritz ...

's "Million Dollar Trio", which comprised Heifetz himself,

Arthur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American pianist.

on the piano, and

Gregor Piatigorsky Gregor Piatigorsky (, ''Grigoriy Pavlovich Pyatigorskiy''; August 6, 1976) was a Russian Empire-born American cellist. Biography Early life Gregor Piatigorsky was born in Ekaterinoslav (now Dnipro, Ukraine) into a Jewish family. As a child, ...

Emanuel Feuermann Emanuel Feuermann (November 22, 1902 – May 25, 1942) was an internationally celebrated cellist in the first half of the 20th century. Life Feuermann was born in 1902 in Kolomyja, Galicia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Kolomyia, Ukraine) to ...

on cello. Schmitt once stated that "Mr. Heifetz was very temperamental in the Studio." He has also stated that Heifetz would have angry fits during recording sessions. Schmitt also engineered the recording sessions held at RCA Hollywood for

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

's first post-army motion picture for

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, titled

G.I. Blues ''G.I. Blues'' is a 1960 American musical comedy film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Elvis Presley and Juliet Prowse. The movie was filmed at Paramount Pictures studio, with some pre-production scenery shot on location in Germany before Pr ...

. These recording sessions were held on April 27–28, 1960.

From the mid-1960s to 2020

In 1966, Schmitt left RCA and became an independent producer. He produced albums for

Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to ac ...

Eddie Fisher Edwin Jack Fisher (August 10, 1928 – September 22, 2010) was an American singer and actor. He was one of the most popular artists during the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show, ''The Eddie Fisher Show''. Actress Eli ...

Glenn Yarborough Glenn Robertson Yarbrough (January 12, 1930 – August 11, 2016) was an American folk singer and guitarist. He was the lead singer (tenor) with the Limeliters from 1959 to 1963 and also had a prolific solo career. Yarbrough had a restlessne ...

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...

and

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

. In the mid 1970s he began spending more time engineering again, recording and mixing artists from

Willy DeVille Willy DeVille (born William Paul Borsey Jr.; August 25, 1950 – August 6, 2009) was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five-year career, first with his band Mink DeVille (1974–1986) and later on his own, DeVille created orig ...

Dr. John Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter. His music encompassed New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B. Active as a session musician from ...

. Other career highlights include engineering both

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

Duets A duet is a musical composition or piece for two performers. Duets or The Duets may also refer to: Films and television * ''Duets'' (film), a 2000 film, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Giamatti and Huey Lewis * "Duets" (''Glee''), a 2010 episo ...

albums An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

' ''

Genius Loves Company ''Genius Loves Company'' is the final studio album by rhythm and blues and soul musician Ray Charles, posthumously released August 31, 2004, on Concord Records. Billboard.com: Discography - Ray Charles - Genius Loves Company Nielsen Business Medi ...

'' and some of

Diana Krall Diana Jean Krall (born November 16, 1964) is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, including over six million in the US. On December 11, 2009, '' Billboard'' maga ...

's albums. Much of his work in his last years was with producer

Tommy LiPuma Tommy LiPuma (July 5, 1936 – March 13, 2017) was an American music producer. He received 33 Grammy nominations, 5 Grammy wins, and his productions sold over 75 million albums. LiPuma worked with many musicians, including Barbra Streisand, Miles ...

. He also recorded Sammy Davis, Jr.,

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", "B ...

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birth ...

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

, and many others. In 2014, Schmitt worked on

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

's album, '' Shadows in the Night'', which was released on January 30, 2015. He also worked on the

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

's ''Over the Horizon'' telephone

ringtone A ringtone, ring tone or ring is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call. Originally referring to and made by the electromechanical striking of bells, the term now refers to any sound on any device alerting of a new incoming ...

theme of 2015 as a recording/mixing engineer.

Capitol Studios

Since moving to Hollywood, Schmitt worked almost exclusively at

Capitol Studios Capitol Studios are recording studios located at the landmark Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood, California. The studios, which opened in 1956, were initially the primary recording studios for the American record label Capitol Records. While t ...

, with occasional sessions at

United Recording Studios United Western Recorders was a two-building recording studio complex in Hollywood that was one of the most successful independent recording studios of the 1960s. The complex merged neighboring studios United Recording Corp. on 6050 Sunset Boul ...

and

EastWest Studios EastWest Studios (formerly known as Western Studio, a component of United Western Recorders and later Ocean Way Recording) is a recording studio complex located at 6000 West Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Originally constructed by Bill Putnam in ...

, formerly Western Recording. He appeared in an advertisement for

AMS Neve AMS Neve Ltd is a privately owned audio engineering company who specialise in digital and analogue music consoles, outboard equipment and post production consoles. AMS Neve was the result of the amalgamation in 1992 of AMS (Advanced Music Systems ...

that featured the Neve 88R console at Capitol's Studio A. Schmitt also appeared on the online internet television series "Pensado's Place", hosted by

Dave Pensado Dave Pensado is a Grammy Award-winning mix engineer. His career began in Atlanta in the 1970s and 1980s doing live and studio sound engineering. He has lived in Los Angeles since 1990. He mixes between 200 and 250 songs a year at Larrabee Studios ...

and Herb Trawick. During one of the segments he mentioned that his favorite microphone was the Neumann U 67 tube (valve) condenser microphone, and explained that he used it on numerous sources.

Death

Schmitt died in Bell Canyon, California on April 26, 2021, aged 91.

Selected Production discography

* '' Jazz Suite on the Mass Texts'' — Paul Horn, composed and conducted by

Lalo Schifrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Latin American musical elemen ...

(

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

, 1965) * ''

After Bathing at Baxter's ''After Bathing at Baxter's'' is the third studio album by the San Francisco psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane, released in 1967 as RCA Victor LSO-1511 (stereo) and LOP-1511 (mono). The cover art is by artist Ron Cobb. Due to the lack of a ...

'' —

(1967) * ''

Crown of Creation ''Crown of Creation'' is the fourth studio album by the San Francisco psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane, and was released by RCA Victor in August 1968. Containing more rock music than previous efforts, the album saw the band continuing the ...

'' — Jefferson Airplane (1968) * ''

Bless Its Pointed Little Head ''Bless Its Pointed Little Head'' is a live album by Jefferson Airplane recorded at both the Fillmore East and West in the fall of 1968 and released in 1969 as RCA Victor LSP-4133. Five songs on the album had not appeared on any of the band's pr ...

'' — Jefferson Airplane (1969) * ''Volunteers'' — Jefferson Airplane (1969) * ''Hot Tuna'' —

Hot Tuna Hot Tuna is an American blues rock band formed in 1969 by former Jefferson Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen (guitarist/vocals) and Jack Casady (bassist). Although it has always been a fluid aggregation, with musicians coming and going over the ...

(1970) * ''

Playing My Fiddle for You ''Playing My Fiddle for You'' is Papa John Creach's third solo album and his last with Grunt Records. All the songs on the album are played with the supporting band Zulu, featuring Kevin Moore who would later be known as Keb' Mo'. After this ...

'' —

Papa John Creach John Henry Creach (May 28, 1917 – February 22, 1994), better known as Papa John Creach, was an American blues violinist who also played classical, jazz, R&B, pop and acid rock music. Early in his career, he performed as a journeyman musician wi ...

(1974) * ''On the Beach'' —

(1974) * ''

Late for the Sky ''Late for the Sky'' is the third studio album by American singer–songwriter Jackson Browne, released by Asylum Records on September 13, 1974. It peaked at number 14 on ''Billboards Pop Albums chart. In 2020, the album was deemed "cul ...

'' —

(1974) * ''We Got By'' —

Al Jarreau Alwin Lopez Jarreau (March 12, 1940 – February 12, 2017) was an American singer and musician. His 1981 album '' Breakin' Away'' spent two years on the ''Billboard'' 200 and is considered one of the finest examples of the Los Angeles pop and R ...

(1975) * ''Farther Along'' —

Spirit Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

(1976) * ''Glow'' — Al Jarreau (1976) * ''Look to the Rainbow'' — Al Jarreau (1977) (co–produced w/

) * ''All Fly Home'' — Al Jarreau (1978) * ''Dream Machine'' — Paul Horn (1978)

Awards and honors

During his career, Schmitt recorded and mixed more than 150

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

and

Platinum album Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

s. He won more

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

than any other engineer or mixer. He was the first person to win both the

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

and

Latin Grammy The Latin Grammy Awards are an award by The Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from anywhere around the world that has been r ...

for Album of the Year. After being Grammy nominated for his work on the film '' Breakfast at Tiffany's'' (1961), he won his first Grammy in 1963 for engineering the ''

Hatari! ''Hatari!'' (, Swahili for "Danger!") is a 1962 American adventure romantic comedy film starring John Wayne as the leader of a group of professional game catchers in Africa.McCarthy, Todd. ''Howard Hawks: the grey fox of Hollywood'', New York, ...

'' score by

. He was awarded two Latin Grammy Awards in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

including Album of the Year. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

he won five Grammys for his work on

' ''

'', including Album of the Year, setting the record for most Grammys won by an engineer or mixer in one night. In 2006, he was given the Grammy Trustees

Lifetime Achievement Award Lifetime achievement awards are awarded by various organizations, to recognize contributions over the whole of a career, rather than or in addition to single contributions. Such awards, and organizations presenting them, include: A * A.C. ...

. In 2014, Schmitt was awarded a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...

. The star recognizes his contribution to the music industry and is located at 1750 N.

Vine Street Vine Street is a street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California that runs north–south between Franklin Avenue and Melrose Avenue. The intersection with Hollywood Boulevard was once a symbol of Hollywood itself. The famed intersection fell into ...

Don Was Don Edward Fagenson (born September 13, 1952), known professionally as Don Was, is an American musician, record producer and record executive. Primarily a bass player, Was co-founded the funk-rock band Was (Not Was). In later years he produced s ...

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has been a member of three successful rock bands: the James Gang, Eagles, and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr B ...

, and

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, Leron Gubler were speakers at Schmitt's Star Unveiling Ceremony. Gubler declared that August 13 would be designated "Al Schmitt Day" in Hollywood. Although Natalie Cole and

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

were unable to attend the ceremony, both released statements that were read by Gubler at the ceremony. He was inducted into the TEC Awards Hall of Fame in 1997. In June 2014, he won the Pensado Giant Award. In September 2014, he received an honorary doctorate from the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

Grammy Awards

References

External links

* * *
Al Schmitt Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2011) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmitt, Al 1930 births 2021 deaths American audio engineers Early Recording Engineers (1930-1959) Grammy Award winners Latin Grammy Award winners Businesspeople from Brooklyn Military personnel from New York City