The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society announces the 5th Annual George and Carolyn Counnas Innovation Award goes to Bill Schnee, a multi-Grammy-winning, multi-platinum producer, engineer, and mix master.
Bill has been personally nominated 11 times for Best Engineered Recording and has won twice for Aja (1977) and Gaucho (1981), both from Steely Dan. Those two multi-platinum releases add to a harvest of hits that includes 95 gold records, 55 platinum projects, and over 75 top twenty singles. Schnee has also won an Emmy Award for Best Sound Mixing for a Variety Special “Unforgettable, with Love” by Natalie Cole, as well as a Dove Award.
Bill has worked on over 600 albums in a highly decorated career that spans over five decades. Bill has engineered and hit gold or platinum payoffs with an extremely wide variety of artists that include Three Dog Night, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Rod Stewart, Chicago, Steely Dan, Natalie Cole, The Jacksons, Marvin Gaye, Dire Straits, Ringo (with all the Beatles), Barry Manilow, Carly Simon, Michael Bolton, George Benson, The Pointer Sisters, Bette Midler, Amy Grant, and Whitney Houston, including Whitney’s mega-single “I Will Always Love You”.
Switching to his producer role, Schnee also mined precious metal on multiple projects with Huey Lewis and the News, Boz Scaggs, Pablo Cruise, and Joe Sample.
Schnee was instrumental in launching Sheffield Lab Records and the modern era direct-to-disc audiophile recordings when in 1973 he engineered Lincoln Mayorga & Distinguished Colleagues – The Missing Linc, Volume III. In 1975 he produced and engineered the Thelma Houston and Pressure Cooker album, I’ve Got the Music in Me. These audiophile albums were recorded in real-time directly to the phonograph record cutting lathe. Schnee went on to produce several more of the direct-to-disc albums, including James Newton Howard and Friends, The Drum Record, and The Track Record.
For thirty-five years, Bill operated his own recording facility in North Hollywood – Schnee Studio – that he built from the ground up. It boasted a large live recording room with a very unique acoustical sound, a custom-made recording console, custom tube mic pre-amps, and an extensive collection of vintage tube microphones. It is still widely regarded as one of the finest recording rooms in Los Angeles.
Bill’s adventures expanded in 2021 when his memoir titled “Chairman At The Board” was released by Rowan and Littlefield. Written for anyone who loves music and records, his book takes the reader behind the curtain for an up close and personal tour of what making records is really like. Available on Amazon.
Bill currently resides in Franklin, Tennessee with his wife Sallie where he continues his incredible career.
Innovation Award winners
This award represents innovation in the design and engineering in the reproduction of music.
The 2019 First Annual Innovation award went to George and Carolyn Counnas, owners of Zesto Audio
The 2021 Second Annual Innovation award went to Dragoslav Colich, chief design engineer at Audeze Headphones
The 2022 Third Annual Innovation award went to Holger Stein of owner of Stein Music
The 2023 Fourth Annual Innovation award went to John Curl, legendary electronic designer.
Book Available on Amazon