Al Schmitt

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

In 2014, Schmitt worked on Bob Dylan's album, Shadows in the Night, which was released on January 30, 2015.

He also worked on the Samsung's Over the Horizon telephone ringtone theme of 2015 as a recording/mixing engineer.

In 2014, Schmitt was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star recognizes his contribution to the music industry and is located at 1750 N. Vine Street.

In June 2014, he won the Pensado Giant Award. In September 2014, he received an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music.

He was inducted into the TEC Awards Hall of Fame in 1997.

In 1966, Schmitt left RCA and became an independent producer. He produced albums for Jefferson Airplane, Eddie Fisher, Glenn Yarborough, Jackson Browne and Neil Young. In the mid 1970s he began spending more time engineering again, recording and mixing artists from Willy DeVille to Dr. John.

He won more Grammy Awards than any other engineer or mixer. He was the first person to win both the Grammy and Latin Grammy 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! score by Henry Mancini. He was awarded two Latin Grammy Awards in 2000 including Album of the Year. In 2005 he won five Grammys for his work on Ray Charles' Genius Loves Company, 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.

In 1960, he moved to RCA in Hollywood as a staff engineer, the first engineer hired for the studio. While at RCA he engineered albums for Henry Mancini ("Moon River"), Cal Tjader, Al Hirt, Rosemary Clooney, Liverpool Five, The Astronauts, Sam Cooke ("Bring It On Home to Me," "Cupid," "Another Saturday Night") in 1961. He also did a lot of motion picture scoring work for Alex North and Elmer Bernstein. In addition, Schmitt worked with Jascha Heifetz's "Million Dollar Trio", which comprised Heifetz himself, Arthur Rubinstein on the piano, and Gregor Piatigorsky or Emanuel Feuermann 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's first post-army motion picture for Paramount Pictures, titled G.I. Blues. These recording sessions were held on April 27–28, 1960.

In 1958, Schmitt moved to Los Angeles and became a staff engineer at Radio Recorders on Santa Monica Blvd in Hollywood.

Schmitt grew up in New York City and lived in Brooklyn until the late 1940s. He bought his first 78 at the age of 10, Jimmie Lunceford'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.

Albert Harry Schmitt (April 17, 1930 – April 26, 2021) was an American recording engineer and record producer. He won twenty Grammy Awards for his work with Henry Mancini, Steely Dan, George Benson, Toto, Natalie Cole, Quincy Jones, and others. He also won 2 Latin Grammys, and a Trustees Grammy for Lifetime Achievement.