55: Al Schmitt (Full Episode)

Engineer and producer Al Schmitt is the embodiment of recorded music in America. He started out as a recording engineer in New York in the late 1940s and has consistently delivered some of the finest music since then. He worked with some of the greatest artists ever to record –Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley – and he’s still making relevant records. He’s won 23 Grammys - the first one in 1962 for a Henry Mancini album and the most recent in 2012 with Paul McCartney.

Here he covers his career in personal, professional and technical terms. From recording big band music and race records in the 1950s to the roll of digital recording in the 21st century, the impact of drugs on the music business, the importance of good personal relationships, and what it feels like to capture magic on tape.