United Recording has named Grammy-nominated recording industry veteran Bill Smith as Chief Archiving Engineer for its United Archiving division. With 35 years in the industry, Smith offers a broad and extensive background few audio archiving facilities can provide. Smith's proficiency in caring for, reviving, reconditioning, and restoring audio assets, as well as computer-based data tape systems, is a highly sought-after and valuable skill.
His experience archiving individual tape catalogs for such artists as Natalie Cole, preserving and organizing extensive record label libraries, as well as his depth of knowledge and hands-on approach are key to United Archiving being considered one of the top facilities in the world for audio archiving, restoration and asset management.
Smith began his career as a highly successful and sought-after recording engineer in New York City in 1985, working at renowned studios The Hit Factory, Quad Recording, and Todd Rundgren's Secret Sound Studios. Moving to Los Angeles in 1990 he secured a staff engineer position at Capitol Studios where he remained for several years before transitioning into freelance work. During these years he worked on both Grammy-winning and Grammy-nominated albums for Barbra Streisand, John Fogerty, Natalie Cole, George Benson, Trevor Horn, The Manhattan Transfer, Diana Krall, Toto, Queen Latifah, Arturo Sandoval, Chris Botti, Al Jarreau as well as many other top-selling artists.
Mr. Smith also spent eleven years working as the personal recording assistant, co-engineer, and ProTools operator alongside 23-time Grammy-winning recording engineer, producer, and music industry legend Al Schmitt. Their long-standing professional relationship has lasted well beyond that as they continued to collaborate on many projects throughout the years.
Mr. Schmitt commented, "Bill is one of my dearest friends, we have worked together for twenty-eight years and United is truly lucky to have a man of his integrity, competency, technical skill and background heading their Archiving department. His attention to detail is incredible and he has such extensive experience with all recording formats that I would trust him completely with every aspect of any archiving project."
With his decades-long experience in both analog and digital audio technology, it is easy to see why Bill Smith was the natural choice for the position of Chief Archiving Engineer at United Archiving.
United Archiving's facilities are the most comprehensive and complete world-class purpose-built archival rooms in existence today. In addition to the studio's extensive collection of vintage analog and digital equipment, they also feature high-level security, climate-controlled tape storage, analog tape baking via state-of-the-art lab-grade convection ovens, cutting edge hardware and software, dedicated electrical power, custom-designed anti-static flooring and in-house technicians who maintain all equipment to the highest possible operational standards.
The painstaking process of recovering and preserving a client's valuable assets is United Archiving's forte. From rescuing deteriorating analog tape to preserving outdated digital media, United renders them viable and available for future use and repurposing. From transfers done at the highest digital resolution and quality available, to cataloging with current metadata tags, this affords the clients the confidence and reassurance that their assets are secure and readily accessible.
