Engineer Al Schmitt and Berklee today Magazine Celebrated in Los Angeles

Music industry royalty gathered at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles in September for the awarding of a Berklee honorary doctorate to recording engineer Al Schmitt, and to mark the 25th anniversary of Berklee today magazine.

October 20, 2014

Music industry royalty gathered at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles in September for the awarding of a Berklee honorary doctorate to recording engineer Al Schmitt, and to mark the 25th anniversary of Berklee today magazine. The crowd of nearly 120 included John Mayer ’98, Patti Austin, Monica Mancini, Steve Lawrence, Steve Lukather (Toto), and Christopher Guest. The list of prominent producers and engineers included Don Was, Elliot Scheiner, Tommy Vicari, Gregg Field, Michael Bearden, Niko Bolas, and Ed Cherney.

After welcoming the gathering of Berklee alumni and friends of Schmitt, Mark Small, the magazine’s editor since 1992, recalled the publication as an evolutionary step from Berklee’s semi-annual eight-page alumni newsletter to its current state as a forum for music and musicians with a circulation of 53,000. In his remarks, Berklee president Roger H. Brown shared that in preparing to interview for his position as college president in 2004, he consulted dozens of issues of the magazine to come up to speed on the college and its alumni.

As a prelude to the degree presentation to Schmitt, the vocal trio King (Paris Strother ’08, Amber Strother, and Anita Bias ’07) sang “The Lady Wants to Know” by Michael Franks and “Peg” by Steely Dan. Schmitt had engineered the original versions of both. Lalah Hathaway ’94, who has worked with Schmitt, augmented the trio for a performance of her song “Boston.”

Schmitt was chosen for Berklee’s first honorary doctorate presentation in Los Angeles because of his outstanding work from the 1950s to the present as an engineer, producer, and label executive working on countless major albums that have won him 20 Grammys, two Latin Grammys, and the Grammy Trustees Award. Schmitt nabbed his first Grammy Award in 1962 for engineering Henry Mancini’s score to the movie Hatari!, and his most recent in 2013 for Paul McCartney’s Live Kisses. In between, Schmitt worked with Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Jefferson Airplane, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Norah Jones, Chick Corea, Madonna, Willie Nelson, and Herbie Hancock, among many others.

In his remarks, Brown stated, “Al has recorded and/or mixed more than 150 gold and platinum records. Classic albums such as George Benson’s Breezin’, Steely Dan’s Aja, Natalie Cole’s Unforgettable, or Diana Krall’s When I Look in Your Eyes, would not have been the same without Al’s incredible ears and musical sensibilities.”

After receiving the degree, Schmitt said, “I'm still in awe about this. I never got to go to college. I am blessed to have been able to work with so many great artists on so many great projects. And it means a lot to me to get this honor from the greatest music school on that planet. I thank you.”