Episode 496 – Archivist Bill Smith, Modified Tracks Fool Streamers, And How Old Is Too Old For A Hit

My guest today is Bill Smith, who spent most of his career as a recording engineer and mixer before transitioning into audio archiving (you can hear him talk about recording and mix in Episode 160). Bill started at United Studios Archiving in 2020 until the company that owned the legendary studio decided to close it earlier this year. Since then Bill has started his own archiving business where he uses an unbelievably wide range of mostly obsolete machines over just about every format you can think of. During the interview we spoke about the preparation normally required before a tape can be transferred, his favorite type of clients, the thing about archiving that most people don’t realize, a surprising format that he gets calls to restore, and much more. I spoke with Bill from studio in Hollywood. On the intro I’ll take a look at modified streaming tracks, and how old is too old to be a hit artist.