Howard M. Schwartz

One of the country's leading recording engineers, Howard Schwartz started playing trumpet at age nine, switched to the bassoon at eleven, and by the time he was thirteen was ranked among the best in the United States on this difficult instrument. Howie won every scholastic musical competition in the country and played with many local amateur and professional orchestras while still in high school. His musical talents won him a full scholarship to Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, but after his first year, he left to enter the pre-law program at the University of Buffalo, with a major in entertainment. In 1993, however, he received a Bachelor of Music degree from Eastman and has served the college as an Ad Hoc Instructor.

To cover college costs, Schwartz became a disc jockey at a local radio station, a career move that stood him in good stead after he was drafted. For the next three years, he was kept busy spinning discs for Armed Forces Radio in Berlin, Frankfort and Munich.

On discharge, he settled in Hollywood, CA and became a recording engineer, working for the legendary Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck), recording, writing, and producing comedy radio commercials. Then he went to work for Wally Heider Studios in Los Angeles, where he was the engineer on numerous gold and platinum record albums for artists including Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Jefferson Airplane. He has recorded numerous albums, TV shows, and movies in his long career.

In 1971, Schwartz moved to Toronto, Canada, to the Production Department of CHUM Radio and the CHUM Group of stations. In 1972 he was brought to New York as an Engineer by National Recording Studios and later moved to 12 East Recording. In 1975 he asked for a raise and was turned down, which crystallized a decision to open his own company, Howard Schwartz Recording, Inc. (now HSR) - one studio, one engineer (himself) and a receptionist. A year later, he was turning down enough work to warrant the addition of a second studio and a second engineer.

Howard Schwartz had been the Vice President of The New York Production Alliance and is a Past President and Past Chairman of the Society of Professional Audio Recording Services (SPARS), of which he was a founder in 1979, Past Vice Chairman of the ITS: The Association of Imaging Technology and Sound, and Past President of the ITS/New York.

Howard is a member of AFTRA, The American Federation of Musicians, has twin daughters, Alexa and Zoe, and has been the CEO of HSR since its' inception in 1975.