Bill Hare is an American Grammy Award-winning audio engineer known for pioneering contemporary recording techniques in a cappella.
Hare began his career playing bass, which he had studied while in college at San Jose State University.
At the beginning of the 1980s, Hare began working with a professional recording studio in the San Francisco Bay Area as a session musician.
In 1984, Hare purchased part ownership in the studio, and began his first work as a recording, mixing and mastering engineer.
[2][6] It was his engineering for the Stanford Fleet Street Singers' 1992 album 50-Minute Fun Break that landed him on the map for good.
"[3] In a 2019 podcast, Sharon recalled, "It was so exemplary, it was so ahead of its time, that [Hare] just walked away with a special award in best engineering.
[2][additional citation(s) needed] In 2001, The House Jacks brought to Hare raw recordings from live performances across their entire European tour.
[9][10][11] By the mid-2010s, Hare was working with nearly every top a cappella group, including Sing-Off winners Nota, Home Free, and Pentatonix, with whom he received 2x multi-platinum certification for their album That's Christmas to Me.
For the shift, Hare cites an increasing degree of same-ness in the industry, in part due to the widespread adoption of his techniques.
[2] Before Hare, a cappella was generally recorded exactly as a listener would perceive a live performance: with two microphones capturing the whole group at once, singing in a room.
"[14] Hare has won one Grammy Award: for his work recording and engineering Christopher Tin's 2009 album, Calling All Dawns.