Roy Decker Halee (born 1934)[1] is an American record producer and engineer, best known for working with Simon & Garfunkel, both as a group and for their solo projects.
[2] Halee, who had been studying to be a classical trumpet player, began working as a cameraman for CBS Television in the late 1950s, eventually becoming an audio engineer for Goodson-Todman game shows and the top-rated The $64,000 Question.
In 1965, Halee collaborated with Columbia staff producer Tom Wilson to overdub electric instruments and drums onto the originally-released acoustic version of "The Sound of Silence" without the duo's knowledge, with the remixed version reaching number one on the Billboard singles chart.
Halee discovered that the uniqueness of Simon & Garfunkel's vocal harmonies could only be achieved by recording both voices on the same microphone at the same time.
Halee also worked with the Lovin' Spoonful, the Dave Clark Five and the Yardbirds, as well as Barbra Streisand, the Byrds, Journey (on their first album Journey), Willie Nile, Laura Nyro, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Mark-Almond Band, Rufus and Blue Angel.
"[8] After Graceland, Roy Halee continued travelling with Simon as an engineer, to Brazil and West Africa, for the album The Rhythm of the Saints, with "all congas, bass drums, bata...everything imaginable.