William Joseph “Bill” Dooley, Jr.
Photo courtesy of Mr. Bonzai
Veteran audio engineer William Joseph “Bill” Dooley, Jr. passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Friday, March 19, 2010, in Southern California. Involved in professional audio recording since 1973, while a student at the Berklee College of Music, Dooley had a natural talent for engineering. Dooley was instrumental in the construction of a new campus studio and was responsible for the recording of many live performances and student ensembles.
Dooley soon found himself as the chief engineer at New York City’s legendary Sear Sound, and eventually became the chief engineer at Atlantic Recording Studio (a position only previously held by Tom Dowd), spending a decade working within that historic facility at 1841 Broadway. Starting out in Atlantic’s post-production department, Dooley apprenticed as a disk-mastering engineer under George Piros and Dennis King.
After relocating to Los Angeles, he was a staff engineer at A&M Recording Studios, where we was involved in the renovation of the facility and worked extensively as a mastering engineer while there. He left to become director recording at Record Plant, Brooklyn Recording, Extasy Recording and The Village Recorder. In 2003, Dooley moved back to mastering, becoming the chief mastering engineer at Paramount Recording, a position he held until his untimely death. Dooley also worked as the chief technical engineer at Interscope Studios since 2007.
Bill Dooley’s mastering credits would easily fill several books, but his mixing and engineering credits are almost equally numerous, including working with a diverse roster of top artists such as Madonna, King Sunny Ade, Cheap Trick, Chaka Khan, Judas Priest, Herbie Mann, The Trammps, Meat Loaf, Blondie, Motley Crue, Reba McIntyre, AD/DC and dozens more.
But beyond being a brilliant technician and a gifted engineer, Bill Dooley will be remembered as a genuinely nice guy who leaves behind an enormous legacy of great works and many industry friends. He will not be forgotten.
Funeral services (with interment to follow) will be held today, March 24, 2010, at 1:00 p.m. (Pacific), at the Mission Hills Catholic Mortuary, 11160 Stranwood Avenue, Mission Hills, CA 91345.
