Bill McQuay is an independent audio producer, NPR Contributor and National Geographic Explorer
His work has received a variety of awards including:
2022 New York State Council for the Arts Artist Fellowship for Music/Sound
• 2016 - National Academy Of Sciences Award for the years best science reporting,
• 2000 - Grammy for the NPR recording of the Benjamin Britten War Requiem,
• 2001 - Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Journalism award,
• 2002 - Individual artist award from the Maryland State Arts Council.
2016 National Academy of Sciences Award Winner
Before starting Eco Location Sound, Bill was Supervising Audio Engineer for the Library of Natural Sound at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and an audio producer for the Lab's Multi-media group. Prior to joining the Lab of Ornithology, Bill was an NPR sound engineer and technical director for NPR programs including: Morning Edition, Weekend Saturday and Sunday, Performance Today and NPR's Radio Expeditions. Radio Expeditions is where he began his long time collaboration with NPR science correspondent Christopher Joyce.
Bill led NPR's early surround-sound recording effort and was its first technical director. He was also the mastering engineer for NPR Classics CD's.
In addition to his work with Christopher Joyce, Bill has collaborated with Interactive Designer Wes Lindamood to create a series of 'made for headphone listening' soundscapes available on NPR's Sound Cloud. This collaboration also includes the award winning Drowned Out and the 360º interactive Stand At The Edge Of Geographic Time. His other 360º interactive work includes Calling Thunder: The Unsung History of Manhattan with David Al-Ibrahim
Bill was a consultant for NPR's first 360° news story: