Robert Schneider was the co-founder of the Elephant 6 Recording Company along with William Cullen Hart and Bill Doss of the Olivia Tremor Control and Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel.
Born in South Africa, Schneider's family moved to Ruston, Louisiana when he was a child. There he befriended Mangum, Hart and Doss and began discovering and playing music with them. After high school, where he was class president, Schneider moved to Denver, Colorado to attend college. There he met up with Hilarie Sidney , who later became his wife and who he later divorced, and others and formed The Apples in Stereo. There first release, "Tidal Wave" was the first ever release on the Elephant 6 imprint.
Schneider also had a project called Marbles, which were lo-fi Beach Boys-esque recordings done with Will Cullen Hart. It was later released in the late 1990s on SpinArt Records .
Schneider's prowess in harnessing the sounds of Elephant 6 bands became apparent with his distinct production style. He produced the Olivia Tremor Control and the Minders, but is most well-known for his work on Neutral Milk Hotel's critically lauded "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea". The wall of sound production style implemented by his heroes like Phil Spector and Brian Wilson were used on these records and cemented Schneider as the recognizable man behind the bands of the Elephant 6.
Schneider formed a new band in 2004 called Ulysses and released another Marbles album in 2005.