Powell made his start in live sound, touring with local Missouri bands as a front-of-house engineer. In 2002 John McBride asked him to run Blackbird Studio, then a single room semi-private facility for his wife and country music superstar Martina McBride. With Powell as chief engineer, it grew to become an eight room world class facility. Nashville's Blackbird Studios is now one of the largest and most famous studio complexes in the world, having hosted projects such as Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" motion picture soundtrack and The Dixie Chicks' six time Grammy Award winning "Taking The Long Way".

Projects outside Blackbird Studios soon beckoned, and Powell began working extensively with Jack White's groups including The Raconteurs, The White Stripes, and The Dead Weather, as well as many of White's production jobs such as Wanda Jackson's "The Party Ain't Over". In 2013, he was nominated for the Grammy Award "Album Of The Year" along with Jack White for his work on "Blunderbuss".

Vance is now co-owner of Sputnik Sound along with Producer/Engineer Mitch Dane. Recent projects include Tinariwin, Seasick Steve, Leagues, Tom Jones, Martina McBridge, Bobby Bare Jr, Red Fang, DeStaat, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Wolfmother, and Arctic Monkeys, as well as Jack White and Alicia Keys' production of "Another Way To Die" from the James Bond film "Quantum of Solace".