NEIL SCHULTZ

Ever since I first picked up a guitar in Junior High I have always been musically inclined.  I can remember making my very first recording way back then in garage on a 2-way boom box with just me and my band.  This was, looking back, the very beginnings of my experiences with music.  As I got older I graduated into high school, where I continued to play in several bands.

Once I graduated high school I decided to go to Community College where I began taking some basic recording and computer courses, getting my first real taste of the professional audio world.  This is where I believe I realized that this is something that I love doing, and could actually do as my career.  From there I made the commitment that the music industry is where I would be, as I began researching my options, finding that the Recording Connection program was the best fit for me.

Once I actually joined the Recording Connection I was assigned into an externship within a prominent recording studio.   I began externing immediately at a real recording studio and with hard work and dedication I completed the course, earned my certification as audio engineer, and was offered a position as one of the staff for my mentors’ studio.

Before I joined the Recording Connection I had some knowledge of the industry and was still confident of my ability to succeed.  However, once I got the experience in the Recording Connection and with my mentor I now have the confidence to do anything. Whether it is book a new client, run a live venue, or anything else it takes to get the job done.  I now work as a real life audio engineer, along with some very big-name recording clients, really now accomplishing anything and everything I put my mind too.  One of the coolest things I remember is once I was hired by my mentor I was given the opportunity to work with Otis Williams, who is the founder of the temptations.  Here I was the sole engineer and mixing engineer for the entire recording session, which lasted an entire week.

I have really come a long way from the very beginning of my endeavors in the Recording Connection.  My mentor and I have even done numerous live venues together, and because I am currently still in band, I have developed the skills needed to now actually do the front of the house mixing for the Prema Vera Sound Festival in Barcelona!  As a graduate of the Recording Connection I now still continue to work hand-in-hand with my mentor.  I work out of his studio, bring all of my clientele there as I continue to grow my own business, and even have my own set of keys to his studio, which is very rare to establish this type of trust and responsibility.

Since my graduation from the Recording Connection I have continued to work not only with my mentor, but as an independent engineer as well, often freelancing my expertise as an independent engineer for well known recording studios.  Before I joined I had the basic knowledge to record, but once I joined the program is when I really delved in hands-on and my dreams continue to become a reality is I progress deeper into the recording industry.

Neil Schultz, St. Louis, MO