MENTORS
The Lodge has been mentoring for Recording Connections for 10 years. Our in-house Mentor is Corey Miller. Corey has been a staff engineer at The Lodge for over 12 years. We very much like the course curriculum. It seems to be well laid out and very thorough. Corey is able embellish with his wealth of studio experience to make the program beneficial for the students. My background is with a formal classroom education so I can see benefits to both methods. I must agree that having a full time one on one relationship with a mentor is a good way to get a strong introductory background to the recording industry. Back when I was in college in the late 70’s there was not any emphasis on studio production just broadcasting, but there was still benefits to the classroom environment. Damon Earlewine has been a freelance engineer for us ever since he graduated from our Internship program and he also became our part time bookkeeper as well. Past students that have interned for The Lodge are: Damon Earlewine, Damian Suader and Rayna Kinley. Dwain Jarrett has had a long-standing relationship with The Lodge as both a client and studio musician. He too was a graduate of The Recording Connection.
I have been a Recording Connection mentor for about 6 or 7 years. I think the mentor-extern education method is great, the only way to go. I do like the course curriculum that Recording Connection provides, because it starts with the fundamentals of sound and electronics a good engineer must have for a foundation in the field of audio engineering. Then progresses all the way to the state of the art digital processing used in professional studios world wide. I definitely believe that one on one instruction is better than learning in a classroom because then the mentor can focus on a particular students needs. About 25 previous students have been hired that I know of. Many of my students have been from other states and foreign countries and I haven’t heard back from them. Plus many of my students have built their own studios. Also my chief engineer is from this course.
I have been an Audio Instructor for Entertainment Career Connection for 9 years now. I think their program is unique and very beneficial to the students that take the course. They offer a great alternative to some of the other schools that have sky high tuitions, and require at least 40 hrs a week of the students time. I believe that students can learn just as much from the course that I teach for Entertainment Career Connection as they can from other courses if they apply themselves. They also will be free of the financial and time consuming pressures. I also currently employ part time one of my graduated students, James Woodrich.
David Mikael – Difference Studios
I have been with Recording Connection for 2-1/2 years. I like the mentor-appretice approach because it demands a one-on-one basis of communication and also puts the student in touch with real-world situations. I do like the course curriculum because it is well balanced and thorough. I believe the best way to learn any field is in a one-on-one situation. I hired one of my past students for a period of time, but they have gone to pursue other opportunities.
David Perceful – Yellowdog Studios
I guess I have been working with Recording Connection for about 3 or more years. I think the RC program is good in that the student or intern is working with a Pro engineer, someone that does this for a living. Not just because of that but, because the intern is here and is a part of the whole process. He is learning not only what button to press to make the thing work, he or she is learning “why” we press that button and why another button might be better that the other one depending on the situation…. I went to a “School”. We sat in classroom, everything was always “perfect”. Things never broke down, we never had a client get frustrated with us. The audio we worked on was meant for us to work on perfectly, Etc. Etc. Etc. Here the intern or the student learns how the “Real World” is doing it. So, when it comes time for them to go out into the real world and get a gig, they are ready….. They “KNOW”. I wish I had known about RC when I was looking for the school to attend. I spent 2 years and a ton of money on that school. And then I didn’t really “Learn” how things worked until I got into a studio. Getting my students “Hired” or working in this industry is my personal goal. For me there is nothing better than to have my students call and thank me for giving them the skills to land a job that they love. They can only succeed. There is no other option. If this is truly what you want to do, you will do it. As you know, there is a strict admission qualification process here at Recording Connection – The student has to go thru a number interviews and finally comes to see me, I am not an easy hurdle. The student has to really be passionate about being here. This not a job, and it’s way more than an adventure….. It’s a way of life. “Time” is not a factor, there is not punching of the time clock and going to lunch at noon and getting done at 5:00pm…. No two week vacation scheduled for May and no water cooler meetings. This is Rock and Roll and Country and Rap and Metal and Easy Listening and Punk all rolled to one. It’s one big giant party all the time. If you want to do this for a living, you will! Otherwise stay at McDonalds, we need to eat too, you know.
Some of my students that have gone on to go to work include Sabi Tulok – He works for me and he also has other “Gigs” that he goes on to… He is a great Production Sound guy and then he also is really good Post Audio guy and mixer. He works almost as much as I do….Katy Holmes – She is the Pro Tools product specialist for “Euphonics” ( a high end digital console company) and she is also a Post Sound engineer taking on indy jobs when she has a chance. She is great engineer and a cool person, if she ever needs a job I would hire her to work at my studio. Dana Ferguson works here at this studio with me. A really good engineer, especially with Metal and Hip-Hop artists…. We are building another room just so he can work more….Jeff Fink is still a student here, yet he is already working on 2 films and getting ready to quit his “Day Job” ( not recommended until you know you are ready, by the way)…. But he is more than ready. Troy Peebles is another Student who is working in the business and still a student. He sometimes brings his works to this studio, but, he always calls to ask questions in case he gets stuck no matter what studio he is working in. John Graney owns his own studio and is doing quite well. We are always talking and comparing work flow stories so as to get better….There a few more, although I have not heard from them in a while…. Brian Chism, Richard Daniels, Chris Flores, Andres Aguillar, Fabian Quiroz, Travis Hayden. I again can’t stress the importance of learning a working studio…. Back in the day, when studios were very few and they were a places sort of like a sanctuary for the musician to go and create the magic thing we call music, you would be very fortunate to be allowed to intern and shadow the engineer there. We had to beg our way in and work for free for years before being allowed to touch anything except the trash can when we took it out to the curb. That is how we got in. But, when we did get in and get the gig and we did it well, that was the golden ticket, the goal. This is life. Welcome!
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