When it comes to nitty-gritty experience in the music industry, they don’t come with much more experience than producer/engineer Bill Davidow. The recording studio he owns and runs (Virlouise Recording in Anaheim, CA, named after his wife Virginia Louise) has earned the reputation of being one of the top recording studios in Orange County, with a client list that includes names like Israel Houghton, Darren Vegas, Johnny Come Lately, Guy Fieri and others. As a staunch advocate for the Recording Connection, Bill has also spent nearly a decade mentoring our students, many of whom have gone on to successful careers.
Bill recently chatted with RRFC about his thoughts on the Recording Connection program, the importance of commitment, confidence and perseverance, and the secrets of some of his most successful students. The best nuggets of that conversation have been mined for you below.
Recording Connection mentor Bill Davidow
“I had a kid come in from Full Sail. He did the four-year plan at Full Sail…He does the L.A. Recording Academy, another $18,000 or whatever. Pops into my studio. I point in the corner and I say, ‘What’s that stuff in the corner?’…He doesn’t understand what a UPS is. I have to specialize UPS…But the thing is he didn’t understand that. So how can he run my studio? How can I go on vacation and leave him there? He wouldn’t know what to do if something happened. It’s expensive stuff. That’s $2,500 in that corner right there. What do you do if something happens? How do you get up and running again? The clients leave and they want their money back…I’m going to hire the guys that I train from the Recording Connection. I’ll just use one of my apprentices if I’m going to hire someone, because I trained them.”
ON WHAT HE LIKES ABOUT THE RECORDING CONNECTION PROGRAM, AND HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF IT:
“If you were to go to college and spend that $250,000, and even with grants you’re going to spend $50,000 these days, a lot of people don’t have that…You’re going to still have to do an internship when you get out of that. So when you get an opportunity to do a program like [Recording Connection], we work directly with somebody…It’s still the best deal anywhere in the country. But…you have to stick to that course. The course is laid out really good, and it’s makes it easy for me. I stick to the course, but I have the students . . . They have to study and do the reading and do extra. They have to commit themselves to it. There is no shortcut in this.”
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BUILDING CONFIDENCE IN YOUR SKILLS:
“Students need to believe in themselves and have confidence. My friend Harriet Schock, her songs have sold millions of records and she was nominated for a Grammy for ‘Ain’t no Way to Treat a Lady.’ But I love her statement, ‘If you’re trying to hit the ceiling, you probably won’t, but if you shoot for the moon you’ll hit the ceiling.’ And hitting the ceiling in the music industry is making a living out of music. So they have to be confident and believe in themselves.”
Control Room in Virlouise Recording Studios
“Kids want instant gratification, but you’re supposed to grow out of that. A lot of the people I meet . . . Even sometimes I’ll get guys in their 30’s and 40’s, and they’ve never been able to accomplish anything because they want everything now, and no matter how much they hear people telling them that, they don’t listen.”
HIS THOUGHTS ON ONE OF HIS STUDENTS WHO IS TAKING THE MASTER’S PROGRAM:
“Right now, if Nick Becker finishes this Master’s program, then he’s just knocked out over 90% of the competition if he goes to apply for a job in a pretty good production house or something…It’s all about value and what you have of value…The fact that he has a genre of music that he’s very familiar with, that means he can go everywhere where they play that genre music, have engineering skills and have drum skills. Man, that guy, if he stays with this and he gets this done, he has a real shot.”
ON WHAT HIS MOST SUCCESSFUL APPRENTICES SHARE IN COMMON:
“Every one of my students who succeeded were really into what I was teaching. And they’re all working. Nathan [Lata] does the band. One guy is an engineer at a church. Coby Thomson, the last student that finished, just called me up, and he’s mixing a rock band. He actually has a band he’s working with. So they’re working and getting paid. But all those guys had one thing in common: they were into the program and they learned the stuff, and they’re smart and they read and they studied. You have to do 10 times more, 100 times more. Learn to learn on your own…You have to have be able to know how to research and find information on your own. The great advantage of our program is you have a mentor that will keep you from going off track…They have to come in with the attitude that they will be, for the rest of their life, educating themselves always. Learn that attitude of always educating yourself and never stop growing.”
