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Issue #150
by L. Swift and Jeff McQ
Like so many people now working in the industry, Recording Connection student Isaac Patton of Chicago, Illinois grew up around music—growing up in church, singing in the choir. But his interest in the production side of things came almost by accident.
“Me and some other family members of mine, we’d form our own little group, doing rap and things like that,” he explains. “And when we did record, I was always the person that would pretty much do the engineering or producing. And they would joke around every now and again that, ‘Yeah, you should probably be a producer or engineer.’ And I would scoff at it at first, because I guess at the time I didn’t see myself being in that position.”
When he did start to take a more serious interest in engineering, Isaac drew inspiration from his mother, of all people, who had pursued her own dream by opening a recording studio in their church. “Seeing her take a leap of faith inspired me to do the same,” he says, “and redirected my focus from being an artist behind the mic to being the brains behind the mix…She’s the inspiration behind my drive!”
Even so, Isaac could hear the difference between his own self-instruction and the work of the pros, and knew he needed more.
“I started to really be more interested in the work that goes on into making a song,” he says. “I knew there was something that these professional engineers and professional producers were doing that was completely different from what I was doing, and I knew that something was missing there. I’m like, ‘What is it that I don’t know that I need to know to get me to the next level?’”
Isaac checked out the Art Institute of Chicago, he says, but balked at the $80,000 tuition for their audio program. “I was almost close to signing up for it until something told me, ‘Look again,’” he says. “So I did a simple Google search, and then I ended up finding Recording Connection.”
Control Room in Miller Street Studios
RC student David Smith and mentor Edwin Ramos
Lindsey Kappa
As all our readers and students know, we believe in the power of hard work and building connections as a means to landing paid in-industry work. Recording Connection graduate Desiree Holiday (Nashville, TN) made opportunity align for her when she offered to produce a friend of a friend’s podcast. Desiree tells us: “I asked a friend of mine… ‘Do you know anyone in radio or in audio that needs help?’ And she said she knew a guy…she hooked me up with him, and he worked there at the radio station at iHeart with 1510 WLAC. So working with him on his podcast, I basically helped produce his podcasts…he kept his ear to the ground for me and just let me know, “Hey, they have an opening here [at iHeart Radio]… just being at the right place, right time, when they got my resume and put a familiar face to it, they got me in for the interview and I got the job.” Congrats on the new job Desiree!
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