Talking with
Recording Connection graduate
Devin Zorn, it’s apparent that he doesn’t just love audio—he loves music. In fact, as he tells it, the love of music is what made him want to be an audio engineer in the first place.
“I was in the sixth or seventh grade,” he says,
“and I had just gotten into Led Zeppelin. Everybody always wants to, ‘Oh, man, I want to be a rock star.’ I quickly realized when I first started playing the guitar—man, I suck. That goes out the window. But I was watching VH1 Classic one day and Classic Albums comes on, they’re going over how they recorded U2’s ‘The Joshua Tree.’ I’m sitting there listening to Brian Eno and Daniel Anwar talk, and I’m seeing him push these faders around…[I was] like, ‘Oh, I could do that. I can’t be the rock star, but I will make the rock star’s music for them.’”
RC Mentor Rick Rooney (left) with apprentice Devin Zorn
When Devin found his way to the Recording Connection for training, he already had a grasp of some of the basics, so when he was placed with music industry veteran
Rick Rooney at
January Sound in Dallas, TX, he remembers that his “hands-on training” translated to more of a “hands-off” approach from Rick.
“I did a lot of growing with this program with Rick at that studio,” Devin says.
“He kind of was laughing as we were going along, ‘Man, I don’t to have to teach you anything. You just have to go on,’… It’s like, ‘Rick, tell me,’ and he was like, ‘Figure it out yourself.’ And then I’d figure it out myself and [say], ‘Why didn’t you just tell me?’ ‘Well, you figured it out yourself and you did it better than I could have told you.’”
Beyond learning the gear and the software, Devin also recalls learning the importance of studio etiquette with Rick in the studio.
“A big part of it was me learning to get along in the studio environment,” he says.
“Learning when to shut up whenever you’re not the person in charge of the session, and things like that. Playing in the sand box with the other kids well, and not kicking sand in their face, stuff like that.”
Now graduated from the program, Devin is finding plenty of opportunities to establish himself in the thriving Dallas music scene. He continues to work with his mentor, Rick, currently taking on freelance projects in the studio with an eye to come on staff when an opportunity arises. He’s also had the opportunity to work the
All-Star Jam at the
Dallas International Guitar Show, where he got to meet and connect with some of the most notable guitarists in the business, including
Ted Nugent guitarist Derek St. Holmes and
Robert Plant guitarist Innes Sibun.
Control Room in January Sound
As for the music he loves—Devin has immersed himself in it. While his background is rock, he’s working on a wide range of different musical projects, most recently a live-in-the-studio tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan by blues band
Tommy Katona & Texas Flood. He’s also working on projects with Kayla Reeves (
Trans-Siberian Orchestra) and Lance Lopez (
Two Wolf), as well as projects with his own band
The Q, which he describes as a unique blend of EDM and hard rock (“if Pink Floyd made a dance album,” he says).
All the while, Devin is developing his own signature style in audio engineering as he works to make the rock stars sound as good as possible—and even with his own band, he’s very particular about some of the EDM elements, and has some strong feelings about the use of pre-done samples.
“I want it to sound kind of more analog with my own twist,” he says.
“If I’m going to sample, I really want to go in and rent out a drum from my local shop…and kind of mess with the tuning and things like that and record it with different mics and sample that to make my own sample.”
Meanwhile, as Devin continues to shape his career, he loves the fact that he can show up at January Sound at any time. He particularly enjoys seeing the reaction of other Recording Connection students as they get started with their training.
“Whenever these new students are coming in and I’m hanging out and saying hi to Rick,” he says,
“they look at me and are like, ‘Wow, he really knows what he’s doing, and he went through this program. That’s going to be awesome. I’m going through this program.’”
Check out some of Devin’s work in the Apprentice Media section below!
