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Issue #39 – Job Opportunities & Student Successes
by L. Swift and Jeff McQ
Education doesn’t happen in a vacuum with the Recording Connection—it’s par for the course. Learning is a life experience that integrates into both personal and professional realms. Never has there been a better example of this than Taylor Crommie, a Recording Connection apprentice in Los Angeles who graduated in 2012 and recently returned to enroll in the Recording Connection master’s program—even though he’s had plenty of consistent work in the meantime!
“I’ve had the luxury of having two mentors,” says Taylor, who started his first apprenticeship with Donny Baker of ES Audio, and now apprentices with Matt Linesch of Ocean Way Recording. “If I could pick my favorite experience at ES Audio, it would have to be learning the hardware! Donny really took the time to explain why vintage equipment is such an essential tool for bringing life into your music. This really opened my ears to what it means to be a great engineer.”
Because Taylor’s hands-on education had made him an instant asset, opportunity found him almost immediately upon graduation from the bachelor’s program. He hopped on to The Baron Sisters’ Positive Thinker Tour, helping with live audio for 23 shows over 21 days. Other opportunities soon followed, including live audio at SXSW for bands Breakfast and Caldwell (featuring actor Adrian Grenier), composing music and sound effects for smartphone game app Joe the Zombie, and a stint at David Lynch’s Transcendental Radio—eventually landing a full-time gig as a mixer for JW Studios in North Hollywood (a job he still holds today).
But even with these successes under his belt, Taylor felt he wasn’t finished learning. He renewed contact with the Recording Connection to enter the master’s program, and was placed with Matt Linesch of Ocean Way Recording.
“Matt…was finishing the first live record of Edward Sharpe [and the Magnetic Zeros], which I was able to witness,” says Taylor. “Apprenticing under Matt has opened my eyes & ears to different and interesting techniques of approaching my mix, stuff you can only fully understand one-on-one.”
Taylor continues: “So far, I’ve been apprenticing under Matt for about 3 months, and my favorite experience thus far has got to be relating; technically speaking, that is. Being able to pick up the language of audio is just as important as working with it. When you start to understand how compression and equalizing works, you start to create possible concepts and ideas about effecting aspects of your music. When this happens, you’ll have questions, but without the language you have no question.”
To other Recording Connection apprentices, Taylor offers the following advice:
As young Producer / Engineer you gotta stay moving. My advice to fellow students who are enrolled in Recording Connection would be…
or call (800) 755-7597
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