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Issue #76

Weekly Newsletter

by L. Swift and Jeff McQ

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or call (800) 755-7597

Student Successes


When RRFC gets you learning on the job, the connections you make can have a direct impact on your career!
Read below about TWO Recording Connection students who met through
their mentor and are now releasing a hip-hop record together!

Student Successes
 

Clever Empire: Two Recording Connection students team up to change the hip-hop game

    For anyone who doubts that the music industry is all about connections…we’ve got a story to tell you.  
Artist T-Strix

RC apprentice Tanner Bjorklund (a.k.a. “T-Strix”)

Tanner Bjorklund (stage name “T-Strix”) was a teenager with a gift for rap. He wanted to record his music, so he signed up, did an apprenticeship in a studio, and began engineering his own songs at his home in Temecula, CA. Although he was learning a lot, he found it to be a challenge. “I was doing all my own engineering,” he said. “It’s hard to do it all on your own, trying to be an artist and manage all the other stuff.”  
Audio Engineer R-Lo

Masters apprentice Rodolfo Lopez (a.k.a., “R-Łö”)

Rodolfo Lopez (a.k.a., “R-Łö”) was an aspiring audio genius with a dream to “change the game” in hip-hop. Having a gift for engineering, he was thriving as a recording studio apprentice, completed his basic course, and had started on the advanced master’s program.   Their connection? Both of them were Recording Connection students, apprenticing with mentor Donny Baker of ES Audio in Glendale, CA. Donny thought the two would pair well together.   Rodolfo picks up the story. “Donny was like, ‘There’s this kid who is pretty good at rapping. Maybe you should record with him.’ So we set up a session. I met Tanner, we recorded one song and I said to myself, ‘This kid has potential.’”   “When I was in Recording Connection, I came across Rudy,” adds Tanner. “I was like, ‘Dude, I need an engineer because I know I have potential and I want to make this a career and to do this. I need to have somebody with me all the time.’”   Connection made. But it gets better. The two hit it off so well that when Tanner asked him to make a move to Temecula, Rodolfo didn’t hesitate.  
Studio B in ES Audio

Studio B in ES Audio

“He made a move out here to Temecula with me,” says Tanner, “and as soon as that happened, we built a studio here in my house.”   Rodolfo elaborates, “We built a 4 x 8 space, we insulated it. It took a lot of time—blood, sweat and tears were put into it…It’s more of a vocal booth, and the place where I mix, we have it acoustically treated…We get very solid mixes in the studio we work in.”   It’s proving to be a very fruitful collaboration: the raw talent of a young rapper and the dream of an engineer to turn the industry on its head. As a duo, they dub themselves “Clever Empire” because they have a goal to bring “cleverness” and what they call “that raw sound with that lyrical flow” back into the genre.   “Hip hop, where it is now, it’s so repetitive,” says Rodolfo. “All they talk about is women, money and drugs…The reason I really like Tanner’s flow is because he raps about different things. He raps about real events, his life. He questions life in his raps, you know, like very underground hip-hop and raw lyrics, and you don’t really hear that anymore.”   Tanner’s admiration for his musical partner is mutual. “Rudy records me and he engineers it,” he says, “and it’s better than I’ve known how to do it… He likes to experiment, and always finds a way to create a different sound, that you just don’t hear nowadays, and it’ll make you keep listening to it…What we are getting is sounding really professional.”   In fact, with the help of Tanner’s producer, Mindstat3, the collaboration has resulted in a completed EP which releases July 21 (preview album below).   “The album is ‘The Future’s Present’, which means the future is now,” says Tanner. “The picture is actually me unwrapping a present that says ‘future’ on it.”   The Future’s Present“The album is gonna be very diverse,” Rodolfo adds. “You’ll hear one and you’ll hear the next, and you’ll be like, ‘Wow, this is really different!’ It just has a vast variety.”   Even with the variety, Tanner says he wants people to understand what’s going on in the songs. “What I love when people talk to me,” he says, “is a when someone asks me about my lyrics in a song and what the song means. I love to explain it because I put so much meaning into every song, and I love unfolding each line of the verse, and telling them what that means.”   T-Strix and R-Łö. Two talented individuals with a shared dream to revolutionize hip-hop. They didn’t know each other, but through the Recording Connection they wound up apprenticing at the same studio. Their mentor, Donny Baker, paired them together—and the rest, as they say, is history. And they are just getting started.   “We are gonna keep making as many songs as we can a week, and pick which ones we think are the best,” says Tanner. “We’ve been making music every day, living the dream.”   The music industry is all about connections, connections that enable creative interests to align and careers to get made.   T-Strix and R-Łö — Congrats on the building the future you want one track at a time!    

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Apprentices in Action

FC apprentice Joe Paciotti filming @ “The Troc” in Philadelphia, PA

Film Connection student Joe Paciotti (Philadelphia, PA) recently picked up a freelance filming gig at Philly’s Trocadero Theatre (a.k.a., “The Troc”) through a connection he made through the program! “[They were] looking for a DP to cover the event,” says Joe. “Doug asked if I would be interested, knowing that I have my very own camera and lighting from my own film business…I jumped right on the opportunity.” He filmed interviews and goings-on for a showcase/awards show called “Night of Short Films.” Way to go, Joe!   
RC apprentice Kristin Staub

RC apprentice Kristin Staub

From her very first day in the program with mentor Edwin Ramos, Recording Connection apprentice Kristin Staub (Brookfield, CT) is already learning about the business of making music! “I actually had some firsthand experience watching him work with an artist and create a master version of her songs for potential radio stations and broadcasts to air,” she says. “I also had my first experience with how ADSR works in certain parts of the song in order to help with some of the transitions. It actually does make a big difference.”   
FC apprentice Victor Brian Smith

FC apprentice Victor Brian Smith

Victor Brian Smith, Film Connection apprentice in Athens, GA, recently worked through a professional casting session. He says, “Definitely an eye opener to what I’m getting into in my career. I was able to experience what it’s like to do casting interviews and casting auditions. Video shooting live from different angles and using different lens and cameras, I was able to use a variety of equipment and got to play with the cameras and record some footage… Excited to be able to experience these different scenarios where everything is knowledge.”   

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Mentor News
As the owner of Ad-Venture Video Productions in Fresno, CA for nearly two decades, Film Connection mentor Ted Ruiz knows a few things about providing quality film and video services in a wide range of applications. Over the years, he’s built a highly successful business doing work an array of notable clients. In fact, when we caught up with him for the conversation and quotes below, Ted was prepping to do a TriCaster multi-camera live switch for country music icons Big & Rich. Ted also takes a keen interest in preparing his students not only to “put pretty pixels on the screen,” as he often refers to it, but also to be successful within the business of film itself.   Not surprisingly, during our recent conversation, Ted dropped some great insights and nuggets of truth that many of our apprentices could learn from. We’re excited to share some of these with you below.     ON THE MANY TYPES OF OPPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE IN THE INDUSTRY (NOT JUST MAKING MOVIES): “We do more types of video production [at Ad-Venture] than anyone in Central California…I’ve owned the business for 17 years and we are in the perfect environment where video content is king. Every business up and down the world needs video to communicate with the audience. Where 15 years ago our focus was on 30-second TV commercials or broadcasts, now we handle video production from short 45-second video modules for websites, for social media, creative and dynamic video production, live streaming events.   ON HOW HE LEARNED THE IMPORTANCE OF MENTORING, AND WHY HE MENTORS OTHERS: “In high school, I really didn’t have any direction. I did not care for school. I did not know what I was going to be doing…I was taken under the wing of some people I highly respected. They liked my work ethic, my enthusiasm, and I was working with some very, very top notch professionals that took time to help me prove my skills. I’ve always kind of tried to pay that forward through my youth activities but nowadays I do that through grooming people…To be honest, in this market, there are hundreds of potentially talented people…[but] the majority of them don’t understand the professional ethics, the business practices, the pay it forward attitude…As business owners, we need to be mentors for the next generation.”   ON WHAT HE TRIES TO INSTILL IN HIS APPRENTICES: “We take young, aspiring talent that shows an interest. We not only help them learn how to shoot, how to edit, how to do color correction, how to compose shots and put pretty pixels on the screen…but we teach them the ethics and values of how to do the business side of video production or film production… When you first engage with a client, what is that experience for the client? What is the impression you left him with throughout the process? There’s a lot of moving parts to production; throughout that process, did you deliver more than you promised at every step? Were you punctual? Did you do the best you could? Were you a good team player with those around you, and were you ethical to your customers throughout?…More important than teaching them how to put pretty pixels on the screen, I think what we do is we instill a good work ethic and morals and values in these young talents because I think that is the hardest thing to teach someone.”  
Ted Ruiz and Loan Nguyen at Ad-Venture Video Productions

Ted Ruiz and Loan Nguyen at Ad-Venture Video Productions

ON THE BUSINESS SIDE OF FILM AND VIDEO, AND UNDERSTANDING IT IS A SERVICE INDUSTRY: “When we’re on a client’s dime, this is not school. This is not friends doing your project. We’re on a client’s dime, and you have your graphics person, your editor, and you have your director. You have a team working on something. While we encourage everyone to let their ideas blossom and throw them out there, we also have to, in a business sense, be cognizant that we could be nurturing multiple trees, nurturing multiple ideas, but we have to at the end of those four hours or eight hours have a finished product…You always have to remember we’re there to please the client.”   ON HOW HAVING A GOOD ATTITUDE CAN OPEN YOUR EYES TO THE POSSIBILITIES: “Loan [Nguyen, a Film Connection apprentice] came in really focused on the editing. I think she kind of liked the story writing a little, too…I’ve got to say Loan’s attitude is among the best I’ve ever experienced. In 17 years of being a business owner, I’ve probably had over 100 people that have worked with and for me. I’ve probably had 50 that worked really close with me, and Loan is definitely my top 5 to 10 favorite of people that have brought it…It was funny because she has told me, ‘Well, I thought I wanted to be an editor. I did not realize there was so much other opportunity and fun things to do.’…She is getting the good exposure to every type of communication technology and adventure. It was really funny to hear her say that it really opened her eyes up. She had no idea there was so much other opportunity besides editing.”   ON HAVING A SENSE OF ADVENTURE WITH FILMMAKING: “Every morning, I get to dabble with some of the coolest technology, and every day is a different adventure. It’s really why we came up with the name Ad-Venture…My philosophy has always been that life should be an adventure, and this industry has allowed it to stay that way.”    

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