Orlando Gómez
There are two huge advantages to learning a skill on-the-job. First—it doesn’t feel like school. Second—you might just work yourself into an actual job. Just ask
Recording Connection student
Carlos Orlando Gómez Hernández aka Orlando Gómez, whose apprenticeship at
Beacon Hill Recording Studios in El Paso, TX has led him right into a full-time position as a staff engineer!
Over the past few months Orlando has assisted on projects with
B.o.B, Jake Lambo, American Idol’s Tora Woloshin, McDonald’s and American Express just to name a few! So how did he do it? Having a clear goal in mind from the outset, then working hard to achieve it was instrumental in his success.
A skilled guitarist who had already dabbled a little in audio engineering, Orlando was drawn to the Recording Connection particularly because he saw it as a chance to get his foot in the door.
“I didn’t see it so much as a school,” says Orlando.
“When I got into Beacon Hill, I just had to do my best to keep the work there… keep my job. It was more like… it didn’t feel like school. It felt just like any job where you always have to learn something new.”
But it was also school, even if it didn’t feel like it to him at the time. His mentor at the studio, Alfredo Gonzalez, proved to be a perfect fit for Orlando’s career goals.
“I wanted to be both an engineer and producer,” he says,
“and the good thing is that Alfredo himself is both of them as well… He specializes in music production and engineering, so it was a really good choice for me to get him as a mentor…It has helped me a lot.”
The real-world experience helped as well.
Beacon Hill is a large studio staffed with engineers who have worked with major artists ranging from
John Legend to
Sting to
Shakira. Since apprenticing in the studio, Orlando has gained experience working with corporate clients like McDonald’s and American Express, Latin Christian artists like
Marcela Gándara, Miguel Balboa, Un Corazón, Evan Craft, and perhaps most notably, hip-hop artist
B.o.B.
“When B.o.B came in, we were all pretty excited since… the studio is actually pretty new,” says Orlando.
“We’d only been open for a little more than a year and B.o.B was our first big artist coming in. So we were all pretty nervous, but once you are in the session, once you get focused on your work, it’s not bad. I mean you forget that you are working with famous people or renowned institutions…it’s great having the opportunity to see them work and how these big names do all their projects.” Hear track in the Apprentice Media section below.
There have also been opportunities to solve problems on the fly.
“We had this country band,” Orlando recalls,
“and we didn’t know that we didn’t have enough channels for all the instruments they were playing. Right there in that moment, they took a break, a little break of about 15-20 minutes to eat lunch, and we had to solder in a whole patch bay and put it into a console and all of that stuff in just 15-20 minutes. And it worked well, so we were pretty excited about that.”
Between Alfredo’s mentoring and Orlando’s passion for the work, getting “in the door” of Beacon Hill has paid off, as Orlando has quite literally worked himself into a full-time position at the studio! Alfredo describes his new hire as “a rock star” and says,
“He’s a hard worker, trustworthy, and super responsible. Even if he’s done with his job, he’ll stick around and make sure no one needs anything.”
Orlando Gómez (left) with mentor Alfredo Gonzalez
For Orlando Gómez, he saw the Recording Connection as more than just an opportunity to learn: he saw it as a chance to break into the business. As he treated his apprenticeship like a job, it eventually turned into one. Today, Orlando considers himself fortunate to have gotten in on the ground floor of an up-and coming studio.
“I feel lucky that I got the chance to work with a very talented group of people,” he says.
“People there are amazing. We all get along pretty well and the studio is very good as well…I love being at Beacon Hill…I love all the people there. I feel really comfortable working there. I just feel we have a good chance of being a really great production company.”
