To say it’s been a great year for Recording Connection master’s student Jake Kiyokane would be an understatement. As we shared in our July 6th newsletter, Jake’s passion and commitment recently landed him a position at his mentor’s studio, Serenity West in Los Angeles, CA. But then he got word that he’d received a nomination for the Pensado Awards, an annual event hosted by Grammy-winning industry veteran Dave Pensado acknowledging excellence in the recording industry arts. At the ceremony held August 30th at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City—Jake won the Pensado AIR Award for Best Assistant, Intern or Runner!
Shortly after he received the honor, we caught up with Jake to chat about this recent milestone in his emerging career.
RRFC: How did you find out that you were nominated for a Pensado Award?
Jake Kiyokane: Somebody texted me, and they were like, “Congratulations.” I was like, “Oh, what are you talking about?” and then they let me know. And then I found the email saying, “Congratulations. You’ve been nominated!”
RRFC: What do you think it was about your work ethic that set you in the running for the award?
Jake: Just my dedication. I was loyal. I’d be there hardworking, every day. I’ll stay there as long as they need to and help out if they need it. I think they just noticed my effort. I think that’s what got it. I wouldn’t say I’m a really good engineer or anything yet. I know all the basics. I think I’m a very quick learner and I can handle my own. I’m very responsible. I think that they just noticed all that.
RRFC: Did you get a chance to meet any big names, rub elbows with anybody at the awards?
Producer Randy Jackson and Jake Kiyokane, Pensado Awards 2015.
Yeah. I met Young Guru there. It was great talking to him because he was one of the first people I watched, audio engineering videos, like tutorials…it was great to talk to him in person. And I met Randy Jackson that was cool…I met a few other people like the guy from Ableton. He was really nice. Yeah, there was a lot of people there.
RRFC: And did any of these guys give you any advice? Were you able to pick their brain at all? You mentioned Young Guru, and you guys talked for a little bit.
Jake: Yeah, I was telling him I’m a big fan of his, and we were talking about just what music he liked. I was talking about his production…what was his favorite thing to do in the studio or who was his favorite artist and all that.
RRFC: How did it feel to hear that you had actually won the award?
Jake: When I actually won, it was pretty surreal, it felt like a dream almost. Because I’ve never really had to make a speech like that or won an award, that extent. So it was definitely different.
RRFC: Did you do a slow walk to the podium, trying to think about what you were going to say?
Jake: Most of the award show, when I was sitting there, I was thinking, “Crap. What am I going to say if I actually do get picked?” I think I was walking a little slow because the manager of Serenity West [Cameell Hanna], he decided to come up with me. I think he saw I was a little nervous walking up there, so he gave me a little bit of back up.
RRFC: Did you get a chance to thank your family and everything like that?
Jake: Yeah, I thanked my family…I got my parents, they were the ones that paid for everything, let me skip work if I needed to. So, yeah, they’re the ones I needed to thank, and then, of course, Recording Connection. They were the first ones I think I thanked. I wouldn’t be here without them. I know a few other people who’ve gone to audio schools, and it doesn’t seem like it worked the same for them. They would just go to school. And I know a lot of them are working just other places, they don’t have any studio jobs or anything yet. I probably had the least experience out of all of them, and I joined this program, and I was in the studio within a week, just learning. And now I’m running sessions. So it’s pretty great. So I would say Recording Connection is definitely a big part of why I’m here.
RRFC: That’s awesome. But how much of it is your own personal responsibility as well?
Jake Kiyokane
Yeah, that’s the other half because there a lot of kids in the Recording Connection. So the other half is you’ve got to put in your effort. You have to show the studio you’re actually going to show up, you’re going to be there, you’re going to work hard, and you know your stuff.
RRFC: How do you like it over there at Serenity West?
Jake: It’s great. I love them. They’re like family now.
RRFC: And how have you improved since you started the program?
Jake: Things are coming to me easier. It’s not like I have to think about it as much. Just going through signal flow, I know how to hook up all the mics together, take it down properly, shut down the studio. It’s become almost habit. I don’t really have to think about it. Yeah, it’s all in the brain.
RRFC: Where would you like to see yourself down the road, now that you are an award winning assistant runner? Spin some goals for yourself.
Jake: As of right now, I’m not sure which direction I really want to take as an engineer yet. I’m still just going with it, going along with the ride. So I’ll probably see which direction I’ll probably take, if I want to do just tracking, or mixing, or all that. But I think my end goal, at the very end, I want to own a studio. I think that would be really cool.
