Here's What Our Music & Recording Students Did in May 2009.

What Did You Do?

This is the Kind of Student Who Will Be Working in the
Music and Audio Business by November 2009. WILL YOU?

Backstage at New Kids on the Block

Alex Santilli
Philadelphia Recording Student

My mentor, Joey Heier, of Crystal Clear Studios, and I, Alex Santilli, got all access passes to the New Kids on the Block Concert in Baltimore Maryland. I’ll admit I’m not a devoted fan of NKOTB, but they’re production values are incredible. We skipped the line and met with Joey’s long-time friend and NKOTB guitarist Fish, who has long list of credits including Christina Aguilera, Prince, and Nas. We arrived as the fans were still arriving…

The nearly all-female fan base begins to arrive

While the concert filled to the brim with avid concert goers, Joey and I got to hang with Fish and look backstage at the amazing array of backstage sound boards and electronics.

Here we can see the audio engineer in charge of the mixes of the in-ear monitors

As The concert begun Joey and I were escorted back to the gated-off area reserved for the sound crew. We grabbed a seat on a chest of equipment and enjoyed the show. Between songs we got to talk with their Chief Audio Engineer in charge of live mixes. Behind us were multiple Hi-Def Cameras and in front of us was a multi-hundred thousand dollar Pro Tools Mixing Board.

The Concert Begins! (The concert is as loud as jet engine, but five thousand screaming fans are louder!)

As the concert came to a close we got to know the Pro Tools Board that the live mixing was done on. The Chief Engineer uses Diamond Bundle Waves Plugins; he was especially fond of the C2 compressor and TruVerb. Each song’s mix and effects were preprogrammed in with flying faders and pro tools data. Before each song the data was loaded via remote control and the Audio Engineer adjusted the mix for the arena.

Joey Heier with the live Pro Tools Board

After the Concert, Joey and I met up with Fish to congratulate him on the great performance and so we could get a little tour of the busses. Time was short, since they’re always one the move with 4 shows a week!

Joey and I meet Fish to hang out by the tour busses

All in all, it was an educational and fun experience to see a fantastic live sound crew at work. A big thanks to the Recording Connection for hooking me up with a fantastic mentor!.

Check out Joey Heier’s Studio in Philadelphia: Www.CrystalClearStudio.com
Alex Santilli’s Website: Www.TaoTeTech.com
And Michael “Fish” Herring’s Site: Www.ColorBlindFish.com

Previous Student Spotlight Reports

Dec 2008 Feb 2009

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We could tell from day one that Preston was a go-getter. He had the drive, the passion and the ear for success in the music recording business. We weren't wrong. Today, Preston is the Chief Audio Engineer at a top Los Angeles Recording Studio. Watch this 8.5 minute video and see if you have what it takes.