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With the right experience and connections, you can jumpstart your career in the music industry.
About the Recording Connection
The Recording Connection is an industry-recognized trade school, a division of the Recording, Radio, Film and CASA Schools (RRFC). Our program is designed not only to train you for a career as an audio engineer or music producer, but also to help you break into the industry by helping you gain real-world experience and connections. We accomplish all this by our mentor-apprentice (extern) approach, in which we pair you with a real music producer or audio engineer who trains you one-on-one in an actual recording studio, combining a structured-yet-flexible curriculum with plenty of hands-on training. By learning on-the-job, you not only learn how record, produce and mix, but you also have the opportunity to learn the inner workings of the industry and make valuable connections with other industry professionals that can help establish your career.
First established in 1989, the Recording Connection has placed more than 11,000 students as working apprentices (externs) in real recording studios throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Australia and the U.K. We partner with hundreds of professional producers and engineers to mentor our students, including many who have worked with some of the biggest artists in the business. We screen all our mentors carefully to ensure that they have the knowledge and proven experience to help our students launch their careers.
Who Will Benefit From the Recording Connection?
The Recording Connection is an excellent on-the-job training program for anyone who wants to pursue a career in the recording industry as a music producer or audio engineer. It’s also a great program for musicians and composers who desire to learn more about the recording process in order to perfect their craft. (We’ve even seen established recording artists enroll in our program to enhance their skills.) Whether you want to open your own project studio, produce major label artists, compose music for film and TV, become a hip-hop beat maker, or even become a club DJ, the Recording Connection can provide key training, experience and connections to get you started on your career.
There are many different career paths within the recording industry, and the Recording Connection is designed to match students with mentors within their particular field of interest, and whenever possible, within their chosen genres of interest. Within our basic audio engineering and music production programs, we currently offer customized training for the following career paths:
- Electronic music production
- Hip-hop music production/beat making
- Live sound engineering
- Post production audio
- Audio for film, TV and video games
- Touring DJ
- Music business (artist management, label executive, etc.)
About Recording Connection and Our Other Schools
The Recording Connection is one of four distinct schools under the banner of the Recording, Radio, Film Connection & CASA Schools (RRFC). Each of our schools utilizes the same mentor-apprentice (extern) approach to train our students on-the-job:
- The Radio Connection trains students in real broadcasting facilities for careers in radio broadcasting
- The Film Connection trains students in real production companies for careers in film, TV and video production
- The Chef’s Apprentice School of the Arts trains students in real dining establishments for careers in the culinary arts
RRFC first began placing students for on-the-job training and mentoring in 1983 (with Radio Connection). Since that time, we have become known as an industry leader in the mentor-apprentice (extern) training approach. We have found that this approach is more effective than theoretical instruction alone in helping our students get jobs in fields and industries that can be otherwise difficult to break into. Once programs are completed, job placements are typically high, with many of RRFC graduates finding work in their chosen fields within a year.* Click here to read success stories from our students.
*Job placement statistics represent the percentage of students who graduated between May 1, 2015 and April 30, 2016 and found work related to their studies within six months of graduation.
Affiliations and Organizations
The Recording Connection is a member in good standing with numerous business and industry associations, including the Better Business Bureau, The Recording Academy, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) and numerous others. Click here to see the full list of our affiliations.