image caption: CRAS graduate Benjamaar Hubbard, an apprentice engineer at Game Creek Video, with his Sports Emmy® Award. Hubbard will participate in the Open House’s Open Panel Forum on Oct. 13.
Gilbert, Ariz., Sept. 28, 2017 - The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences (CRAS; www.cras.edu), the premier institution for audio engineering education, will be opening the doors to its Gilbert, Ariz. campus (1205 N. Fiesta Blvd.) to prospective students, parents, and the media on Saturday, Oct. 14 from 10am – 4pm. Three CRAS graduates will be on hand for the Open House, and they will also be part of an Open Panel Forum held for current CRAS students the evening of Oct. 13.
“There are incredible opportunities in audio engineering out there, and we are dedicated in helping our students learn to harness their craft here at CRAS,” said Kirt Hamm, CRAS administrator. “For this reason, multiple times per year, we invite prospective students and their parents to attend our Open House events where they can meet and speak one-on-one with our internship team, faculty, staff, students and grads. They will also have the opportunity to see and participate in live demos in our studios, live sound venue, labs, and classrooms.”
Hamm continued, “CRAS wants to give prospective students an idea of what’s out there, in the open job market, and this is why we are excited to create the opportunity of combining the industry experience of our grads with the questions of future audio engineers. Besides CRAS’ mandatory internship program, getting its current, and prospective, students in touch with the school’s graduates who are either working for others, or who have made the leap into self employment, is huge. That’s what this panel is about in our upcoming Open House. Continued education, networking, and learning what it takes for going out on one’s own, by those who have done it already, is of enormous value for any student.”
Members of the graduate panel include:
·Gianfranco Hidalgo (Post/Studio Engineer) - Hidalgo currently works in L.A. at FotoKem as a freelance recording engineer and editor. He is also a senior editor at Deyan Audio and has edited hundreds of audio books. Some current credits he has received include for Blizzard Games “Overwatch”, Hearthstone and WOW, as well as the upcoming Star Wars, F is for Family, Disney’s Milo Murphy’s Law, and more.
·Benjamaar Hubbard (Broadcast) – Hubbard currently works for Game Creek Video as an apprentice engineer. Before that, he was an A2 at MLB Network and an audio operator at CBSN. He’s also worked for New England Sports Network (NESN) that covers the Boston Celtics, Red Sox, and Bruins, and Kraft Sports Productions (KSP) that covers the New England Patriots. He was also involved with building the 4K show file for MLB Network's weekly showcase game.
·Ben Sabin (Studio Engineer/Tech) – Sabin currently is a freelance recording engineer working for Producer Colin Brittain. He recently worked with One Ok Rock, All Time Low, and Papa Roach. He has also worked as a production assistant at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La Studios. This led to many opportunities, such as working for Jackson Browne at Groove Masters Studios, assisting at Steakhouse Studios, and tech work at 17Hz Studios.
At the Oct. 14 Open House, guests will be able to interact with CRAS faculty and get a taste of the curriculum and the state-or-the-art audio gear spread throughout its numerous classrooms as well as its 42-foot Mobile Broadcast Unit. They will also be able to participate in live demonstrations in many of these real world audio recording studios, live sound venue, and labs.
The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences is composed of two nearby campuses in Gilbert and Tempe, Ariz. A CRAS education includes Broadcast Audio, Live Sound, Audio Post for Film and TV, Music Production, Commercial Production and Video Game Audio, all taught by award-winning instructors who have excelled in their individual fields. CRAS’ structured programs, and highly qualified teaching staff, provide a professional and supportive atmosphere, which is complemented by its small class sizes allowing for individual instruction and assistance for students in engineering audio recordings. CRAS has been providing quality vocational training in Audio Recording for more than three decades. The curriculum and equipment are constantly being updated to keep pace with the rapid advancements in the music and sound recording industries. CRAS’ course offerings and subject matter have always centered around the skills and knowledge necessary for students’ success in the Audio Recording industries.
The 11-month program is designed to allow every student access to learn and train in all of the Conservatory’s studios which are comprised with state-of-the-art audio recording and mixing gear, the same equipment used in today’s finest studios and remote broadcast facilities, including Pro Tools 12, API Legacy consoles, SSL G+ and AWS consoles, Studer Vista consoles, and much more. All students must complete a 280-hour industry internship to graduate from the Master Recording Program II that may ultimately lead to industry employment.
Every year, CRAS graduates populate, in great numbers, the Grammy nominations for the year. A CRAS graduate was nominated for a 2017 Record of the Year Grammy Award. In addition, 32 CRAS graduates worked on 35 2017 Grammy-nominated albums and songs across 35 categories, of which 11 graduates received multiple credits on nominations.
“We want everyone to see, hear, and feel how our 11-month program focuses exclusively on what a student needs to know to begin living their passion in any one of the many facets of the Recording Arts,” Hamm concluded.
For more information on the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences, please visit www.cras.edu, contact Kirt Hamm, administrator, at 1-866-757-3059, or email to info@cras.edu.
About The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences
Based in the heart of The Valley of the Sun with two campuses in Gilbert and Tempe, Ariz., The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences (CRAS) is one of the country’s premier institutions for audio education. The Conservatory has developed a unique and highly effective way to help the future audio professional launch their careers in the recording industry and other related professional audio categories.
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