Pics and Tunes from Audio Recording Techniques

For the last round of Audio Recording Techniques we recruited the talent of TRAC Alum Sarah Dorrian, who sang and played guitar as students and interns from Studio West learned about micing, routing, patching and more. Listen to her track here. Next, they were joined by our "house band" (Peter Dyson on drums, Henrique Landim on bass, Hunter Levy on guitar and vox) who covered The Undertones' "Teenage Kicks". Listen.

News from NAMM

Peter and Mark visited NAMM yesterday expecting smaller crowds...only to find the place was still packed! Mark took a beta version of Avid's new User Certification Exam and got through the 100 questions in 30 minutes (the bar has been set!). Avid's plan is to redesign the certification process so both the video and audio sides of the house follow the same rules...we'll be posting news here and on the site about the new criteria and new levels of certification, so stay tuned!

TRAC Alum Records Debut EP at Studio West

TRAC Alum Hunter Levy is the singer/guitarist of San Diego-based heavy rock band Chanauk, who recorded their debut EP in Studio A of Studio West last week. The band chose engineer and TRAC instructor Kellogg Boynton to record and mix the project, based on his reputation and extensive Pro Tools expertise. Here’s what Hunter and the band had to say about the recording process:

“While most engineers use a direct signal for recording, Kellogg utilized a collection of microphones that gave me a great sound - big, growly and thick, it really provides a solid foundation for our songs.” -Rob Jones, bassist

“The best equipment combined with Kellogg’s knowledge at the helm enabled me to really dial in great clean and overdriven tones. This was definitely the most comfortable and non-intrusive recording experience I’ve ever had.” -Tyler Alvord, guitarist

“Kellogg was a very compassionate and welcoming engineer. It really helped having an engineer that understands the difficulty of having to record first out of the whole band. I also didn’t expect to be able to get such a great sound from my kit, which is optimized more toward a live setting.” -Nic Gentilella, drummer

“I love recording guitars at Studio West because they always turn out professional, especially compared to recording at home. You know you’re at an awesome studio when the studio owner’s wife brings you pastries in the morning.” -Hunter Levy, singer/guitarist

This Holiday Season...

...is in full swing! TRAC is celebrating 5 fantastic years of training and our home base, Studio West, is about to turn 40!

This past Friday, Our Man Jesse got the chance to watch a live set by Plain White T's in Studio A (that's him in the back row, 3rd from left). Here's how it went:

The band performed a 3-song acoustic set for an intimate gathering of 40 fans, closing with their biggest hit, "Hey There Delilah". The session was also streamed live over Slacker Radio and recorded for a potential future broadcast.

The five-member band brought in three acoustic guitars and a ukulele, and shakers and tambourines for the percussionist. All of the instruments and voices were recorded in to Pro Tools HD 8 at 24 bit/96Khz and returned to Studio A's SSL 4064E Console for mixdown. Each vocalist sang through an SM7b microphone except for lead singer Tom Higgenson, who sang through a U87 into a Teletronix LA-2A. Every microphone was routed through a Neve 1073 Preamp before being sent into Pro Tools.

Check Studio West's site for more photos and info!

TRAC alum returns to help fellow students

Dan Stelter, who joined us for several Pro Tools classes, Audio Recording Techniques (ART), Signal Processing with Waves and The Art of Mixing, will come back in this week to play for our latest group of ART students. The students will prep Dan's session, practice micing techniques and routing, and track some tunes. Stay tuned for photos!

TRAC catalog now available for download

Click here to download a .pdf version of our catalog, or give us a call at 858 592 0556 and we'll snail mail a hard copy to your door!

Classes added for October

Additional sessions of Pro Tools 210M and Pro Tools 220 have been added to the schedule for October....

If you got your Operator Certification in Pro Tools 6 or 7, PT220 is the course you need to get up to speed with version 8! We'll be meeting October 29 & 30 to discuss both Music Production and Post Production topics.

And if you're looking to get your Pro Tools Operator certification quick, we put another PT210M on the schedule for October 26 - 28 so we still have room for you!