AES Section Meeting Reports

Photo of the Grads

Meeting Topic: CRAS Grad Panel

Moderator Name: CRAS Internship Coordinator - Connor Lynch

Speaker Name: CRAS Grads - Skylar Childress, Jonathan Mireles, Stiv Schneider

Other business or activities at the meeting: Skylar Childress - 2021 Graduate
Skylar is currently living in Dallas, TX working at Deep Ellum Art Company as their A2 Audio Engineer after interning in Kansas at a radio station as an assistant in production and sound board operator. In early 2022, an intern opportunity was posted for an album recording in Dallas and she decided to go for it. This led to being an assistant recording engineer for Snarky Puppy's latest album "Empire Central" and her current position at Deep Ellum Art Company.



Jonathan Mireles - 2013 Graduate
Jonathan was lucky to intern for German composer Klaus Badelt and now is a Freelance Audio Engineer in Los Angeles, CA under his own Music Production company named, "Audio Mech Productions". Through his new company, musicians, bands, and other producers would hire him for recording, editing, mixing, and full productions he started expanding his connections outside of LA and caught the attention of Travis Barker, who asked him to work at his private studio. Through this connection, Jonathan has had the opportunity to work with Blink-182, MGK, JXDN, Avril, and more.



Stiv Schneider - 2010 Graduate
Stiv is an ADR Mixer based in Los Angeles. After graduating from CRAS in 2010, Stiv got his start in LA as a runner at multiple music recording studios, eventually working his way to becoming a vocal engineer for hip-hop artists such as Master P, Deezle, and Dee-1. He has been at Aura Sound and Color in Burbank since 2021.

As principal ADR mixer, he gets to work on numerous exciting projects on a daily basis. Recent credits include: "The Fabelmans", "Only Murders in the Building", which earned him a Cinema Audio Society nomination for best mixing, and "Call of Duty: Vanguard", for which he won an MPSE award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing - Game Audio.

Meeting Location: Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences, Gilbert Az

Summary

The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences had the honor of hosting a Grad Panel event for the students. The graduates in attendance were Stiv Schneider, Skyler Childress, and Johnathan Mireiles. Stiv's background started in the music production industry and then found connections from a friend later in his career to work at a post-production facility. His notable clients are Master P, Social Distortion, and Call of Duty Vanguard. Skyler graduated at the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak and had a hard time finding employment at first she stayed persistent in her search and ended up landing a job as a live sound production manager in Dallas, Texas, and worked with Snarky Puppy. Johnathan moved out to Los Angeles and started at Clauses Studios, and then moved to a technician at Blue Microphones and made connections with UAD and Warm Audio. After his time there, Johnathan started to bounce back and forth between studios and free-lancing. This is where he achieved his life goal and engineer for Blink-182. Connor took a unique approach with his interview, asking questions to help students on their journey after CRAS, but also diving into the personable experience the graduates had in their jobs. One of the pivotal questions was "How to separate yourself from other interns and stand out in different studios?" The answers all consisted of being prepared, expanding your skillset whenever needed, and always being prepared for anything. The graduates made a huge emphasis on the importance of networking in the industry, claiming that the majority of their success relied on their ability to meet new people and build their clientele that way. When starting an internship, the graduates enforced the importance of building trust with a studio. The more tasks you can handle effectively, the more the studio will trust you to do more advanced things. Soft skills are crucial in this industry and Connor asked the graduates, how soft skills play a role in the audio industry. Everyone had similar answers, soft skills are what separates you from everyone else. The soft skills that were most noticeable, were being patient, work ethic, and craving knowledge. Connor ended the interview by asking the graduates a last piece of advice to the students and they all concluded to never lose faith and push through adversity and keep a positive mindset. This segwayed into the students asking questions to the graduates to get insight into their situations.

Written By: CRAS AES Secretary - D'Andre (Zo) Creer

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