Group Photo with CRAS Grad Noah Madrid
Malcolm welcomes and thanks everyone for joining today's Conservatory for
Recording Arts and Sciences (CRAS) weekly Audio Engineering Society (AES)
meeting.
Malcolm explains that AES is an international organization that connects audio
engineers, artists, and scientists worldwide to come together and promote advances in
audio and continues to spread knowledge and research. The standards committee is
responsible for setting standards in the industry for professionals on all sides of the
industry. Malcolm adds that AES is made for like-minded individuals who have a
passion for audio, whether it is live sound, music production, broadcast, or any other
profession in the audio industry. The AES meetings are a safe place for everyone to be
themselves and further their knowledge and careers through learning and networking.
AES is international meaning, the UK, Berlin, here in the U.S. and so many more places
Countries not only have different sections of AES but also so many different events.
Becoming a member is very easy and it comes with so many amazing benefits. Benefits
include being able to attend AES events, discounts, tips and information on certain
topics, job opportunities and so much more. Malcolm notes that the meetings are
completely free for any student to join every Monday at 6:30 p.m. But if they would like
to become a member, students will have to pay a yearly payment. Students will get a
discount on their first year of $50. It will go up $25 every year until they hit their fifth year
it will max out at $150 a year.
Malcolm then introduces the newest CRAS AES office holders. First, this is Malcolm's last official meeting as President. Nolan Emery will be taking over
Malcolm's position as President and Anthony Vega will be assisting him as
co-president. Logan Rodriguez will be stepping into the role of vice president. Elijah
Harley and Megan Aguilar Buchert will be the newest secretaries. KJ Clark has taken
the role of vice secretary, and last but not least Ashton Nelson is tech. David Kohr, AES
Student Section Faculty Advisor wanted to take this time to thank Malcolm for
everything he has done for AES. Malcolm has been an AES office holder for quite some
time and has not only contributed a lot but also made a great impact on the students.
David presented Malcolm with his letter of recommendation to take with him when he
goes on his internship. Everyone gives him a big round of applause as a thank you for
everything he has contributed.
Then Malcolm has everyone introduce themselves by name, cycle, and the
question of the week: If you could work with any artist who would it be?
Answers ranged from Post Malone, Jon Bellion, Mac Miller, Queen, Beyonce,
Nirvana, Gorillaz, Dua Lipa, Slip Knot, J. Cole, Bruno Mars, and so many more great
artists.
Malcolm thanked everyone for sharing their answers and having so many people
come to today's meeting.
Some announcements include our Focusrite Advanced Training RedNet
Certification class that will be held over Zoom on Wednesday, August 23rd at 6:30 p.m.
The webinar will be hosted by Focusrite Pro Senior Technical Specialist, Alejandro
Flores. This certification course is for all students who have already taken the Core
Certification Class and passed the first certification. Since this is the Advanced
Certification Course, students can add this along with the first certification, and will look
great on their resume.
CRAS will also be having a Professionalism clinic held by CRAS's Director of
Education, Robert Brock (Brock). In this clinic, Brock will discuss topics including Social
Media, Email Etiquette, Risk vs. Reward, and more. This event will be held on Thursday,
August 31st at 6:30 pm.
Next, Malcolm introduces a very special guest CRAS Grad Noah Madrid. Noah
starts with a bit of background on how he got into making music. He first got introduced
to music when he was 18 years old. He wasn't musically talented and never felt like he
could be the artist himself, but always found an interest in recording his friends. He first
got into recording by recording a friend of his, who funny enough is also a CRAS grad.
Ever since then, he started to learn how to use Logic, and his love for recording only
grew from there.
While a student at CRAS in his 9th cycle the pandemic hit. He talks
about his experience of what it was like from being a student who spent almost every
day at school to going almost entirely online. His exit ceremony was scheduled for May
2020, but due to the pandemic, his exit ceremony didn't happen until October 2020.
Finances were a struggle for him at the time, instead of going to LA like he originally
planned, he decided to open his own studio in Tempe. His friend who is a producer, and
himself as an engineer ran the studio. It was something small, but he made it work.
Eventually, over time he got a job opportunity to move out to LA and decided to take it.
He found a producer who was looking for an engineer, and Noah saw this as a perfect
job opportunity. It was a very fast decision, but it was definitely worth it in the end. He
saw a post from Morning Astrada, a Grammy-award-winning engineer who has worked
with Diddy, Camilla Cabello, Amine, and more, reaching out looking for an audio
engineer who could help him out. That night Noah decided to pack up his things and
drive to LA. He then messaged Morning Astrada asking if he could help along with his
resume. Noah got a response the next morning asking if he could be there at 4 p.m., he
showed up and never left.
As time went on he began engineering under Camper, a
Grammy-award-winning producer who has credits with H.E.R, Brandy, Jay Z, Big Sean,
etc. He explains how going from being a personal engineer for his own studio to working
with a producer at a professional studio was a huge step for him. In the beginning of
working with Camper Noah continued to stay proactive by always texting Camper to see
if he needed any help. Noah kept that going for a couple of weeks until Camper started
to text him.
He talks about moving away from working with Camper and getting a job as
a runner for Paramount. He reconnected with Rachel, the job coordinator for CRAS, and
she sent his resume over to them and soon got hired. He started with small tasks like
taking out the trash, cleaning, making cookies, etc. He then got picked up by Terris
Martin who has been working for him for 3 months.
Malcolm asks about some of his personal credits. Noah talks about a credit he
actually got before he started at CRAS. He got to program and arrange the "Shea Butter
Baby Tour" for Ari Lennox. He was also able to record ICU by Coco Jones. It has been
on the Billboard Hot 100 for twenty weeks now.
He went through what his experience at CRAS was like. Even though Covid
happened while he was a student, his grades were still up to par. He spoke about all of
the great things he learned while at CRAS. He had struggles sometimes not having
enough money for things like his own place and food. Malcolm then asked Noah what
the main thing that got him where he is now? He answered by understanding
self-awareness and knowing himself, and he strongly believed that luck truly played a
role in his career.
Malcolm then opens the floor for students to ask questions. Questions and
answers include some of the following:
Q: If you could revisit one thing you learned at CRAS that would have really
helped you out when you graduated what would it be?
A: Mic Placement, it's so important. The mix starts with the mic placement, 100%.
Learn all of the mic placements. You learn them here, but once you are working with
professional artists everyone is working at the highest level and so do you. So
understanding mic placements and knowing your phase relationships is something I
would've never thought about before I left CRAS.
Q: What was it like working with Morning Astrada every day? What were some of
the tasks you had to do?
A: I mixed with him, so I was able to do all of his mix preps and stem printing. I
was able to sit with him while he mixed. I was really blessed to be able to work with him.
He got me to LA and got me a lot of my gigs. I learned so much from him every single
day.
Q: Who is the most creative artist you have worked with?
A: Terris Martin, hands down.
Q: Do you use any other DAW other than pro tools?
A: I love Abelton. I was recording with Abelton way before I started using Pro
Tools. I feel a lot more creative in Ableton, but nothing compares to Pro Tools editing
and routing capabilities.
Q: To add to that, have you ever worked in a studio where they use another DAW
other than Pro Tools?
A: Producers like Ableton, and Logic. You will see a lot of people using Logic to
record nowadays. Mainly Pro Tools is used though. I have every DAW on my computer
just in case, because I never know when I might need a specific DAW.
Q: If you had any advice for the field of networking what would it be?
A: One of the studio rules here at CRAS is "be cool" and I 100% agree with that.
You are working with artists, and people that are creating the culture. Being a good
person will really show and more people will want to work with you.
Q: What is one piece of advice for mixing you are willing to share with us?
A: Less is more. In my recording sessions, I will have no more than two to three
plug-ins. Use them wisely.
Q: Is there ever an acceptable time for those of us who are musically talented,
like making beats, to give it to the artist for them to use?
A: It depends on your relationship with the artist. But I would say other than that
no. When you are working for someone you are working for them, not the other way
around. They are not there to see you, they are there for themselves. You are paid to be
an engineer. That doesn't mean you can't put your stuff out there, but you need to build
that relationship before you do something like that. But if you are interning at a studio do
not do that. First impressions are very important and if you start off like that it definitely
won't go well.
Q: What is one thing you did not learn from CRAS that you learned in the field
that you wish you learned before you went into the field?
A: You have to be in the chair in order to learn. Everything you learn here will
help you, but you truly won't get that experience until you are in the hot seat. I learn the
best from being thrown in the fire, I have to fail to learn. You guys are going to fail, I
hope you know that. But it's okay everyone fails, I have done it so many times. You can't
beat yourself up over it, you just have to learn from it.
The students took great advantage of having this time to ask questions. Noah
spent almost an hour answering questions. Malcolm thanked Noah for answering all of
the student's questions. The students gave Noah one last big round of applause.
Malcolm then moves on to the next slide, which includes the video of the week.
Since the meeting is getting short on time Malcolm will save the video for everyone to
watch at next week's meeting and will include it in today's meeting email.
Next, he speaks about the AES sample of the week. In the email for this week,
Malcolm will include a sample where the students are free to do whatever they want
with it. The sample will be sent to all students. The students are free to take that sample
and make a song, a beat, add sound effects, and whatever they want to create with it.
The free plug-in of the week is the LA-LA which is a replica of the LA-2A. It will
also be included in this week's email.
Malcolm then encourages everyone to create a subgroup. These subgroups can
be anything the student(s) may want to create a group about. All of our subgroups have
just ended since our last group who just left ran all of the subgroups. Malcolm
encourages everyone to continue creating subgroups. They are a fun way to learn
something new and are great for networking. To create a subgroup, the student will
have to talk to David Kohr and have at least two or more people who are interested in
attending.
Malcolm then introduces the mentor slide. CRAS's mentorship program is such a
great resource for students who may need help with any struggle that may arise while at
CRAS. The mentors will also host review classes that the students can attend. To reach
out to a mentor all the student has to do is send Brandon Valfre, CRAS's mentorship
coordinator, an email asking to get in contact with a mentor. From there, a mentor will
get in contact with the student and they can schedule a time to meet. If the student
would like to become a mentor they have to wait till they are at least in the 8th cycle,
they must have 100% attendance, and a 3.8 GPA or higher. Most of the time Brandon
will reach out to the student and schedule an interview.
Lastly, Malcolm introduces Megan to speak on one of AES's newest slides about
Mental Health. She explains that CRAS is not an easy program and everyone will
struggle at least once in this program. But it's okay because we have all been through it.
She wanted to give resources for academic and mental health struggles for the students
just in case they may need them in the future. She starts with some solutions for
academic struggles. These include talking to a mentor, asking questions either in or
after class, going to review classes, and making a study group with classmates. Then
she moves on to strategies to help if someone may be struggling emotionally or
mentally. Coping skills are a huge help, this can include going on a walk, talking to a
friend, listening to music, reading, writing, and anything that will distract your mind. She
stresses that sometimes you just need a break. School is a lot especially when they
may be struggling with life outside of school, she encourages taking a break from
school. Even if it's just for 5 minutes to practice deep breathing. Breaks are always
needed, especially in this environment. She reminds everyone one last time that
everyone on the board is here for them and never be afraid to reach out.
Malcolm thanks everyone who joined today's meeting. With that, the meeting
comes to a close.
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