photo caption: l to r, Composer Jack Wall, Michel Henein and impressario Tommy Tallarico of VGL

Michel Henein will tell you unabashedly that he is a game geek. He loves to play, and especially work on the production end, making custom interactive audio work within a game engine. His background is impressive, having worked with Academy Award winning composer Hans Zimmer at Media Ventures, and Rainbow Studios in Arizona where he was on the team for the Cars game.

In one short year at the Conservatory, Michel has been instrumental in the development of the Conservatory’s game audio classes and most recently, worked with Audiokinetic on creating a professional curriculum for game audio producers. Audiokinetic is the company responsible for the Wwise pipeline solution for game audio, the app used exclusively by the Conservatory in all their programs. If you’re at the upcoming Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco (March 5-10), you can meet Michel in the Audiokinetic booth where he will be teaching Wwise.

You can read Michel’s work in the March 2007 issue of Mix magazine where he wrote features on Game Audio Integration and the Video Games Live show that has been touring the world.

photo caption: CRAS instructor Robert Brock in Sydney Australia

Conservatory instructors are experts in their field. For instance, Robert Brock is a certified Apple Logic Pro trainer who travels around the world to train others to teach Logic. He also helped write the definitive text on the popular Apple DAW, Apple Pro Training Series: Logic Pro 6 with Martin Sitter. Other CRAS instructor’s with world-class experience include Keith Morris who traveled to Moscow to mix live sound for the UK pop star Jem, and Kevin Becka, who is technical editor of Mix magazine. Other teacher’s with interesting and varied backgrounds include Chris Bailey who is an independent film maker, Michel Henein who has his own game production company, Clifton Batchelor who is a lawyer, John Berry who has composed over 300 published works and Grammy winner Jeff Thomas who is an independent recording engineer.

photo caption: Conservatory tech Dale Epperson in studio with audio legend Les Paul

Usually, having a “past” is a bad thing, but for CRAS tech Dale Epperson, it’s an impressive thing. Dale has a history of work with guitarist and inventor Les Paul. Over the years, he’s worked in Les’s home studio, keeping it running in top condition. Les’s career has spanned over 70 years (he’s currently 92!), and his contributions to audio are impressive. For one, he invented the multi-track recorder and the first solid body guitar which became the Gibson Les Paul and is still used today by top guitarists all over the globe. Les plays regular monday gigs in New York’s Iridium night club and tinker’s in his home studio which contains most of the original gear he used to make hits in the 50s. There have even been a few CRAS students who have interned with the legend.

photo caption: Administrative Assistant Marisa Nolan busy on the phones

At the CRAS, the human touch is important. After all, life is not just about audio–it takes people to make the world go ’round. That’s where the Conservatory’s Student Services, Financial Aid, Sales and Admin staff come in, making sure the incoming and on-campus student’s needs are expertly taken care of with a smile. For instance, Marisa Nolan, pictured above, is the first voice you’ll here when you call our main line at 800-562-6383. She makes sure your time on hold is a short one and that you get connected to the right person with the information you need. Next time you call, be sure to say hi to Marisa and mention that you saw her pretty face on our Blog.