photo caption: DPA 4061 miniature condenser mic being used in the Cycle 8 Advanced Drum Clinic

Bigger isn’t necessarily better, and that’s no more true than with the DPA 4061 miniature condenser microphone. Students in the 8th Cycle advanced drum clinic use this mighty-mite to record toms and quickly find out that this mic can go where to mic has gone before. For instance, it can be placed inside an acoustic guitar for more effective isolation in a recording situation where vocals are being recorded at the same time. CRAS students are exposed to a lot of groundbreaking gear as they go through the program, providing them with a solid base of choices they can make, no matter how special the circumstances may be.

photo caption: Royer SF-24 active stereo ribbon mic over a Yamaha C5 Piano

When it comes to getting great recordings, it’s all about skill and the gear. CRAS students get lots of hands-on time to learn their craft, but they also get to record with some of the best gear that audio has to offer. For instance, the Royer SF-24 active stereo ribbon mic pictured above, is a fantastic way to easily capture anything in stereo and give it that “ribbony” sound. What is a ribbony sound? CRAS students know! To find out more about the school’s extensive mic locker, visit the website.

photo caption: Cycle 5 students Meghan Sizer and Megan Sure learning Pro Tools on the new Apple Mac Pro

The Conservatory recently updated all 14 Pro Tools HD TDM Lab and Studio D workstations with brand new Apple Mac Pro computers, the first audio school in the USA to do so. Each of the blazing fast towers feature Digidesign PCIe cards, 2.66 GHz Mac Intel Dual Core processors, 2 GHz of RAM and two 250 Gigabyte hard drives. Tests run by instructors on the new platforms had 300+ RTAS instantiations of D-Verb running without a hiccup. The Conservatory strives to provide the students a learning environment not only with the best legacy gear from SSL, Neve, Studer and more, but also the newest and best audio gear that manufacturers have to offer.