Nick Simonds has taken the express elevator to the top of his career. He graduated in March of 2006 and moved on to his internship then ended up at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas where he currently holds the position as Front of House Audio Engineer. In the two short years Nick has been out of school, he has mixed B.B. King, (həd) p.e., Twista and Snoop Dogg and has worked with a score of other bands supporting their crew. The Hard Rock is currently under expansion, building a new tower and live venue that will double the capacity of the current facility. Nick is on the ground floor of this endeavor finding gear for the new room.

photo caption: clockwise, Jon Hanson (Empirical Labs), Brenton Trotter (Stash Picks), Afton Hefley (Goblynz Groove Media), Eric Boyer (Presonus) and Ben Widmer (TC Electronic)

The recent annual Winter NAMM show in Anaheim California displayed the latest gear in music and audio to over 88,000 registrants. The show is a magnet for musical celebrities, manufacturers, musicians, recording engineers, producers and more. Conservatory staff visited the show and ran into a bevy of grads working the show for a variety of manufacturers.

Hey Everyone, This is Rafael Estrada, Conservatory graduate of 2004. I’m here in Pheonix visiting for a few days and came by to see some familiar faces at the CRAS. After completing MRP2, I did my Internship in Buffalo, NY at Chameleon West/ Trackmaster Studios, owned by Robby Takac and John Reznik from the Goo Goo Dolls. I’ve enjoyed much success woking there producing, recording and mixing many regional acts and some major label work. The CRAS prepared me well to work in this field, I’ve worked with people such as Ian Gillan of Deep Purple, Jeff Martin from The Tea Party and labels such as Atlantic, Capitol and Universal. I enjoy what I do and I wouldn’t trade my education at CRAS for anything. Making records is the greatest thing in the world to me, and I have to thank all of my instructors and peers at CRAS for all the knowledge and support they gave me. take care- Rafael Estrada

photo caption: DPA’s Joey Cicak and CRAS Director of Admissions Tonya Visconti

Conservatory grads not only work in studios around the globe, but for top audio manufacturers as well. 2006 grad Joseph Cicak started out at Blue Microphones, learning the ropes under 2000 grad Eric Boyer who is Blue’s VP of Manufacturing. Cicak worked at Blue until recently when he moved to Colorado and quickly hooked up with Danish Pro Audio (DPA), a major European mic manufacturer who’s US office is just outside of Denver. A Conservatory education positions a grad for a number of jobs including positions in Broadcast, Post, Recording, Live Sound, Music Business and Audio manufacturing.

photo caption: l to r, CRAS grad Roy Tony Boggs, Clinton’s manager Kenny Schmidt, CRAS intern Jonathan Sheets and CRAS Internship Coordinator Greg Stefus

What do Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Steely Dan, Bob Dylan, Tito Puente, Sheryl Crow, Paul Simon, Herbie Hancock and John Mayer have in common? They’ve all relied on Clinton Recording in NY City to make their records. The Conservatory figures big at Clinton with employee/CRAS grad Roy Tony Boggs and CRAS intern Jonathan Sheets taking part in day to day operations. The three-room facility has been around for 20 years and boasts a huge A room (50′x 55′x 24′h) with a Neve 8078 console, one of two at the facility, along with Pro Tools HD, an impressive mic locker and a large array of outboard gear and other audio toys.

photo caption: Krystle Sanno with CRAS insctructor Jeff Harris

Audioblogger: Recent grad Krystle Sanno, one of our favorite people featured on YouTube, was back in town to check in and hunt down some audio work. She has worked in NY with some heavyweights and stopped by to chat with us about her experineces.

Hey everybody. My name is Krystle Sanno (aka audiogirl20) and I graduated from the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences on 5/1/2007. Upon graduation, I moved to New York to start my career. I began as an intern at Legacy Recording Studios and was hired on after only five days. I really enjoyed what I was doing; getting to meet high profile clients, occasionally helping set up for large sessions and the few assisting gigs I got. I got to work with people like Wu-Tang, 50 Cent, Cartel, The Police, Carly Simon, Faith Hill, Phil Ramone, J-Lo, and Marc Anthony just to name a few. I worked a lot of hours and got a lot of experience out there.

I am sure that some of you have heard about the Band in a Bubble, Cartel. They recorded their whole album down on the pier in New York. They mixed the album and recorded some live tracks at our studio and I got the opportunity to assist on the CD. The album with my name listed as an assistant is being released on Tuesday.

photo caption: (l to r) TJ Rogers and Administrator Kirt Hamm

Film composer and soundtrack executive producer TJ SupaHype Rogers dropped by the Gilbert location today to say hi and catch up. He’s a 1994 grad that has been doing very well.

Audioblogger: What have you been doing since you graduated TJ?

TJ: After leaving Arizona in 1994 I landed an internship at Jive Records. I interned there from about June 94, until about January 95. Then began working as a general assistant at The Hit Factory. While working there I created a very good relationship with mastering engineer Herb Powers Jr. I had no idea at the time that he was one of the most successful engineers in the industry. He left the Hit Factory to open his own company (partnering with Robert Clivilles of C&C Music Factory) in 1996 and brought me over as assistant manager in Jan 97. Herb Powers House of Sound was extremely successful, up to 2 months in advance garnering litterally every major label and producer working in R&B/Hip Hop/Dance and other genres.

We were the #1 studio in America (Billboard Magazine) in 1999 being so busy that we turned down a Whitney Houston session. Even P Diddy booked in advance. I worked as assistant manager there until about 2000 when they decided to split. I also outside of working there opened my own entertainment company. In 2000 when they split, I took over management for the House of Sound C&C Music studio. We later changed the name to C&C Music Factory Mix Studios, bringing in clients such as Praswell (Fugees), Vada Nobles (Miseducation of Lauren Hill), and Tiger (David Hollister).

I left the studio in 2002 and moved back to Arizona. My outide business was running well at the time and there were family things that I needed to attend to. During the period that I worked in music, my brother Chris Rogers, worked in film. He wrote and directed independent film winning film festivals and we released our first film in 2001 titled Hoop Soldiers. The film went international on DVD and to Cinemax (cable). I performed in the movie, was the music supervisor of the film and executive produced the soundtrack. We released another film “Cody Black” last year nationwide on DVD (Koch Int.) and I self released the “Cody Black Soundtrack” internationally through iTunes and other major online music networks through my own record label “Supa Music“. I am currently putting the finishing touches on the next film project “Pop The Clutch” and will be releasing the soundtrack before the end of this year. I am also working with the significant music outlets here to raise an entertainment movement here in Arizona.

photo caption: Marita Wright graduated in July 2006 and is now assistant to the Sr. Vice President of Operations at Masterfonics in Nashville

When I recently asked CRAS grad Marita Wright if she likes her new job, she replied: “Are you kidding?! This is my dream job!! Everyday I come to work at one of the premier recording studios on Music Row in Nashville. I’m learning first-hand all of the intimate details of what makes a studio like this successful, and that’s invaluable in my book.”

Marita decided to go into the business side of the music industry, just one of the many options open to grads from the Conservatory. Students receive a solid background in Music Business and other related areas during their 30-week stay on campus that prepares them for a variety of jobs. No matter what you decide to do, your CRAS education gets your foot in the door.

Marita says it best: “My experience at CRAS gave me the confidence I needed to come out to Nashville feeling prepared. I was prepared to walk into any studio with an understanding of how it runs in both technical and business terms. If I had to choose schools over again, there is no doubt I would go with the CRAS.”

photo caption: (l to r) Eric Boyer from Blue tours Gilbert campus with Jayson Khademi of the Internship Dept.

The CRAS is big on building bridges between the school and the top manufacturers in the industry. One such company is Blue Mics, who’s products are in the mic lockers of both campuses. Each location has a pair of Blue Bottles for classes and projects, and the school uses three Blue Omni Mouse for the Decca Tree in the Post Production scoring class. Eric Boyer, CRAS class of 12/1/2000, also happens to be Blue’s Vice President of Manufacturing. Like all CRAS students, Eric used his mandatory internship to get his foot in the door, in his case, into the offices and management of one of the top microphone manufacturers in the industry. He recently visited the Gilbert campus to talk to 9th and 10th cycle students about opportunities in the manufacturing end of the recording industry.