Here at the Conservatory, the shipping department is always busy. Boxes abound everywhere, left and right, and currently my office is so full I can barely find a spot to set my laptop to type this up. But today, we got a special delivery. Or rather, some special deliveries.
More to come…
http://www.telefunken-elektroakustik.com/
Recently, chief editor of Recording Magazine Lorenz Rychner came out and visited the Conservatory. CRAS has had a relationship with Recording Magazine for a while, but this was the first time that Lorenz was actually able to come to see the campus in person. Recording Magazine is a phenomenal publication that covers all the ins and outs of recording, from techniques to gear, interviews and much more. We are proud to say that we offer complimentary issues of Recording Magazine to all of our current students, and the entire box of magazines that we got this last week have already flown off the shelves!
Lorenz got the full treatment of what we offer between both the Tempe and the Gilbert campuses, and he seemed to be quite pleased with what he saw! Here is a little clip of what he had to say in this current month’s publication:
“But beyond just that need for speedy mastering of one particular piece of production software, where do you go to learn the entire kit and kaboodle of audio production, not just for records, but audio for all kinds of end-uses, from games to television to movies to you-name-it, including the business end of it?
If you’re new to audio production, learning it all on your own, while not entirely impossible, won’t be quick or productive at first/ If you don’t have the time to wait around for it to happen, and you are serious enough to invest in your audio future, then a school can make it happen for you.
As one who used to teach in just such a school before taking on this magazine gig, I was delighted to visit CRAS in the Phoenix, Arizona area, a school that takes its stated mission seriously. The school has been around for just about as long as this magazine has been published, and it now operates out of two separate but interlinked campuses. Their curriculum impressed me mightily – 30 weeks of classes, structured in a ten-tier system of three weeks per “cycle”, with 24/7 access to the facilities outside class time. That’s a lot of opportunities to put into practice what the class time offered!
But here’s the kicker: Each student gets placed in a 12-week internship after school ends, with real-life companies and studios and organizations, selected according to the student’s personal aptitudes for the best match. Recording labels and commercial studios may be dwindling, but audio is not, so it’s good to see that youngsters are being prepared for the present and future in segments of the industry where their skills will be needed.”
Check out more of Recording Magazine and Lorenz’s works at their website here.
Born August 29, 1959, Chris Hadfield may be one of the most influential explorers of all time. Taking over the ISS (International Space Station) space station on March 13 of this year, Chris has done an incredible job becoming what should be the primary candidate of the future of International Ambassadors. He has had constant communication with Earth during his time abroad, and has used his time not only to communicate with his advisors and safety team, but has also answered numerous physic and aeronautic questions posed to him. For example, check out this video posed to him, regarding what happens when you ring out a wet towel in space. I know it sounds very elementary, but seriously check it out! If intergalactic physics bore you, I don’t know what I can do to make you interested in something:
Tomorrow, a la May 13th, Commander Chris Hadfield will be finishing his tour and returning to Earth. Tonight however, he paid his final due by recording and producing a music video of his version of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”. Originally released in 1969, “Space Oddity” the song was written as an allusion to the blockbuster movie “2001: A Space Oddysey”. Bowie’s version has become a classic in music history, as had it reached #15 on Billboard’s charts and was Bowie’s first major hit song.
As an incredible tribute, one which should go down in history, Commander Chris Hadfield posted his rendition of the song from space, with Earth in the background. Definitely check out this history making moment! Never before has anyone produced a song or music video from outside of the Earthen atmosphere, and this version lives up to all expectations!
According to recent news, Sylvia Massy, world renowned producer and engineer, will be selling her mainstay studio The Loud Palace. Beginning her engineering career in 1985, she has come a long way from just being a DJ. She has album credits on Tool’s Undertow, Johnny Cash Unchained, Powerman 5000 Tonight The Stars Revolt!, System of a Down’s self-titled album, and many more.
Having owned the Weed Palace in California since 2001, she has done a ton of work, but has finally decided to sell the set up and move back to LA for other projects. She is looking for buyers, so if you know anyone interested, send information their way!
It’s official!
Pulling up stakes and moving back to Los Angeles!
Looking to sell the Weed Palace and adjacent buildings or partner with someone to continue the studio business here at the old RadioStar Studios site
Please contact me at sylvia@loudpalace.com and keep an eye out for more posts about this.
And this means there will not be a Blackbird Underground Music Festival this year.
Deathcore metal band Emmure got a dose of danger at their Moscow show Tuesday night. During their set, singer Frankie Palmeri got a strong electric shock which was delivered through the microphone, that took him straight to the ground. He is OK now, but the ended up having to cancel the rest of that show. You can check out the video of this here -
So what went wrong? There isn’t any official word on what caused the shock, but we can consider a few things. First off, in America, the active voltage on most electrical outlets is 120V. In Russia, where this show happened, the devices run off 220V circuits, so that is a bit more of a substantial shock. Most music equipment runs on electricity, even dynamic mics, such as the SM58 seen in the video, will use a small amount of electricity to transfer the audio information from the mic capsule to the preamp.
Looking at a standard XLR cable, used for most microphones, you will notice three pins. This is similar to the electrical plug in the wall, where there is a hot, neutral and ground connection. Most of the electricity resides on the hot and neutral connections, and the ground is a safety design to balance any excess power and prevent shocks from happening.
In some cases, you may experience a “ground loop”. This occurs when there are too many grounds, or the grounds are incorrectly connected, and can result in a steady hum. In the US, that would be a 60Hz hum, since we us AC voltage that runs at that frequency. Russia runs at 50Hz, and also uses AC. This hum can become a bit of a problem, especially in a large PA setting, adding unwanted noise and load to the sound system. Most electronic and electrical devices have the possibility of a ground lift, which will disconnect the ground in order to prevent a ground loop from occurring.
There is a good chance that improper usage of a ground lift is what caused this to happen. There may have also been incorrect wiring in either the mic, the mic cable, or the preamp/distro box it was connected to. In some cases, I have seen people buy 3-prong to 2-prong adapters to work as a ground lift, or simply just pull out the ground pin from the connector itself. This is incredibly dangerous, and as we can see in the video above, accidents can certainly happen.
There is also speculation that perhaps there was phantom power applied to the mic. Phantom power is a 48V DC feed that is used to power most condenser microphones. While it is possible this was the culprit, it is highly unlikely. Even if that is the case, there must be some bad wiring in either the mic and/or the mic cable to cause this. While most dynamic mics don’t require phantom power, they do have built in transformers to prevent damage from occurring if phantom power is accidentally applied.
With all this in mind, this is why we have dedicated classes here at the Conservatory just for electronics and electrical troubleshooting. Today is in fact Troubleshooting day, with teachers Jim Bender and Terry Bussoletti going over information like AC versus DC, impedance, voltages and how circuits work, so that you as an audio engineer can run the safest shows possible!
The Conservatory of Recording Arts strives to keep up with the latest and greatest in the music industry. Whether that means having a 1:1 laptop program, where every student gets their own MacBook Pro, or having industry professionals give seminars at our school, we try to stay in touch with every part of the industry.
The bus pulled right up and made itself comfy in our Gilbert campus parking lot, and the amazing staff gave great tours all day. This is one of the most mind-blowing collections of technology I have seen! A full on recording studio, a video production center, and concert-providing solution on wheels, the Lennon tour bus has been touring the country to raise awareness and interest into the recording arts. While primarily focusing on high school and younger aspiring artists, they are open and interest to help anyone who wants to be part of the audio industry get their feet wet in the technology.
The tour will be visiting Alabama and Kentucky before heading overseas to bring this awesome attraction to Europe. Check out our teaser video from the CRAS experience.
In 2009, Brooke Engstrand graduated from the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences. Previous to coming to the Conservatory, she had spent over two years being the head of the sound department at her high school, and was also involved in an intership with Brazen Promotions booking bands, promoting shows and doing recordings.
After lighting many classrooms and warming countless hearts here, she moved out to California to do her internship at Mi Casa Media in Hollywood. After successfully finishing her internship, she managed to land a huge gig working for Blue Microphones. She worked in the Production department alongside fellow CRAS grad Maggie O’Brien.
Brooke never lost touch with her beloved friends and instructors, and was always willing to help out with anything that she could. Tragically, she recently passed away, leaving an emptiness where her huge heart had previously occupied so much space in so many people’s lives.
In tribute, Blue Mics have started a fundraiser. We can’t think of a better way to honor Brooke than by helping a student attend the school that helped her kick start it all, The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences. Brooke’s light, laughter and ever-positive attitude touched the lives of all who had the honor of meeting her. She came to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the audio industry, which is how many of us were introduced to her.
How it will work: The CRAS admissions team will identify a few star candidates that are ambitious and full of potential but need financial assistance to be able to attend the school. The candidates will then submit a letter to us explaining why they should be the recipient. At that time, we will award the strongest candidate the funds.
Last Thursday, the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences was lucky enough to be one of the stops on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus US tour! Aside from CRAS, they visited NAMM, the Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, the Summer X games, as well as countless other locations.
The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus is a non-profit, state-of-the-art mobile audio and HD video recording and production facility. In its sixteenth year, with the very newest technology and gear, the Bus continues to be dedicated to providing young people with tours of the studios and participation in free songwriting and multimedia production workshops. With the assistance of three on-board engineers, students learn how to write, perform, record, and produce original songs, produce and shoot music videos and documentaries and complete a broadcast quality music video – all in one day!
We got an exclusive tour of the bus and all of it’s incredible workings! I was amazed that they could really fit all that technology into one bus. From pre-production to post-production, live instruments to video creation, this bus can do it all. Three individual rooms, each separated by audio and visual isolating doors, contribute to the ongoing promotion of audio education in the world. Recently they’ve been touring the United States, but once they are done with this tour, they are headed over to Europe to bring the same amazing show to a new stage.
We will certainly have more about this, but for now, check out our quick video slideshow:
If for the slideshow doesn’t load, you can check out the photos directly on our Flickr.
In a world…without trained audio engineers…
Today CRAS will be hosting a special guest – the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus! The bus is a three studio engineering dream on wheels, funded by a non-profit organization designed to encourage the youth of America to follow their musical and video dreams. The bus is a full fledged production suite – containing three separable studios focusing on video, music and production arts. Full of gear from Avid, Apple, Apogee, Audio-Technica, Neutrik, Genelec and SSL!
If you can’t make it down to our Gilbert campus between 10:30am and 5:30pm today, you can certainly check out this video walkthrough of the bus:
The Tour Bus is funded by donations, and you can donate directly to them through their YouTube channel here.