Deguara Scores With Studio

Andy Deguara has seen steady growth in his studio business for six years, and he credits it to sound business practices learned from his dad and his Conservatory education. “I knew before I even attended the Conservatory that I wanted to own a studio,” says the affable Deguara. “I was able to take the skills I learned there, and apply them everyday.”

Deguara’s A and D Studios’ (aanddstudios.com) runs a variety of gear including a full Pro Tools Mix Plus System, a 2-inch 24 track Studer A-80 analog recorder, 24 tracks of Tascam DA-38’s and 16 Tracks of Alesis ADAT’s. In addition to Pro Tools, he also runs SONAR, Logic, and Cubase. Deguara finds that running so many different platforms makes his studio more competitive. “I don’t like turning away work because I am not compatible with other recording formats.”

Deguara’s client base varies from recording R&B, Rap and Hip-Hop but he also does voice over work for major corporations like Kaiser Permanente. He also does work for major labels like Arista, but finds his bread and butter comes from small independent labels. “The majority of music recording we do is for small independent record labels,” he says. I have been fortunate enough to develop good relationships with these labels so we are working on multiple projects at a time with them.”

Deguara accurately sums up why his Conservatory education gave him an edge. “Looking back now I can see how important that was for me to build my business. As a business owner you deal with a lot of different circumstances in a much broader range of fields than if you just chose to work in one field. The Conservatory in one way or another covered them all.”

Students Get Taste of LA

Four top-level industry professionals recently visited the Conservatory of Recording Arts in Arizona to speak to a group of 400 students and staff about careers in audio and techniques used in Post and Recording. Musician/Producer Jeff Bova, Director of Audio Services at Ascent Media Norma Perez, Supervising Mixer for Warner Bros. Pictures Robert Corti and CEO/Creator of the Indie A&R company, TAXI Michael Laskow were on hand for the panel that featured various Pro Tools sessions and film clips documenting the production process and film sound restoration techniques.
“Norma, Jeff, Robert and Michael are quintessential pros who have a wealth of experience. It’s great for our students to see and hear what it takes to work at the top level in our industry, says Administrator Kirt Hamm. The panel not only touched on the technical side, but what skills students would need on the “people” side of the business. “We stress the importance of interpersonal skills paired with proficiency across a wide range of audio disciplines, says Hamm. Knowing audio isn’t enough, students have to be able to communicate and work efficiently at the entry level to advance quickly up the audio ladder.”

Picture caption: Jeff Bova, Michael Laskow, Norma Perez, Robert Corti and Kirt Hamm

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