The proper tools are necessary for any craftsman to put their passions to work, and the world of professional audio is no different. Proudly, The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences (CRAS; www.cras.edu), the premier institution for audio engineering education, has announced that new students entering the Master Recording Program will receive numerous Blue “tools” as a part of their Laptop Recording Package when starting classes at the renowned recording institution, effective Sept. 15.
“CRAS and Blue have a successful history together, from product clinics for our students to Blue’s Internship Program that CRAS students have participated in and, in many cases, have been hired to work at Blue,” explained Kirt Hamm, CRAS administrator. “As both CRAS and Blue believe in a ‘real world education’, it was ideal that we strike this accord for our students to receive Blue gear upon starting classes here at CRAS. Our faculty and students are very excited with what is now available to our incoming classes to help them learn on…the very same top shelf gear used in today’s leading recording studios.”
As part of the MacBook Pro Laptop Recording Package that students receive upon starting classes at CRAS, Blue is providing a Spark SL microphone, Mo-Fi headphones, and Dual cable. Alongside Blue’s generosity towards CRAS students, the Laptop Recording Package also includes Avid Pro Tools, the Apple Pro Apps bundle with Logic Pro X, Compressor, and Final Cut Pro, MainStage, and Motion, and plug-in bundles from iZotope and Waves. It also includes a Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 USB audio interface.
“Blue has great history with the students at CRAS, and this student package partnership was a natural next step in supporting the next generation of audio professionals there,” added Ben Thompkins, Blue regional sales manager. “We feel it’s important to provide students with high-quality, professional audio tools early in their education, and our hope is that these tools help foster more creativity and support CRAS students as they move to the next level in audio production.”
Thompkins said that they chose Spark SL, Mo-Fi, and Dual for the CRAS students because they are exceptional pieces for starting out a mic locker. “The transparent sound and incredible flexibility of Spark SL allows students to record everything from vocals and guitar to pianos and percussion. The switchable 100Hz high-pass filter and -20dB pad bring professional versatility to recording sessions, especially as students experiment with placements, sound capture and a variety of sources.”
Pairing Spark SL with Mo-Fi is a perfect fit for CRAS students, explained Thompkins. “Mo-Fi gives students the freedom to record and monitor outside of the confines of a studio – for home studio or mobile studio setups – while still providing studio-quality accuracy across their entire work flow from studio to laptop. Finally, our 22-AWG high-fidelity Dual cable delivers the full frequency range of your microphone with accuracy and transparency.”
This exciting collaboration between CRAS’ world-renown education and Blue’s world-renown product excellence is the latest in a long stream of industry alliances. Said Hamm, “Our successes are measured by our graduates’ successes. We are constantly looking to enhance our current students’ educational experience by teaming up with industry leaders, such as iZotope, Wwise, SSL, and Studer. We firmly believe in giving our students the ability of entering the industry with the best training possible, and with these kinds of alliances, we believe that we are providing the best possible route to success.”
The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences is composed of two nearby campuses in Gilbert and Tempe, Ariz. A CRAS education includes Broadcast Audio, Live Sound, Audio Post for Film and TV, Music Production, Commercial Production and Video Game Audio, all taught by award-winning instructors who have excelled in their individual fields. CRAS’ structured programs and highly qualified teaching staff provide a professional and supportive atmosphere, which is complemented by its small class sizes allowing for individual instruction and assistance for students in engineering audio recordings. For over three decades, CRAS has set the standard in Audio Engineering Education, and is continuously seeking avenues that will keep with the spirit of constantly seeking to raise the bar. The curriculum and equipment are constantly being updated to keep pace with the rapid advancements in the music and sound recording industries. CRAS’ course offerings and subject matter have always centered around the skills and knowledge necessary for students’ success in the audio recording industries.
The 11-month program is designed to allow every student access to learn and train in all of the Conservatory’s studios which are comprised with state-of-the-art audio recording and mixing gear, the same equipment used in today’s finest studios and remote broadcast facilities, including Pro Tools 12, API Legacy consoles, SSL AWS consoles, Studer Vista consoles, and much more. All students must complete a 280-hour industry internship to graduate from the Master Recording Program II that may ultimately lead to industry employment. A CRAS graduate was nominated for a 2017 Grammy Award. In addition, 32 CRAS graduates worked on 35 2017 Grammy-nominated albums and songs across 35 categories, of which 11 graduates received multiple credits on nominations.
