Recording Workshop

At a Glance
Name: Recording Workshop Contact: Admissions Office Major Courses of Study: Audio recording, engineering, production, maintenance, audio post-production Degrees Offered: Certificate programs Accreditation: Licensed since 1980 by Ohio State Board of Proprietary School Registration. Associated since 1981 with Capital University Conservatory of Music (Columbus, Ohio) providing 12 semester hours of college credit toward a Bachelor of Arts in Music/Commercial Music Degree Main Technology Platforms: Sony, Digidesign, Focusrite, Yamaha, more Tuition: Recording Engineering and Music Production Program (five weeks/180 hours), $2,490; Studio Maintenance and Troubleshooting Program (one week/38 hours), $520; Advanced Recording Engineering and Music Production Program (one week/60 hours), $780; NewTech Audio Production Program (one week/36 hours), $780 Financial Assistance: Federal, state and commercial finance options available.

Recording Workshop, founded in 1971, has just entered its fourth decade of providing a tightly focused curriculum that specializes in short-term training programs for the creative use of professional audio recording equipment in music and post-production. Classes are taught by a staff of 20 experienced, full-time engineer/instructors who work with about 90 students per term; the students come from literally every state and from over 30 foreign countries.

Recording Workshop’s educational menu, which garnered a TEC Award nomination, comprises four main programs, each of which cycles seven times a year. The five-week Recording Engineering and Music Production Program builds a strong foundation in the operation of professional studio equipment, incorporating extensive hands-on studio experience in recording and mixing music, as well as projects in sound-for-picture. This program provides a complete preparation to enter the job market, yet it can be enhanced with several optional extension tracks. The Studio Maintenance and Troubleshooting Program teaches routine maintenance of recording equipment and practical methods of finding and fixing common technical problems. It also features exercises in equipment installation and the basics of studio acoustics and design. The Advanced Recording Engineering and Music Production Program substantially extends a student’s studio experience, going beyond the mechanics of recording and deeper into the concerns of the record producer. Meanwhile, students become more fluent on equipment, increasing their speediness in the studio. The NewTech Audio Production Program builds upon the basic and advanced engineering courses and offers exercises in the assembly, setup and troubleshooting of computer-based audio production systems. Projects include music mixing/processing, 5.1 surround, sound-for-picture and CD mastering.

Teaching is done in a state-of-the-art environment: Studios A and B were designed by John Storyk and Steven Durr, respectively, as classic tracking and mixing environments. Studios C and D showcase the increasingly widespread, smaller, all-digital environment with Mackie D8B digital consoles and the HDR24/96 hard disk recorder. Studio E is equipped with a Pro Tools|24 MIXplus system to handle sound-for-picture projects. Studio F specializes in audio mastering. Studios G and H are geared to represent the project studio environment, with big doses of DAW and MIDI technology. The Pro Tools Lab has six individual iMac stations with Digidesign software, as well as a select piece of outboard equipment for computer-guided exercises in signal processing.

“We’re one of the very few schools that does short-term training right,” says Jim Rosebrook, director at Recording Workshop since 1980. “Our short-term programs offer as much curriculum content as some other programs that extend over many months, with a very efficient schedule of lectures and studio classes. Also, students live in on-campus housing, within a one-minute walk of all activities. Our curriculum teaches skills and knowledge that are practical and essential, but also emphasizes skills and knowledge that transcend specific gear and production trends. And, just as importantly, we teach good attitude—we are not cranking out audio ‘prima donnas’ that expect to sit behind an SSL mixing major artists six months after graduation. We’re teaching life-long career skills.” •