CRAS off ers hands-on recording education
Kristina Haney
The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences, also known as CRAS, has been in Arizona since 1987 and has two locations; Tempe, and the Gilbert location which was completed in 2003.
According to Jordan McClain, a former student of CRAS, the school is very good about making sure their students acquire an internship.
“They work with you through the program to perfect your resume and cover letter,” McClain said, “Throughout the year they keep in contact, as well as visit the studios that they have relations with so they know where they are sending you.”
The current program offered is called the Master Recording Program II and is a 41.5 credit hour program that takes 48 weeks to complete.
It is 36 weeks in-class and hands on learning, and 12 weeks of internships.
The courses consist of classes about the business of music, audio recording programs and post-production.
“280 intern hours are required for you to graduate. You are able to complete some of those hours while still attending school, but the majority are spent at your post-school internship.” McClain said.
“My favorite part would have to be the access to all of the equipment and consoles and the latest versions of most Digital Audio Workstations like Pro Tools, Logic and Reason,” said Jeremy Beck, a current student at CRAS “The consoles range from $100,000 to $2.5 million. It’s ridiculous.”
Both campuses are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“It’s great for students like myself who had to work while going through school,” McClain said, “I was always able to get in and practice if I needed to.”
Beck plans on interning at a post-production studio in Los Angeles to work on soundtracks and sound effect design. The end goal for McClain is to work on sound designing for TV shows and movies.
McClain says that student success is very important to the instructors and staff. CRAS doesn’t just take your money and then kick you out.
“Rachel, my internship coordinator, still shoots me a message to check in and keep in touch with what I am doing.” McClain said
