Tucson, Ariz., July 19, 2018 – The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences (CRAS), the premier institution for audio engineering education, is proud to announce that it has recently conducted numerous educational sessions for the Association for Career Technical Education of Arizona during the ACTEAZ’s 43 Annual Summer Conference 2018, held at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, Ariz. July 13-18.

“The mission of the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) Career and Technical Education (CTE) Department is to prepare Arizona students for workforce success and continuous learning,” explained Robert Waller, M.Ed., Program Specialist for the Arizona Department of Education. “Every summer, the Arizona Department of Education, in conjunction with the Association for Career and Technical Education of Arizona (ACTEAZ), holds a week-long professional development conference in Tucson striving to do just that. This year, at the request of numerous instructors, we offered hands-on professional development workshops entitled ‘Music Production and Audio Engineering with Apple’s Logic Pro’ and ‘Audio Engineering for Live Sports Television Broadcasting,” which were conducted by the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences.”

The annual ACTEAZ Summer Conference provides a myriad of opportunities for Arizona’s CTE instructors to participate in rigorous, hands-on professional development classes and seminars designed to meet the challenge of preparing Arizona’s high school students for post-secondary education and/or entry-level employment in dozens of high-wage, high-demand, high-skill careers such as Music and Audio Production, Animation, and Film and TV Production. Every summer for the past four decades, hundreds of CTE teachers, administrators, and stakeholders from around the state have gathered in Tucson for this experience.

“We simply could not do this vital work without the valuable contributions of industry and academic partners such as the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences,” Waller continued. “As the ADE CTE Program Specialist for Communication Media Technologies, I am incredibly grateful to the entire CRAS team for their generosity and willingness to share their collective knowledge, experience, and expertise with Arizona’s CTE instructors. I am thrilled to know that Arizona’s Music and Audio Production, Animation, and Film and TV Production instructors received real-world, cutting edge technical training from the best in the business.”

On Saturday, July 14, multiple “Audio Engineering for Live Sports Television Broadcasting” sessions were held, described as “You don't just watch TV, you LISTEN to it! Discover how sound for sports TV broadcasts are put on air. This session takes place in the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences’ (CRAS) mobile broadcast unit, a 42-foot mobile classroom and production truck. Using content captured during professional sports broadcasts, you'll learn what it's like to be an A1-the person at the mixing console, A2-the one who mics up the stadium and on-air talent, or an EIC-the tech that makes sure everything on the truck is working. Guaranteed to be an eye (or ear) opener.”

On Sunday, July 15, one day-long session entitled “Music and Audio Production Engineering with Apple's Logic Pro” was held, described as “Learn Logic Pro, Apple's premier digital audio workstation (DAW), while discovering principle concepts used in music and audio production. This session will use a hands-on approach to explore core ideas used in audio engineering, including mic technique, phase relationship, equalization, compression, and more. Mastering these fundamentals of sound is the first step towards a career in music recording, film and television production, and even sound integration for video games.”

“We at CRAS and the Arizona Department of Education strive for a common goal, which is to provide our students with the best possible education and experiences in order to prepare them for the workforce,” explained Robert Brock, CRAS Director of Education, who facilitated the sessions. “By educating the state’s teachers and, ultimately, their students with the skills needed to further their growth and development for years to come during this conference, it gives students a leg up on a higher form of learning and understanding of real-world technologies that not only will help them in school but wherever their lives and careers take them. We are very proud to be able to partner with the Association for Career Technical Education of Arizona.”

CRAS structured programs in its Tempe and Gilbert, Ariz. campuses with its 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. CRAS has been providing quality vocational training in audio recording for more than three decades. 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.

For more than 30 years, CRAS has focused very deeply in the art form of audio engineering. “In this time, CRAS has created a route, by way of a world class education, to the greatest heights of the audio industry for thousands of students who hail locally and from all over the world,” said Kirt Hamm, CRAS administrator. “On a local level, the CRAS presence at high schools and conferences in the greater Phoenix area and statewide has been received positively. Educators are seeing first hand that there is an immense opportunity for their students that have a passion for the audio and video arts, and ACTEAZ has been terrific venue for generations of educators and students to learn these technical trades.”

CRAS’ 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.

For more information on ACTEAZ, please visit www.acteaz.org.

For more information on the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences, please visit www.cras.edu, contact Kirt Hamm, administrator, at 1-866-757-3059, or email to info@cras.edu.

Based in the heart of The Valley of the Sun with two campuses in Gilbert and Tempe, Ariz., The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences (CRAS) is the country’s premier institution for audio education. The Conservatory has developed a unique and highly effective way to help the future audio professional launch their careers in the recording industry and other related professional audio categories.

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