Please fill out the following information, and RRFC Admissions will contact you to discuss our program offerings:
Issue #48
by L. Swift and Jeff McQ
Recording Connection apprentice Kowan May has wasted no time in making the most of his apprenticeship with Ty Harris at Penthouse Studios in Atlanta, GA. Not only has he had the opportunity to assist on an in-studio music video with major hip-hop artists, but he’s even recruited his own artist, Tony Port, and is in the process of recording Port’s album in his mentor’s studio!
Kowan tells us his mentor Ty’s teaching approach is an important part of the process for him. “Working with Ty is really cool,” he says. “He’s going to pull the best out of you, and I like that. He’s not going to just sit there and give you directions. He’s going to give you the directions, and he’s going to make you find out how to do it. And I really appreciate that because that’s how it sticks.
“I didn’t know how important an audio engineer was to the recording,” Kowan continues. “I have seen Ty have clients in there where things didn’t sound all that great from the client, but Ty will go in there and he would literally make people who did not sound good, sound like something. I mean my mouth dropped. I was impressed.”
Ty has some kind words for Kowan, as well. “He’s a little bit older, a little more mature,” he says. “I think a lot of the younger guys, they just want you to give [it to] them. They want the easy route. They don’t want to work, they just want to be told…[Kowan] just knows what he wants to do. His mind is focused on what he wants to do, and he’s just open to learn.”
As it turns out, Kowan has been just the kind of person Ty looks for in a student—one of the reasons why he decided to teach with the Recording Connection in the first place. When he opened his studio, he took on students on his own, but was having trouble finding people who were truly passionate about the work. “I was just accepting people that I felt like they really wanted to do this, and most of them didn’t,” he says. “I was trying to find a liaison so someone could filter them before they came to me.” That liaison ended up being the Recording Connection, as shown by Kowan’s passion and work ethic. “He does exactly what he has to do. Usually he asks, ‘Anything you need me to do?'”
That go-getter attitude has taken Kowan far, even within the program. As an apprentice with Ty Harris, Kowan recently had the opportunity to assist on a music video shoot in the studio for hip-hop artist Dej Loaf for her single “Blood,” a video that also featured Baby (from YMCMB), Young Thugs and Birdman (Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Ty’s studio is working with prominent hip-hop artists, both from Atlanta and beyond.)
And that’s not all. Kowan has also recruited a promising young Atlanta producer/rapper named Tony Port, and is now recording with him at Penthouse Studios on an upcoming album called Venus, which Kowan describes as a “love letter” to Atlanta.
“I chose Tony Port because he reminded me of me when I was his age,” says Kowan. “I was trying to break into the music business and I really didn’t know how. He literally showed up at my doorstep. He knew my son, and we shared a lot of the same musical tastes and Prince is both our idol. I built a studio in my garage, he started living with us, and we started making music…His song ‘Southside’ has really caught on here in Atlanta. Jermaine Dupri’s artist Rizzy Roys likes it so much he wants to jump in on the remix…Even my mother runs around singing ‘Southside.'”
Looking beyond his apprenticeship, Kowan tells us he has plans to continue building his own career in the Atlanta music scene. “I want to own my own studio,” he says, “and maybe parlay that into a record company.” He even makes veiled references to a ‘secret weapon’, but won’t tell us any more about it. (“Sworn to secrecy, sorry.”) He sees Atlanta itself as “virgin territory” with a lot of promise for the future, and he sees himself in the role of developing up-and-coming talent.
“If you are young and upcoming and you have the skill set, Atlanta’s the place to be,” Kowan continues. “What I’ve learned in Atlanta is that it’s all about building your relationships. And if you have the skill set to match that, you know people want to get at you anyway because they’re looking for people…as long as you’re building up those relationships and everything, you have a firm foot in the door.”
Another reason why Kowan wants his own studio, he says, is because he sees Atlanta as a burgeoning place for film. “You know, Atlanta’s becoming the new Hollywood, and all these movie studios are coming to Atlanta, and they’re going to need some place to record, so I’m right here in it,” he says.
And Kowan doesn’t stop there: he tells us his son, Damien May, who is tapped to shoot the music videos for Tony Port, is planning to enroll in the Film Connection—the makings of a powerful father/son team!
Kowan May’s story, his experience with his mentor Ty Harris and his progress within the program, provide a great example of what can happen when you combine a strong work ethic and passion with real-world experience. Kowan’s apprenticeship with the Recording Connection is giving him the tools he needs to venture out into his own career in a very tangible way.
Brian Kraft was in Vegas just before the holidays where he had a chance to meet with a number of industry greats including Zoe Thrall and Mark Everton Gray of Studio At the Palms (Eminem, Usher, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett, Celine Dion, Maroon 5) and Tony Maserati of Vegas View Recording.
Tony has worked with such greats as Biggie Smalls, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Black Eyed Peas, Jennifer Lopez, Tupac Shakur, Christina Aguilera, and Alicia Keys. The engineer and mixer is known for having an ear for a “huge low end and a smooth, velvety high” which has now become a mainstay of R&B and hip hop worldwide. Maserati’s Vegas View Recording features a state-of-the-art tracking room, spectacular views of the Las Vegas Strip, SSL9000j 80 input Console, Pro Tools HDIO 48×48, Neve, Summit, Avalon, and Bricasti.
We’re proud to announce: Tony Maserati has signed on as a Recording Connection mentor!
Learn more about Tony here.
“When I heard about CASA Schools’s approach to culinary education I was blown away. I just wished that this sort of thing was available before I spent $50,000 for culinary school! They promised me a management position as soon as I graduated. I found out that that was a lie. On-the-job experience is the only way to go. The use of the culinary techniques and cooking methods day in and day out, from one scenario to the next is the best way to learn. Doing one recipe a day and paying over $200 a day is bull…”
— Troy Artis , Owner/ Operator of Chef Troy Personal Chef and Catering Services, Los Angeles, CA
Sandy Stern: All I knew is that when I was in graduate school, I was in New York, was that I was spending of all my money on seeing movies and going to the theater and not reading anything about schizophrenia. I sort of had to connect those dots and figure out where do I really want to spend my time and my energy and what is it that I want to be doing in my life.
RRF: So how did you land your first job in film?
Sandy: My first real job in the business… and here I was in graduate school [with] advanced degrees and all it came down to … “Can you type?” and “How fast you could type?” I was just hired as an assistant. … That’s one of the things I always tell my students: what I love about the business is that it’s surprisingly democratic. I didn’t know anybody in the business. I didn’t have a relative. I didn’t have a friend. I didn’t have any clue of how it works, but I feel like the nice thing about this business is that you can actually fail upwards.
RRF: You’ve told us you had some negative experiences with bosses when you were starting out. Have such experiences impacted the way you perform as a mentor?
Sandy: Well, I think it’s a good question…In a way, it’s more than just the way I work as a mentor and work with my students, it’s the way I’ve decided to be in my professional life. After a number of negative experiences with certain persons, I made a conscious decision never to be a jerk in the business. I have worked and managed my career to not ever be that kind of person. To be honest, to be straightforward, to look for the best in people, to encourage—that is my philosophy as a producer and as a teacher.
RRF: Film Connection apprentice Parushka Moodley has been very impressed with the guidance you’ve been giving her on her screenplay. Do you have anything to report about Parushka?
Sandy: She’s just super interesting, super smart and creative. Just sort of present and dynamic, and I think she’s got a great idea for a movie. It’s been really exciting getting her to get the best version of this movie in her head and on the page and by sort of challenging her in a collaborative way. I feel like we have made a lot of progress.
RRF: When you were first starting out was there a particular moment when you took a deep breath and thought, “Wow, I’m really doing this!”?
Sandy: Probably that moment was when I made my first movie, Pump Up the Volume. … Here’s what’s funny about that movie: that’s the movie that moved me to Los Angeles. I was living in New York. I flew out here for a week thinking I was just making a deal on the movie, and I never went back to New York. It was like of all the things I’ve done in my career, of all the things I’ve worked on—nothing has had such a charmed, easy trajectory as that movie.
RRF: It sounds like you’re a very positive person. Does being positive inform your work?
Sandy: Well, let me just say this. My friends say to me that I’m one of the most positive people they know. The answer is I know no other way to be a producer. I know no other way. … The answer is you find the good people. You work with the good people. You are a good person. That’s the pocket and the world you create for yourself here.
At RRF we believe the greatest wisdom in the world benefits no one if it is not shared and made useful.
We work hard to stay on the cutting-edge of mentor-led education. The more we know about YOU, the better equipped we are to create the tools that will help you hone your craft and break you in to the industry you want to work in!
Please help us continue in our mission by taking the survey found here.
RRFC is education upgraded for the 21st century.
Get the latest career advice, insider production tips, and more!
Please fill out the following information, and RRFC Admissions will contact you to discuss our program offerings:
Stay in the Loop: Subscribe for RRFC news & updates!
© 2024 Recording Radio Film Connection & CASA Schools. All Rights Reserved.