School:  Recording Workshop – Chillicothe, OH

Dates: Feb 21^st – March 25^th, 2022 (5 Weeks)

I have always wanted to attend this audio recording school ever since the mid-late 1980s.

Finally, after all these years…. Done!

Although I am a Jersey born native, my family moved to Columbus, OH in the summer of 1981. By the time 1985 rolled around, I had dropped out of high school and joined a Heavy Metal band called IRON CROSS. Soon after, I heard about this learning facility in the middle of nowhere named The Recording Workshop. The RecW is located in a desolate area via Chillicothe Ohio, about an hour and 15 minutes south of Columbus. A short time later, I had a good friend of mine attend the school and invite me down for a jam session. I had a blast playing music with the students there and put it on my list to enroll as soon as feasible.

By the time 1988 crept up on me, my musical ambitions had taken me to Los Angeles to chase the dream. Once the Cali adventure began, the thought of going back to the Midwest to take classes seemed out of reach and unrealistic. Life had moved on and I had basically forgotten all about the place.

****Fast forward to late 2021…. 35 years later….

Although I had plenty of experience running live sound and producing music as an artist in the earlier days, I had now become out of touch with the latest digital technology. The mixing tools available today are more efficient, more reliable and much more affordable. Throughout the ‘90s I had this little Tascam 4-track cassette recorder that got plenty of roll-time. In comparison, today you can obtain DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software that includes just about all you need to mix down tracks for the same price…. This truly is Amazing.

I finally decided to go for it and checked to see if the school was even still open. After an internet search, I found their website and started to investigate. Once I determined I was definitely going, I invited my two adult children to join me. They both accepted and I contacted the RecW to enroll us in the “Early Spring 2022” sessions. The “Core” program at the RecW is 5 weeks in duration. If one wants to continue, you can enroll in the “Advanced” program for an additional 2 weeks. We chose to sign up for the initial 5 weeks. We were told we could always come back to advance our education at a later date.

FYI: I checked with Musicians Institute (MI) in Hollywood CA; the recording classes there run a minimum of 2 years. Although I’m sure it’s a quality education, I just don’t have 700+ days to solely focus on one particular thing. There are many schools and colleges that teach audio recording throughout the country, but they are expensive and the duration of study will typically last between 2-4 years in order to complete the curriculum.

Tuition: In comparison, tuition at the RecW is $3775 per person for the 5 week Core program. Very affordable and study can be accomplished in relatively short period of time.

College Credit: The RecW is an accredited learning facility in which you can earn credits towards a full college degree.

Housing: As stated before, the workshop resides on a little country road with nothin’ else much around. For student housing, the school campus has a few scattered older houses near the main building and many shack-like cabins nestled on a wooded hillside across the street. It ain’t the Hilton but it does have its charm. Besides, it’s the perfect environment to get the work done without outside distractions. The cost of housing varies from $80-$150 per week depending on the accommodation (shared room / private room / cabin / etc).

Sentimental Note: Before I continue, someone very special must be mentioned. I stated at the beginning of this article that I had a really good friend that attended the RecW around 1987-88. Her name was Lisa and she unfortunately passed away in 2014. She was part of the IRON CROSS “Krew” and made the trek to LA with a bunch of us back in 1988 (more on that adventure in future postings). Without her, I would have never been interested in attending this studio learning program. Rock In Peace Lisa… Luv Ya!

Now that all the arrangements were made and confirmed, we took our flights from sunny California to icy Ohio in the middle of February, 2022. Brrrrrr!!! Some may ask, why choose to attend school during this frosty time of year? Yes, the weather is brutal but the student population is at a minimum thus more personal attention per student. At least that was the theory going in, and it did pay off. We ended up with only a dozen graduates by the time the program had finished. Besides, I didn’t come here for vacation, I came to vastly improve my ability to record music at the best quality possible…. Period.

We drove down Route 23 from Columbus to Chillicothe on the day classes were to begin. As we continued south towards our destination, our surroundings became more & more desolate. We truly were in the “sticks” of Ohio. Eventually we took a hard hairpin turn onto Massieville Road, within a few hundred yards the RecW facility appeared on the left. We pulled into the gravel parking lot loaded with anticipation. For me personally, I had waited 3 ½ decades to attend this place. The moment had finally arrived, I was more than ready to tackle this program.

Side Note: I am definitely a creature of the city but I love and respect this part of rural America. From what I could see, the area is filled with hard working, blue-collar people whom love God and their country. The churches are many and Old Glory flies proudly off of most homes and businesses. Many forget, but it’s the farmers, truck drivers and people who work with their hands that are responsible for holding the USA together. I hope that the rest of our country never forgets that…. God Bless America

We walked through the front door of the RecW for the first time around 9:30 on this Monday morning. We were greeted with enthusiasm by staff and given a tour of the school’s studio facilities. This gave us a glimpse of what we would be learning over the next 5 weeks:

Lab: Study of main DAW programs (Pro Tools, Logic, Ableton, etc)
Studio A: Analog recording studio
Studio B: Mastering Studio
Studio C: Digital recording studio
Studio D: Live consol training / Rehearsal room
Studio E: Foley recording studio

There’s another thing you can’t help but notice while you walk through the facilities: As you look to the upper half of the walls, you’ll see hundreds upon hundreds of mainstream Gold & Platinum recorded CDs from over the decades (you can view a handful of them in the Lobby pic above). Every single one of them is associated with past RecW students. I would bet 4 out of 5 of your favorite artists of all time are displayed on the Recording Workshops’ “Alumni Wall of Fame”…. Pretty FN impressive.

After the tour was finished, they took us to our student housing. We were to reside in “House 2”. It’s located 2 doors down from the school, about a minute walk away. You can literally get out of bed 5 minutes before class and make it to lecture on time. The house is old and beat-up, but it was clean and the heater & hot water worked great. Don’t expect all the appliances to function perfectly throughout your stay, this ol’ country house does need a little luv every once in awhile. On the plus-side, when you call maintenance your problem will get handled ASAP (Patrick is da man!). They provide you with basic kitchen utensils (pots, pans, dishes, etc), but you will probably have to take a trip to Walmart to pick-up a few things. You are also responsible to bring your own towels, twin-size sheets and pillows. Be prepared to completely take care of yourself, cooking & cleaning is on you.

The house is set up to occupy 4 people; 2 bedrooms with bunk-beds in each. Because there were three of us, my son and I took the back bedroom, while my daughter took the front. Both rooms are exactly the same size. There is only one bathroom. Working out some kind of timing with the restroom is a necessity especially when there is a female present in the house. We loaded all our stuff into “granny’s country house” and drove into town to stock up on food for the week.

To grab grub and other necessities, you have two options: you can drive approx 10 minutes north into the small town of Chillicothe or head south about the same distance to the even smaller town of Waverly. I’ll fill you in more on the pros and cons of each as this article continues. Once we returned with the needed supplies, we had to attend our very first lecture at 4:30pm that day…. Let the games begin.

Click here to continue: “Recording Workshop II“

ARTIST VIDEO SHOWCASE

To Showcase Your Music Video, follow the instructions in the Sidebar

TIMOTHY PATRICK HALL / Rubberneck

To get more info on TIMOTHY PATRICK HALL, click here: timothypatrickhall.com

MEBITEK / The Void Without You

To get more info on MEBITEK, click here: music.mebitek.com

CHRIS ST. JOHN / Walk Through The Forest

To get more info on CHRIS ST. JOHN, click here: chrisstjohnmusic.com

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