Why PAVI?

I chose this school because I liked how the program went in multiple directions. A lot of other schools were very focused on a single area of audio, whether it be live sound, audio for video, or music recording. The one thing I knew for sure when I entered school was that I didn't want to be locked into a single field of study, because once out of school and looking for a job, only having been trained in one area makes me a lot less desirable to potential employers.

Although I had never talked to other students, my first experience with the staff at PAVI was a positive experience. Both Ken and Gordon were gracious enough to sit down with me and work out any questions I had about the school and program, and also made sure I had gone to visit other potential schools.

Prior to attending PAVI, I had not had any professional level of training, however, I had been reading many recording and mixing books, as well as various manuals – including the entire ProTools manual before ever owning ProTools (a bit nerdy, but I loved it). I had also been recording “bedroom rock” with a collection of gear that included some half-decent mics and a Digi002R with ProTools LE, as well as doing simple live sound for outdoor and indoor venues with my Mackie SRM450 monitors and small mixing board. I was anxious to dive in and learn more about the field as a whole.

My Time At PAVI:

I started at PAVI in May of 2009, and graduated in May of 2010. The course was separated into three semesters in which the courses were constantly rotating. The 1st semester students were placed in a class with 2nd and 3rd semester students, yet everyone was learning brand new subjects because of the rotation. I found this to be beneficial because of the knowledge that some of the more seasoned students brought to the classroom, however, depending on which semester you started in, it could have the potential to make things a bit more difficult – e.g. learning how to edit tracks to a grid before taking your first intro to ProTools class.

My three favorite courses were Kris' Editing class, Boris' Electronics/Acoustics class, and Shawn's Mixing class. All of the instructors did an amazing job with their subjects, and brought a lot of experience to the classroom being industry professionals. They made sure that everyone had a firm grasp on the taught material before moving on, and did their best to impart some life into drier topics.

Studio Classes were always the most fun, for obvious reasons. Studios A and B are very well equipped with anything the aspiring engineer could want – great acoustic spaces, an amazing mic list, a couple of nice desks (especially the API), and a broad list of outboard gear. The only thing I would have changed is not having to work full-time as a roofer in the Lower Mainland so I could have had more studio time. Luckily, while I was in school they added the late-night and weekend studio session options, greatly helping out with my scheduling troubles. Unfortunately, for the same reason I was unable to participate in the Intern Program that PAVI has, which would have been an interesting experience.

Post PAVI:

The music industry is tough to break into, and the teachers were always realistic in what lay ahead of our graduation, but I was lucky enough to have applied myself during my time at PAVI, graduated with honors, and scored some prominent industry contacts.

The first gig out of school (thanks partially to PAVI) was working at Van Howes Studios under Brian Howes & JVP on such projects as Simple Plan's album “Get Your Heart On!” (which went Gold within two weeks of it's release), as well as various Gold singles for Hedley, and demos for up and coming Petrel. My current position, however, is with Ultimate Music Cruises Inc. (thanks again to PAVI). Currently we book 40 metal bands (including Amon Amarth, Blind Guardian, Sabaton, Testament, Voivod, and many others) and place them on a cruise ship to the Caribbean every January with 2000 diehard fans – it's like everyone has a backstage pass.

Although at my current day job I am not doing much recording, I still have my personal project studio in Abbotsford where I record, edit, and mix projects for myself, as well as for other clients from around the Lower Mainland. The gear list is ever expanding. I recently booked some alumnus time at PAVI studios to cut some beds.

Currently my website is under construction which will showcase my Audio Engineering, Project Studio, Web Design, as well as DIY Electronics/Acoustics projects. To visit the website, please visit www.ayoung.ca