API announces that Mount Olive High School has purchased a Vision console for their forthcoming recording studio and audio production program.
Mount Olive’s new audio program will add a television production program, a robotics team, and a music program touting a 60-piece orchestra to the school’s curriculum.
Superintendent and music enthusiast Dr. Larrie Reynolds brought in record producer, engineer, and mixer Ron Saint Germain and record producer and recording engineer Tony Bongiovi as consultants for the studio design in the fall of 2015.
Saint Germain collaborated with Trevor Campbell, who will head Mount Olive’s audio production program, to find the perfect console. After traveling to different studios and trying out consoles first-hand, the two decided on an API Vision console.
“I knew since this is a high school, I wanted the students to have something with a simple, basic signal flow. In the effort to keep it simple in the studio, we decided on the Vision. It was pretty much a no-brainer,” said Saint Germain.
Saint Germain added, “The Vision’s software that interfaces with Pro Tools and allows you to mix in the box with faders is a real plus, because everything that’s done today is a hybrid of analog and digital. The majority of great records are still mixed on large analog consoles, and obviously the API reputation is huge.”
Campbell and Saint Germain’s choice of the Vision console was due in large part to preparing audio students for the caliber of programs available at colleges such as Berklee College of Music, Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, and Full Sail University.
“Having the Vision in a high school is going to kick the universities’ game up, because some of the students coming out of Mount Olive will already have four years of experience,” said Saint Germain.
“The Vision is truly amazing. This is a once in a lifetime situation. We’re all flabbergasted that this console is going in a high school,” said Saint Germain. “I want to see the faces on these students coming in, seeing this console, and saying, ‘Yeah, I want to fly this plane.’”
Mount Olive High School plans to debut their new studio in early September.