Ask SPARS mentoring at NAMM winter show is well received

: One of the Studio Production small groups

SPARS recently matched some 20 industry leaders with more than 125 students, recent graduates and active recording professionals as part of their Ask SPARS speed mentoring sessions at the 2013 NAMM show in Anaheim, CA.

This is the fourth year SPARS has presented various seminars as part of the NAMM H.O.T. Zone. This year SPARS offered their popular two hour Ask SPARS speed mentoring session which has been so well attended at the recent AES Convention as well as other locations around the country.

Some of the 20 mentors pose for a quick photo

The speed mentoring sessions featured established industry leaders who were paired on a small group basis with 10-15 attendees who had the opportunity to ask questions and receive industry and career advice in any of several topics. The groups were rotated every 20 minutes to allow participants the chance to spend time with mentors representing the areas of Studio Production, Sound for Picture, Studio Management and Pro Audio Manufacturers/Dealers.

The following list of industry leaders volunteered their time to make themselves available for the NAMM mentoring sessions. You can obtain more helpful links and detailed background on the mentors at – SPARS NAMM 2013 Mentoring.

Dave Hampton, MATK Corporation, Author/Producer/Engineer and SPARS board member
Tom Menrath, Vintage King Audio, Strategic Development
Tim Vear, Shure, Systems Support Engineer
Jason Upright, Managing Director, Firehouse Recording Studios
Bob Bronow, Re-recording mixer and sound designer, television and documentary film
Kirsten Smith, Director, Feature Sound, Universal Studios Sound
Dave Rideau, Three-time Grammy nominated mixer and engineer, records and film
Niko Bolas, Award winning Producer/Engineer
Neil Dorfsman, Award winning Producer/Engineer
Barry Rudolph, Award winning Producer/Engineer/Educator
Francis Buckley, Award winning Producer/Engineer
Michael Lloyd, Award winning Producer, A&R exec, Film Music Supervisor
Wes Maebe, British Recording Engineer, Reviewer, APRS board director
Candace Stewart, Studio Manager, EastWest Recording Studios and SPARS board member
Kirk Imamura, President, Avatar Studios and SPARS
Bridget Gardiner, Los Angeles Campus Director, SAE Institute
Jeff Greenberg, CEO, Village Recording Studios and a past President of SPARS
Tina Morris, Studio Manager, Village Recording Studios
Joel Stoner, President/CEO, Alter Media, Studio Software
Lisa Chamblee Hampton, Producer/Engineer, Studio Manager, Oasis Mastering

: Industry veterans answer questions from participants

The mentoring sessions were well attended with positive comments and feedback from mentors and the more than 125 participants alike, including two parents of participating mentees.

An example of a comment from a one of SPARS interns who attended: “I wanted to touch base and say thank you so much for the opportunity that SPARS has provided me. I met so many awesome people that were insightful and willing to share! I think what everyone at SPARS is doing is a great thing for people in all areas of the field and I can’t wait to get more involved.”

Industry mentors offer advice to participants in several areas

In addition, one of the mentors commented, “Thank you very much for inviting me to be a part of these mentoring sessions. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Several of us were remarking afterwards how events such as this one are a nice reminder that some people really do need some direction and advice, and how fortunate we are to be in the positions that we are and able to give back.”

SPARS wishes to thank all of our gracious mentors for their efforts to share knowledge and answer questions.