The music, recording & production fields are  going though continuous and dramatic changes.  The changes in the industry are largely driven by technology advances which the "how" and "where" music is recorded.  Large, expensive, studios seldom do the entire cording & mixing done on today's release.  The projects often start in personal production studios and are taken to the "big guys" only in the final mixing stage. 

One interesting thing in the recording field is the history. Many of the changes in the industry began decades ago in the "top" studios, but now are used in the project studios of today because of the technology advances.  In this issue I recount the last time I was actively working on a gold record for Motown.  The story is called "A Session With Michael Jackson" in this issue's "Motown Recording Heritage" article. The technical awe I experienced then is commonplace in today's project studio recording.  My first impression of Michael was not that he was talented, but that he was weird...

For those who do find "regular" jobs in the industry, how you conduct yourself in a session dictates the success that you will achieve in the industry.  In the article, "Interning & Seconding 101," I talk about what is expected out of an intern or second recording engineer.  In the article "Session Priorities" I talk about what is expected out of a recording engineer in a national session with a recording star.

The independent music maker' began entering the music field in the sixties and caused huge changes in the industry.  The independent recording/engineer producer of today is causing a huge change in the recording field today.  In this issue Cornbread reports on an independent release of nearly a decade ago getting new attention in today's market.  In his article "An Intern Review," Cornbread shows how current interns are getting into the field by using their interning experience to their advantage.  Speaking of Interns, I report on a session with an out-of-town recording engineer handled totally by the Recording Institute of Detroit intern staff.  I recall an past intern's experience that illustrates some do's and don'ts in my article "Handling Clients."

April 8, 2004 is the "Second Annual Recording Website Day" at the Recording Institute of Detroit.  Four seminars are being held on entering the music and recording field.  April 9-10th RID holds its Spring, 2004 Pro Audio Specialist Seminars & Workshops, allowing web students to complete requirements for an RID campus training certificate with only two days attendance.  Our feature article in this issue gives all of the details.

An REQ issue would not be complete without some technical articles.  I try and make equalization a little more understandable in my article "Quality Equalization."  We have several archive articles posting also.  In a few days you can read these articles; in the meantime please enjoy the January issue by clicking the link below.