Reflections of a Dark Horse Institute Student

On November 15, 2013 I graduated from Dark Horse Institute with a certificate of completion in Audio Engineering/Music Production.  It was a remarkable day and held such high significance for students, friends, and family.  My personal testimony of the past 14 weeks holds nothing less than incredible feelings of accomplishment and gratefulness.

DHI has given me more than just a piece of paper that says what I learned how to do; it has given me a feeling of confidence in myself about what I now KNOW how to do, with self assurance that I am in fact competent and valuable to this industry, and that I have a true talent and work ethic to bring to the table.  The satisfaction starts with you first, and DHI has allowed me to experience that.

I was very nervous when I was just starting out the program.  I have never been a technical learner, meaning someone who is good at paying attention to every meticulous detail… Yea, not so much. I was always more of the “cross my fingersand hope it works” type when it came to that sort of stuff… and the term “Engineering” terrified me, especially saying it while staring at that SSL board; talk about intimidating.

Every day felt like my brain had just been to a CrossFit session or something… but it was an amazing feeling of knowing that I was putting myself into such a vulnerable situation that forced me to push myself, and excited to do so, because I felt the fulfillment of pursuing something that I am so passionate about.  I felt like I was chasing my passion… and it felt incredible.

As a singer/songwriter who has always done nothing but dream of recording my own material, I decided that I was going to do this for myself, and if anything comes from it beyond that, I would be grateful, and so much did.

Other than being the kid in the class who never had been around sound engineering or even ever set foot into a recording studio for that matter, I was determined that my music would be heard.  Taking advantage of the multimillion-dollar studio that DHI so graciously offers their students for FREE, I was able to record and produce my first ever EP, featuring my own original songs.

It was at that moment, sitting in the Barefoot Room at Dark Horse Studios that tears came to my eyes when I heard my own personal hard work through the monitors of such an impressive piece of equipment… with such a clean professional sound that I had never experienced before.  It was more than just listening to my songs; it was seeing the result of an opportunity that had been given to me, and experiencing the feeling of feeling so grateful for it and knowing that I took the right one.

Now, as I finalize my resume drafts and prepare to send them out, I can say with confidence my qualifications as an audio engineer, and my personal accomplishments as a pursuer, lover, and creator of music.