My son's interview on Pensado's Place

My son Stuart White is a music recording engineer who has recorded Beyonces's last two albums. The attached video is his skype interview with the Pensado's Place show. I know nothing of the show or the business but it may interest someone who does. His interview starts at about 17 minutes of the show.

Watched the whole show and really enjoyed it. How and when did Stuart discover and.decide to pursue audio engineering? Where did he go to school? I grew up around the TV business and tried it awhile. Crazy hours and I didn't have the passion for it. Was intimidated by the stuff Stu drinks like Kool Aid. It's refreshing to see someone loving what they get paid to do.

My daughter and a lot of my money is going to SCAD (Savannah College Art & Design) in Savannah GA. It has been eye opening going there and seeing what goes on in the entertainment world. I am always thinking with sound a guy when head phones on, on a sound board half asleep. Much like they do in church..... But the amount of information they need to know. SCAD was big in the last filming of Star Wars, we got to go and see a premiere and they had a lot of the technical people, that are SCAD alumni talk to the students and dumb parents. SCAD films a lot of the Coke commercials for Coke Cola in Atlanta, they did a filming in a green room down in Savannah and it was cool.

your son picked a good career field, not only is it exciting, travel should be good and meet some interesting people. Plus, even if the economy takes another crap, this is a field that will still go on.

I keep informing my daughter that her main goal in life is to graduate, get a nice house with a little house and garage outback for her father to live in and she can support the motorcycle hobby

Watched the whole show and really enjoyed it. How and when did Stuart discover and.decide to pursue audio engineering? Where did he go to school? I grew up around the TV business and tried it awhile. Crazy hours and I didn't have the passion for it. Was intimidated by the stuff Stu drinks like Kool Aid. It's refreshing to see someone loving what they get paid to do.

Thanks for the good words! Stuart wasn't the best student in high school. In fact he dropped out and was a rebellious but decent kid. He started working as a busboy at a restaurant and then became a cook. Several years passed working as a cook and pizza delivery driver. Then he bought two turntables and taught himself to scratch records and he also bought a device that recorded different tracks. He had found his passion. He was 22 when he approached me about supporting him while he went to Full Sail school in Orlando. They had a 12 month program teaching kids how to record music among other things. The T&F were $25k for the 12 months. Since he had not been a good student, I wasn't sure he would apply himself but I agreed to support him, about $50k by the time he started getting paid. His grades tied for second in his class. After graduating he went to work as an un-paid intern at the Quad studio in Manhattan. But he worked very hard and started getting paid as an assistant engineer in about 3 months. He was fortunate in many ways. His high school buddy had moved back to NYC and had a room available in his apt. He learned how to record digitally at school and the industry was switching from tape to digital. He was able to show the older engineers how to use the new system. It's a very tough business. If you don't give it your all, you won't survive. He says he is the only kid in his class who is still working as a recording engineer. The hours are horrible. He typically works from afternoon until well into the night or all night through the weekends and holidays many times. He spent much of his off time reading everything he could find about recording techniques and equipment. He rents the little room in Manhattan he converted into a studio and it was necessary to hone his skills. Plus it often times enables him to work in his studio instead of renting a place in a commercial studio for megabucks. Saves the client some money and helps pay for his equipment. Probably $70k in equipment and software, $30k in software alone. Since he became Beyonces's engineer, he has spent a couple months in Paris, months in FL, and many months in LA where she spends the winter. He has been invited to the Grammys twice for his work but no winners yet. The first time was for the number 1 song, "We Are Young" by FUN. The second time was for work with Beyonce.

Son Stuart just won a Grammy! Best Urban Contemporary award as Beyonce's recording engineer/mixer!

Son Stuart just won a Grammy! Best Urban Contemorary award as Beyonce's recording engineer/mixer!

Congrats to both of you. You must be very proud. Doug