The music industry’s highest honors were awarded during the GRAMMY awards on February 8, 2015 in Los Angeles, and 19 graduates of CRAS — The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences — hold credits on work earning 21 GRAMMY wins. One graduate, Darrell Thorp (pictured), took the stage with Beck to accept the award for Album of the Year.
In total, 47 different graduates of CRAS hold credits for their work with 50 artists/bands that are up for awards in 42 out of 83 categories. An example of a credit would be formal professional credit as an Engineer, Assistant Engineer Production Assistant, etc., on a nominated song or album. While individuals with a Credit aren’t personally called to the stage to accept the award, they directly played a role in the nominated recording. Among the credits received by CRAS grads are nominations for Record, Song and Album of the Year including music from Pharrell, Ed Sheeran, Beck, Taylor Swift, and Iggy Azalea with Charlie XCX.
Of the graduates, three had the potential to be called to the stage, but two graduates that competed against each other failed to take the stage, competing for Record of the Year as Eric Weaver is nominated as Vocal Engineer for Iggy Azalea w/ Charli XCX’s “Fancy”, and Sam Holland as Engineer for Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off”. Graduate Darrell Thorp is nominated for two GRAMMYs (Album of the Year and Engineered Album) for his work as Engineer of Beck’s album Morning Phase, and did take the stage for the big award, but Beck was the only person who spoke — despite Kanye disrupting the acceptance in one of the most talked about moments of the awards program.
“We love all the awards shows because there are always so many CRAS graduates that are nominated and win!” said Kirt Hamm, Administrator of CRAS. “We take great pride in the success of our graduates but there are few phone calls we love receiving more than from a graduate calling to tell us about their first award nomination. You don’t need to be an audio expert to hear the joy and pride in their voice as they thank us for helping them achieve this career milestone.”
“When I attended CRAS, I merely wanted to be able to put food on the table while making records and now I have the honor of being nominated for a GRAMMY.” said CRAS graduate Eric Weaver who is nominated for a GRAMMY in the Record of the Year category as the Vocal Engineer for Iggy Azalea w/ Charli XCX’s Fancy. “My time in Arizona at CRAS gave me the necessary technical vocabulary and knowledge to be an immediate asset capable of understanding the studios’ and clients’ needs. That preparation allowed me to maximize the learning experiences available when working hand in hand with the industry’s most talented engineers, producers, and artists.”
CRAS is a nationally accredited, private postsecondary college dedicated to those that seek a career in the music, game audio, live sound, broadcast and post production for film and TV industries. CRAS graduates succeed in the highly competitive fields of studio recording technology and engineering, live sound engineering, and music production/post-production for film, corporate presentations, television and game audio design. Widely recognized as a leading audio recording school in the U.S., students attend the five-day per week, 11-month program held at CRAS’ Arizona campuses in Gilbert and Tempe.
