Adrian Gonzalez is Now a Successful A2 Working for Countless High Profile Shows and Sports Networks, Such as TNT, CBS, FOX, NFL Network, Cox Communications, MLB Network, NHL Network, Super Bowl LVI, MLB NLDS, NLCS, NBA Live, and Many More
Gilbert, Ariz., March 18, 2022 – Growing up, Adrian Gonzalez was fascinated with vintage electronics and music, from radios, tubes, and mechanical designs to ragtime piano, jazz, Sinatra, and Led Zeppelin.
“I always loved folk and dived deep into Jim Morrison and Bob Dylan, and growing up in Rosemead, Calif listening to classics like these made me want to record music like that again,” explained Gonzalez, now 25 years old. “That desire drove me to getting an education in the field that would give me a head start into my passion, and that’s how I found out about the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences (CRAS).”
At one point, Gonzalez was fortunate enough to have a family member that worked for the Phoenix Suns, and Gonzalez was able to gain access to the inside of the trucks that broadcast those NBA games.
“During that time I was able to meet Bob Pachman, an absolute A1 guru that showed me every detail about his work, which heavily inspired me for the first time in a long time,” Gonzalez said. “He told me about CRAS and so I pondered the decision for a while. I then decided to fully commit to this school.”
When entering CRAS, Gonzalez’s goal upon completing his classes was to move back home and intern for Capitol Records. “I wanted to record with Sinatra’s microphone and see the piano that Paul Mccartney played on,” he explained. “I wanted to feel the historic reverb chambers and experience what the legends that inspired me for so long did there.”
However, once he began taking classes, Gonzalez’s CRAS education drove him to pursue audio for Post Production as his career choice, including wanting to work in cartoons and overdubbing productions, and then moving up to giants such as Pixar and Disney.
“CRAS helped me think like an engineer,” Gonzalez continued, interning at Private Island Audio and then graduating CRAS in 2017.
After interning and graduation, Gonzalez moved back to California.
Timing, a drive to succeed, and persistence are everything.
“I wasn’t having a lot of luck in California, so I decided to move back to Arizona in 2018 and soon began freelancing as a utility for local crewing companies,” he said. “As I started working more, I started to land more jobs as an A2 in Phoenix. And now, I’ve been an A2 working for countless high profile shows and sports networks, such as TNT, CBS, FOX, NFL Network, Cox Communications, MLB Network, NHL Network, Super Bowl LVI, MLB NLDS, NLCS, NBA Live, and many more.”
Then, in 2021, Gonzalez decided to stop primarily freelancing as he became a full-time EIC for Gravity Media running its production trucks and working many PAC-12 network games. He said he freelances during his off days if and when he is available to do so.
“Freelancing was all about networking and working hard,” Gonzalez explained. “Fortunately for me, some people that I had worked with before threw my name out to Gravity Media promising that I would become an asset to their company. They took the chance and brought me onto their workforce, and I have been there ever since.”
From deciding to go to CRAS to today, Gonzalez has learned a lot along the way. His advice to current CRAS students and recent graduates is to network with everyone they possibly can and prove that when you are at work, that you are there to work and not sit around looking at your phone and wasting the day away.
Gonzalez added that he has learned a lot post-graduation from working on the job and from the experience and guidance of the people above him, but the right education was the foundation he needed to get started.
“CRAS was definitely a step in the right direction for me,” Gonzalez concluded. “My CRAS education helped me in times when I had to troubleshoot certain specifics. I am thankful for my education and it is still nice to know that I can still rely on it to this day.”
