Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1475048
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y I FA L L 2 0 2 2 17 How did you find your way to sound in the very beginning? Were you always interested in it, or did you stumble your way in? My early interest in audio was always music-related; I had no idea that there was even such a thing as audio post. I suppose I used to be one of those people who think all the sound just happens live and there is an orchestra behind the camera. It was only when I went to school that I learned about the process and all the different crafts involved. When I was a teenager, like so many other people in this business, I was involved with garage bands. My brother was in a band with some friends, and I ended up being the sound guy for them. We would rent gear for gigs and to record their songs, and I would run it all. I sort of taught myself, starting with ordinary cassette recorders. For a while, it was just a hobby. Originally, I went to university for civil engineering to design things like roads and bridges. After a couple of years, I realized that it just wasn't for me and switched to a recording arts trade school here in Toronto. I learned a lot of fundamentals and the technical underpinnings of audio there. Mainly, what I got out of that was meeting the people who gave me my first jobs. At the end of my final year, one of our instructors hired a bunch of us to help build a new music studio for another one of our instructors. I was also interested in electronics when I was a kid so, in addition to the construction, I helped with a lot of the wiring and learned how everything was connected! When the studio was done, the owner asked me if I wanted to be the assistant engineer and that was my first proper audio job. Re-recording mixer Eric Apps CAS