Addison Road

So…the intern at El Dorado…Sterling. He Rocks. He is just out of school where he studied Audio Engineering. I can only assume that he studied things like microphone placement, wiring, signal chain, tracking audio in Pro Tools, etc. He moved out here to Burbank about 8 days ago, knowing no one, and found an apartment close to the studio. He has found himself transplanted here in lovely Burbank, Cali at El Dorado Recording doing things like running for food, helping with instrument set-up, making lots and lots of coffee, etc. and is doing his time as an intern while eagerly anticipating his moment to show what he can do.

So…here come the reasons why everyone needs a Sterling in their lives.

1. Every time I reach for a water bottle in the fridge, there is a complete line of waters stacked as if one has never been taken. I love that.

2. After Chad has eaten his Poquito Mas, Sterling stealthily comes behind him and wipes his crumbs off the tablecloth.

3. He pays attention…close attention.

4. Closely related to number three…he realizes the importance of fresh coffee.

5. He readily responds to the seemingly insignificant requests. Things like, “Hey Sterling, can you please go into the piano room and hold down the top of the Wurlitzer while Chad plays in this part?” or ” Hey, when you go to Trader Joes, will you pick up some half and half for me to have with my coffee at home?” (Are you sensing a theme here? Coffee, baby…muy importante).

6. Ok…so maybe I won’t rattle on with 50 reasons…. although it is not for lack of writing material, just time.

7. Here’s the scoop. I very rarely see a young person with that amount of perspective on the world that is still able to maintain direction and focus. It does my heart good. At one moment in a recording session yesterday, there was some discussion as to the quality of sound that was coming from the playback. We were in a discussion with the band and the engineer that lead to an unanswered musical/engineering question. For some reason everyone looked at Sterling and he piped up, “I’m sorry, I am not qualified to answer that question.” Of course our immediate response was mass hilarity. Later we were talking about his experience in school and he explained to us that his teachers had told stories of Assistant Engineers being fired for expressing even the smallest of opinions to the musicians (or the Engineer, for that matter). I found it so inspiring that he had heard the important things that his teachers had to say (well, one at least). I found it especially admirable because I am a teacher of sorts. I think all too often we have goals and dreams but are not willing to make the sacrifices necessary or take the baby steps that HAVE to be taken before those said dreams can be realized. I have learned a lot from Sterling this week.