Jackson Frazier's fall internship at Reach Records placed him in the shadow of a recording engineer and provided him experience with directing recording sessions sessions. (Submitted photo)

Northwest Missouri State University student Jackson Frazier amplified his knowledge of audio engineering by interning last fall at Reach Records in Atlanta. He also submitted the winning photo of Northwest’s fall photo internship contest.

As an intern, Frazier, a senior interactive digital media major from Kansas City, Missouri, prepared equipment for daily use, selected and set up recording gear for artists’ sessions, shadowed the recording engineer, and occasionally directed sessions himself.

Frazier applied skills he learned at Northwest during the internship, such as the basics of Pro Tools audio editing software, studio setup and patching.

“Although I still had a lot to learn when I started my internship with Reach Records, Northwest allowed me to put those things on my résumé and get my foot in the door of the music industry,” Frazier said.

Frazier has been following Reach Records since 2015 after discovering two of their artists' albums. Throughout the internship, he formed friendships with engineers as well as musical artists, such as Lecrae and Andy Mineo. Frazier had the opportunity to use a variety of equipment, including a $10,000 microphone and the studio’s library of over 500 plugins.

“I found out about the internship through an email newsletter that the company sends out,” Frazier said. “During my freshman and sophomore years, I didn't think much of it because at that time I was emphasizing video in my degree, not audio. But as I switched over to more audio based classes during my junior year of college, I realized that I met almost all of the criteria needed in order to be a studio intern for Reach.”

Frazier said he also learned the importance of exhibiting professional etiquette and that preparation exudes confidence.

“One of my bosses, Connor, was a great example of how to be extensively prepared,” Frazier said. “Before starting a session with an artist he would always come in an hour early to set everything up. He documented all of the gear after sessions so that he could quickly set back up if that artist were to book another session that week. If he was engineering for an artist outside of the label, he would find out how that artist preferred to record so that he could learn and be able to run the session with no hiccups. He taught me how to use my time effectively and how to best serve the artist.”

Travis Kline, Northwest’s career development coordinator for internships, said internships allow students to test drive a future career and build their professional skills.

“Many students worry about having enough professional experience to land a full-time job after graduation, and an internship shows a future employer that you have been out there and earned some real-world work experience to go along with your coursework,” Kline said.

Other students highlighted in the fall contest were Jessica Marshall, who interned for the Northwest Office of University Advancement, Colin Anthony, who interned as an instructional designer for Altec Inc. in St. Joseph, Missouri, Mercedes Isaacson-Cover, who interned for the Learning Center in Maryville, Missouri, and Jared Zieger, who interned as a recreational therapist with the St. Louis Department of Veterans Affairs.