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Logan Hanna isn't out of control. He just hasto be ready when things do go out of con-trol. As the Front of House Engineer for risingCountry/Western artist Frankie Ballard,Hanna is responsible for getting Ballard’ssound right, whether it’s in the studio or onthe road. It’s a big responsibility and onethat Hanna says his education at theConservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences(CRAS) helped prepare him to face.

“Live sound is something that I really enjoydoing,” Hanna said. “It’s the spontaneity, it’sthe meticulousness of getting everything right.It’s live! Anything can go wrong without amoment’s notice and you have to be totallyprepared to react. You have to cover all yourbases every day and make sure everything is100 percent operable. When you're live,there are no second takes. There can be nomistakes. I really like that challenge.”

Finding music wasn’t a challenge for Hanna,who took up the guitar as a youth and playedclassical guitar in college. But when his parentsgave him some recording instruments as a gift,Hanna found a new way to explore music.

“My parents bought me one of the firstFirewire-based mixers that plugged directlyinto my computer and could record twotracks,” he said. “They also got me a micro-phone and a couple of XLRs so I would justsit in my dorm room and record my guitartracks. I got really excited about the techside of audio engineering, including sometheater audio. As I did more, I began to feelthat being behind the console made moresense for me, that I felt more at home and itfelt more natural.”

Hanna said a friend of his found CRAS andthe two decided to apply together. However,his friend never sent the application, so whenHanna was accepted he moved to Arizona byhimself. At the school, Hanna becameimmersed in the science of sound recording,and it was a new world. “I had done somemic packs and other stuff but I didn’t have an

understanding of what any of it really was; itwas just the basis for the live sound audioworld in general and the recording studiobehind that was the real reveal,” he explained.

After completing his schooling at CRAS,Hanna was selected for an internship atSound Stage Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.When the internship was over, he was hiredby Interface Audio where he refurbisheddecommissioned SSL boards.

“My first job was a studio tech…I’d take con-soles apart, clean them, fix leads and com-ponents, put them together and test them forthe client,” he recalled. “I got into audioengineering by moonlighting at a club down-town and found that there was a lot of workand a pretty good paycheck, too. That’s whyI stuck with live audio.”

Others in the “Nashville Network” noticedHanna’s skills as a Front of House engineerand he soon became a sought-after live engi-neer. “I met a lot of players and a lot ofmusicians and that just fed into the network,”

he said. “It forced me to work on training myear and understanding sound. When you getknown as a club engineer, people start topass your name around and soon they’reasking if you can do a three-week road trip.Then a higher profile artist needs a soundguy so the manager says, ‘You’ve got theexperience now; why don’t you try this outwith us,’ and that’s a new set of challengesas an engineer. You’re out there wheremoney is now a factor and there’s more onthe line, so my responsibilities are muchgreater. I like the challenge that presents toan engineer, to deliver to the artist and theaudience what they expect of you.”

In Hanna’s case, he’s probably deliveredmore than what was expected. In addition tokeeping the equipment working, including fix-ing boards on the fly and making sure thebatteries are fresh (“Batteries will kill youevery time. Always make sure you have newbatteries installed before the show,” he said.).But with Frankie Ballard, Hanna’s work ethicand performance is just what a new artistneeded to help advance in the music industry.

“The one thing I knew about Logan was thathe had a lot between his ears, and that’s real-ly why I hired him,” Ballard said. “There’s nota lot of budget when you’re getting startedand you just can’t hire four or five guys rightout of the chute even though you need them.What you have to do is find one guy whocan wear a lot of hats – he can run monitors,he can run the front house and he can do allkinds of engineer work for you.

“Logan had those diverse skills and talents,from managing the stage all the way out tothe front house and more as we find out allthe time. That was the biggest thing thatattracted me to him as a potential employer,was his knowledge base.”

Those extras that Hanna brought to Ballardincluded rebuilding the band’s entire monitormix. “We had this older M7 that we draggedaround and we got into a space and he just

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career, but it got me and my wife through a toughtime. But L.A. was the place to come to, so I had tobe around people that I could connect with. You’vegot to be… And it doesn’t mean you have to do itstraightaway, but at some point you have to be closeto the industry that you want to be involved with. Itjust increases your chances of success.

I’ve always said, “Use TAXI as your ticket out oftown. Use us until you don’t need us.” And thenmaybe keep coming to the Road Rally so you keepnetworking after the fact. Look, Lindy Robbins usedto be a TAXI member. I remember hearing her stuffprobably back in ’93, ’94, ’95, and I called her upone day. She was nobody, and I enthusiasticallysaid, “You’re gonna have a hit. You are writingalmost at a hit level. I mean, you’re 3% away in myestimation.” And now she’s a very in-demand writer. Richard: Yeah, Lindy’s my best female friend,and I spoke to her this morning. But Lindyworked long and hard for a lot of years. She was atheater writer, and she wrote for the circus, andthen she made a conscious effort to shift into Popmusic. But it was a long haul for her, and she net-worked. Part of the reason, besides being a greatsongwriter, she writes with all the track people.She is so in demand as topliner. They are all herfriends; she came up with them. But it was not anovernight thing. And now she is one hit afteranother, because all the people that she’s beenworking with are all top, top; everything goes rightto record.

Now, that’s not going to happen to you, but youmay be sitting next to a producer who ends upbeing a hot producer, or you may end up sittingnext to a person who is an artist and who is a greatsinger, and she becomes a recording artist and youhappen to write some songs with her, and she’sgonna take you along.

But I have to reiterate, there’s a chance that you canget famous quick, but for the most part it’s gonnatake steps and levels to get higher and higher; thenone day something clicks.

Marlin: Lindy was a friend of mine. I love Lindy—she’s amazing. I agree with what you said about hercircle, I think to simplify it even more, it’s like goingto school with the same group of people. Becauseyour peers eventually grow into being very impor-tant people. Or like if you’re around it… LikeRichard said, you get around it you’re in like a fratalmost, like you’re in college with a group of peo-ple. Everybody’s starving and everybody’s trying towork on it and build it. And then over years of timeyou are part of this really cool community. Some ofthem become A&R people. So it’s really notovernight unless you sign with a publisher, a pro-duction company or… And even then…

they build their “fraternities.” Some of the guys areplumbers, some are electricians, some of them arechip designers, some are software code guys, someof them are entrepreneurs, and some of thembecome investment bankers. But they’ve all comefrom this fraternity where they became a band ofbrothers, and then it translates into business rela-tionships down the road. That’s exactly what you’retalking about with songwriting—how Lindy cameup with that group of people. And that’s what goeson in Nashville. Same thing. It’s “rising tide floatsall boats,” but if you’re not present, as Ralph says,and you’re not in the boat on the water in the pondthat Richard’s talking about, it ain’t gonna happen.

Don’t miss the final installment, Part 4, of thisincredible interview in next month’s TAXI Insider!

You’ve got to be good enough for them to want to signyou.Marlin: If you look at it like I want to be a part ofthe songwriting community, then you can kind ofrealize that, “Oh, I actually do have to show up; I doactually do have to make friends; I actually have tobe really good.” So slowly people will know yourname, and the next thing you know, boom!

There’s a great book called Startup Nation. It’s thestory of how the little tiny nation of Israel hasmore inventions, patents, booming companies, allthis great stuff that we didn’t realize, like Intel—Israel; WAZE, the navigation app—Israel; all thisstuff. And you know where it comes from? TheIsraeli Army! Everybody in Israel has to go throughtwo or three years in the army, and that’s where

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sat down and dialed all that in for us,”Ballard said. “On a day-to-day basis,he sets up the entire monitor rig, includ-ing the desk, amp rack with our wirelessunit, all of the wireless frequencies forour ear mixes, dials in our wedges, andthen drags out the long cable and mixesup our front house. He’s pretty busy.”

Now that Ballard is making a name inNashville, includingthree No. 1 songsfrom his debutalbum, “Sunshine &Whiskey,” Ballard isable to bring onanother hand tohelp Hanna.

Dave Carlton grad-uated from CRASsix years afterHanna and wasalso working inNashville. Hanna’sCRAS cap caughtCarlton’s eye onenight and the twostruck up a conver-sation. As bothadvanced inNashville, the twokept in touch and ultimately Carlton wasable to join Hanna and Ballard.

“CRAS taught me that there’s an entireworld of audio engineering out there,which is awesome,” Hanna said. “Theyteach the foundation and the basis ofwhat anybody needs to know tobecome a successful engineer. Whatyou need to do in the real world isdevelop your personal technique andfind your style, that’s what it is. This isan awesome job. Every night I get to

take a sweet band and I get to workthem at 110 decibels every night. That’sawesome! I get to sit in front of thesegiant speaker arrays and just blast themand throw the sound pressure at theaudience. I absolutely love what I do.”

The Conservatory of Recording Arts &Sciences is composed of two nearbycampuses in Gilbert and Tempe, Ariz. A

CRAS educationincludes broadcastaudio, live sound,film and TV audio,music, and videogame audio, alltaught by award-win-ning instructors whohave all excelled intheir individual fields,including sound rein-forcement, audiorecording and pro-duction, digitalrecording, trou-bleshooting/mainte-nance, and musicbusiness.

The 11-month pro-gram is designed toallow every student

access to learn and train in all of theConservatory’s studios which are com-prised with state-of-the-art audio record-ing and mixing gear, the same equip-ment used in today’s finest studios andremote broadcast facilities, includingPro Tools 11, API Legacy consoles, SSLAWS consoles, Studer Vista consoles,and much more. All students must com-plete a 280-hour industry internship tograduate from the Master RecordingProgram II that may ultimately lead toindustry employment.

For more information on the Conservatory ofRecording Arts & Sciences, please visit www.cras.edu,contact Ghery Fimbres, Director of Admissions, at 1-800-562-6383, or email info@cras.edu.

Excerpted from the November edition of REcoRdiNg Magazine 2016©2016 Music Maker Publications, inc. Reprinted with permission.5408 idylwild Trail, Boulder, co 80301 Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 For Subscription Information, call: 1-954-653-3927 or www.recordingmag.com