CREDIT: AGATA LESNICK, FANSHAWE COLLEGE PHOTOGRAPHER
World renowned and award winning audio post sound/mixing engineer and Fanshawe Music Industry Arts (MIA) alumnus, Craig Mann visited current MIA and Audio Post Production (APP) students, while leaving inspiration and hope to the next generation of musical stars.

Late November brought an exciting day for the students of Fanshawe’s Music Industry Arts (MIA) and Audio Post Production (APP) programs. They were happily surprised to be visited by the world renowned and award winning audio post sound engineer Craig Mann. Mann is best known for his work as a mixing engineer on major movies such as Paranormal Activity 4, Insidious, and most notably Whiplash.

Mann gave an hour long lecture to both the second year MIA students and the APP students where he shared an extensive wealth of knowledge on audio post, told the story of how he got to be where he is today and answered the many questions students had for him. This was followed by a more in depth demonstration of his mixing techniques for the APP students in Fanshawe’s audio post studios.

Mann, who’s a past alumnus of the MIA program, also seemed excited to be back at Fanshawe, sharing what he’s learned since graduating in 1996.

“It takes time, it doesn’t happen overnight”, Mann cautioned, telling how he decided that he wanted to go into audio post production because he thought it would be a faster route to becoming a mixing engineer than that of the path in the music industry.

However, Mann stated that he soon learned “that was a fantasy”. It took some 10-12 years of being an assistant for various sound facilities in both Canada and Los Angeles before he was finally given the opportunity to become a mixing engineer himself during the year of 2009.

However, all of these years of assisting, payed off. Mann stayed committed to his craft and it obviously worked in his favour. He’s been working in Los Angeles for almost 15 years now, working for many major companies and collecting several awards while there. The most notable of these was receiving an Oscar for his work as mixing engineer on the hit movie Whiplash, released in 2014.

Mann was very thankful for his time at Fanshawe and shared that MIA was a major key in him perfecting his craft. “Often times throughout the year I noticed that no one used the studio overnight,” Mann recalled. “That was hours of time on end to just twiddle around on the desk.”

These hours spent in the MIA facilities played a huge role in giving Mann the knowledge to get where he is today.

Mann is grateful for the opportunities he’s been given and closed off his lecture by encouraging students to follow their passions while reminding them of the importance of patience and perseverance.

“If you’re thinking about doing this for a career, be prepared to dig in,” he shared. “It’s kind of a grind at times…but it’s awesome…when [everything’s] coming to life on screen.”

Student’s left feeling inspired by Mann’s story and ready to put in the same level of dedication and hard work that Mann did to make it in such a competitive industry.

Those interested in finding out more about Mann and his accomplishments can go online to www.technicolor.com/en/craig-mann. His Oscar winning mixing for Whiplash can be found on major movie sales sites such as iTunes.