From gigging around Bellingham to lecturing in the Fairhaven recording studio, Chris Vita stresses the importance of a balanced mix between creating and recording music.

In the two years since accepting the position of Fairhaven lecturer and recording studio coordinator, Vita, 24, has trained many Western students in the art of audio engineering. In that time, he has also recorded local bands such as The Russians and The Contra. He has played solo gigs around town, and even opened for Minus the Bear with his former band Crossfox.

But perhaps his biggest accomplishment came this summer when Western accepted his Student Technology Fee grant proposal and awarded Fairhaven nearly $45,000 for recording equipment.

While the Fairhaven recording studio already had a modest array of cables and microphones, a fairly modern compressor and distressor and a computer less than a few years old, Vita said it lacked professional grade recording equipment.

“We took a very basic level of equipment and we added a whole lot of high- end gear to give students an idea of the array of options that you could find in a high-end studio,” Vita said.

Vita describes the studio as modest. Even with the new equipment, the studio itself is small with just one isolation booth and minimal decor. But Vita said minor inconveniences, such as holes in the drywall and the dull buzzing of the overhead fan, do not prohibit students from making quality recordings.

Western senior Ray Stewart, who has taken classes from Vita and has also recorded in professional studios, said he has made many quality recordings in the Fairhaven studio.
“It’s not super fancy or anything but with Pro Tools HD, which is the cream of the crop, it’s everything you need to get a professional recording,” Stewart said.

Vita graduated from Western in 2007. During his senior year, he began lecturing in the recording studio, balancing faculty life with student life.

“It was really weird to have some of your friends as students one hour, then the next hour as classmates,” Vita said.

Vita said the most exciting aspect of the grant is that it will give students an opportunity to record with equipment they will never, and should never, buy for their home recording studios.

“Our job as an institution of higher learning is to offer equipment that students couldn’t get their hands on,” Vita said. “There is no reason why the private artist should own all this stuff. When you rent a recording room you are able to use all this high end gear.”

The grant, which is awarded to a different department each year, consists of $43,594 worth of recording equipment.

Among the purchased gear is a high-powered Apple computer valued at approximately $5,000 and two Neumann U87 microphones priced at $3429 each. Vita said just the clips that hold these microphones cost $400 each. Also purchased was a $1295 Royer R-121 ribbon microphone, a pair of $1500 Empirical Labs distressors and a $2,000 Universal Audio 1176 compressor.

The Fairhaven audio recording program is normally funded solely by course fees, which range from $30 to $70. All of the new equipment, along with $5,000 worth of new cables, are used in sync with the program’s Soundcraft Ghost LE sound board, which is a couple years old and required the department to save one year’s worth of course fees to buy­­—approximately $6,000.

Vita has been recording music since he was in high school. He said he has collected close to $5,000 worth of recording equipment since he was 17, which is adequate to create home recordings, but not representative of what a university studio should have.

Those familiar with Bellingham’s music scene may remember Vita’s old band Crossfox, which disbanded last year. Since then, Vita has put on solo shows around town and joined a new band, Vantage.

Vita, who played guitar in Crossfox, said the band started off with a great deal of momentum, opening for Minus the Bear as their seventh gig.

“We weren’t even ready for it. We didn’t have our songs honed in or polished,” Vita said.

Crossfox's momentum started tapering off after that show, Vita said, eventually playing less than one gig a month. In the end the band decided they were not going anywhere. Vita compared Crossfox’s last days together to dating someone while foreseeing a breakup.

“We all love each other and we date really well but we couldn’t imagine what married life would be like together so we broke up,” Vita said.

Though the band is no more, they managed to record a full-length album that is available in stores around Bellingham.

“It’s the first project I’ve been a significant part of that has a barcode and is in stores,” Vita said. “It’s such a good document of what the band was that it is nothing to be sad about. It’s a good capstone.”

Vita’s new band, Vantage, is now in full swing. They are playing shows in Bellingham and even planning to tour in  Los Angeles. Vita also has a personal goal of learning to play new instruments.   He has been playing drums for nine months now, and hopes to drum in a band within the year.

Vita is also recording an alternative country solo album. He is currently working with Death Cab for Cutie’s guitarist and audio engineer, Chris Walla.

Vita said he considers himself a musician first and foremost, and that without being a musician, audio engineering would be pretty boring. Vita said his professional goal is to do both, like Walla.

“Doing one only helps the other,” Vita said.  

He encourages students who are interested in either creating or recording music to sign up for his class.

Ryan O’Flaherty, member of The Russians, has recorded with Vita and said he is friendly and supportive of any ideas the musicians may have.

“When he has an idea he always lets you do what you want to do and tries to use his expertise to make sure that the ideas you have are going to work out the way you want them to," O'Flaherty said. "He has the technical know-how, the skills and techniques in the studio to make sure that happens.”

Vita plans to continue his private recording business while lecturing at Western for at least a couple more years.

“Probably in a year or two, if the economy improves I’ll take off,” Vita said. “The only thing is, I’m only 24 and I haven’t really gone out into a larger music industry to try to work as a recording engineer. I’d also like to be in a band and tour across the country.”

Wouldn’t we all?

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