From Making Records to Making Gear
Ben Sabin Began His Career as a Pro Audio Engineer, and Now His Company, Trace Audio, Has a Team of Employees that Build Custom Cabling, Fabricate Custom Metalwork, and Handle Studio Integrations for Clients Nationwide
Gilbert, Ariz., Sept. 24, 2026 – Ben Sabin wasn’t sure what to do when the COVID-19 pandemic virtually wiped out his pro audio career in Los Angeles, and so he took a chance and moved his family to Nashville. Little did he know at the time it was not going to be just a change in scenery, but a drastic change in career and outlook.
Sabin, now 30-years-old, was born and raised in Carson City, Nev., playing piano and eventually becoming curious about how to record himself. One year while in high school, he saved up enough money to buy a computer with GarageBand on it, and he spent the rest of high school obsessed with figuring out recording and production.
“That interest eventually led me to The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences (CRAS) in Arizona, where I could learn more about the tools used in professional studios and hopefully turn my passion into a career,” said Sabin, a 2015 CRAS graduate. “The hands-on instruction immediately appealed to me, but the internship opportunity was especially important. I knew that getting into a real studio and gaining experience was going to be one of the most important parts of starting a career in audio, so CRAS felt like a no-brainer.”
While at CRAS, Sabin worked part-time at Guitar Center in Scottsdale, Ariz. so he could stay surrounded by pro audio gear and music when he wasn’t in class. He also worked at the Hyatt Regency in Scottsdale running concert sound. That was a great opportunity to cut his teeth in live audio before eventually moving to Los Angeles, where he landed an internship at Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, Calif. After a couple of months, he was hired there as a production assistant.
“Working at Shangri-La was a great experience, and I learned a tremendous amount, but I really wanted more time in the control room and the opportunity to work directly on sessions,” Sabin explained. “That led me to start working for producer Colin Brittain. Working with Colin gave me the opportunity to be an assistant engineer on records with bands such as All Time Low, Dashboard Confessional, Papa Roach, and many others. After a couple of years, I realized that late-night drum editing and vocal aligning wasn’t really where I wanted to spend the rest of my career. In 2019, I made another change and took a job with a local live sound company in Orange County, Calif.”
Then, everything changed. COVID-19.
“Live sound work disappeared almost overnight,” Sabin continued. “By that point, I had a wife and a young daughter, and we were quickly running out of funds to stay in L.A. I used all the credit card points I had saved up to book a flight to Nashville just to explore the city and see if moving there might make sense. In October 2020, right at the height of the pandemic, I moved my family there.”
However, Sabin had already founded Trace Audio out of the spare bedroom of his L.A. apartment, offering DIY audio gear builds and custom cable assemblies. When they arrived in Nashville, he fully expected that he would need to get a supplemental job to make ends meet while he tried to build the business.
“I set up my workbench and hit the pavement, making connections with local studios and audio professionals,” Sabin explained. “I ended up never needing to get that part-time job. Instead, before long, I needed to start hiring employees.”
Now, Trace Audio operates out of a 5,000-square-foot facility with a team of 10 employees, building custom cabling, fabricating custom metalwork, and handling studio integrations for clients all over the country.
“I started this journey thinking I wanted to make records,” Sabin added. “I still look back fondly on my time working in studios, but along the way I realized that I enjoyed wiring, building, and integrating equipment even more than I enjoyed editing and recording. At the same time, all of those years working in studios and on stages proved incredibly valuable. That experience gave me the perspective I still use today to help our clients develop better workflows and find the right solutions for their setups.”
Sabin said one of the biggest things he’s learned throughout his career is that no opportunity is a waste of time, but it’s also important to recognize when it’s time to make a move and grow into the next opportunity. Some of the most valuable lessons and experiences he’s gained came from previous jobs, including times when he was doing work that, in the moment, might have felt like it was below him. Looking back, all of it contributed to what he’s doing today.
“CRAS has a great program because it gives students exposure to the many different paths available within the audio industry,” Sabin concluded. “One of the biggest resources CRAS offers is its instructors. While I was there, I made a point of getting to know my instructors and learning as much as I could from each of them. My advice to students is to take advantage of that. When your instructors see that you genuinely want to learn and that you’re willing to go beyond the standard curriculum, they’ll often pour that same energy back into you. You can get so much more out of your time at CRAS when you approach it that way rather than simply showing up and doing what’s required.”
For Sabin, CRAS was the beginning of a career that ended up looking very different from what he had originally imagined. He went there because he wanted to make records, but the skills, relationships, and experiences he gained helped him discover the part of the audio industry that he was ultimately best suited for, and gave him the foundation to build a business around it.”
About The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences
The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences is composed of two nearby campuses in Gilbert and Tempe, Ariz. A CRAS education includes broadcast audio, live sound, film and TV audio, music, and video game audio, all taught by award-winning instructors who have all excelled in their individual fields, including sound reinforcement, audio recording and production, digital recording, troubleshooting/maintenance, and music business.
CRAS structured programs and highly qualified teaching staff provide a professional and supportive atmosphere, which is complemented by its small class sizes allowing for individual instruction and assistance for students in engineering audio recordings. CRAS has been providing quality vocational training in audio recording for more than three decades. The curriculum and equipment are constantly being updated to keep pace with the rapid advancements in the music and sound recording industries. CRAS’ course offerings and subject matter have always centered around the skills and knowledge necessary for students’ success in the audio recording industries.
The 11-month program is designed to allow every student access to learn and train in all of the Conservatory’s studios which are comprised with state-of-the-art audio recording and mixing gear, the same equipment used in today’s finest studios and remote broadcast facilities, including Pro Tools 12, API Legacy consoles, SSL AWS consoles, Studer Vista consoles, and much more. All students must complete a 280-hour industry internship to graduate from the Master Recording Program II that may ultimately lead to industry employment.
For more information on the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences, please visit www.cras.edu, contact Kirt Hamm, administrator, at 1-800-562-6383, or email to [email protected].
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