AJ Shapiro is an Emmy Award-winning Foley Engineer for Technicolor Sound in the Greater Los Angeles Area, and a graduate of The Omega Studios’ School of Applied Recording Arts & Sciences. After Omega, AJ Shapiro was selected for the prestigious National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation Technology Apprenticeship Program where he got to work for WTTG Fox 5 DC as a Broadcast Operations Engineer.
In 2019, he began to work for Technicolor Sound in LA as a Foley Engineer. AJ Shapiro won an Emmy for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited Series, Movie or Special in 2020. We are so proud of AJ and the work he has done, and we know he will continue to be successful in the Post-Production field!
Q: What did you do before Omega / when did you become interested in music?
A: I was a physical therapy technician for 3 years before deciding that wasn’t the field I wanted to be in. I’ve played guitar since I was a kid and always messed around with a two-track recorder. My love of music led me to go back to school for recording engineering.
Q: How did you become introduced to Omega?
A: Through researching possible programs in the area.
Q: What did you study at Omega?
A: I took every course Omega had to offer. (The Comprehensive Recording Industry Program).
Q: What did you do immediately after graduating from Omega?
A: I was one of the lucky few to get accepted into the NAB apprenticeship, which got me an internship at WTTG DC Fox 5. After my 2 month internship, I was hired on as an A2. While working there I was used as a robotics camera operator, a floor director, and a board operator for the morning news and Good Day DC shows. I stayed with Fox for 3 years before deciding to move to LA
Q: What do you do now?
A: I am now an Emmy winning Foley editor at Technicolor Sound.
My experience at Omega was crucial to my success. Not just because of the skills I learned in the classes, but because of the connections I made and the doors that opened because of it. It was the Audio for Film and Television course that got me thinking about post-production as a possible career when I had really been focused on music. I thought all of my instructors were incredibly knowledgeable and encouraging and to this day I am still in contact with some of them.
AJ Shapiro, Omega Graduate 2014