Rate My Professor Bill Crabtree

Bill Crabtree is a Professor of Recording Industry at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), serving as the Program Director for the Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Recording Arts and Technologies within the Department of Recording Industry, part of the College of Media and Entertainment. As an MTSU alumnus from the class of 1990, Crabtree has contributed 17 years to the institution as of 2023, encompassing 30 years of experience in higher education. His academic career emphasizes hands-on instruction in audio production, equipping students with essential skills for professional recording studios, including equipment operation, musician collaboration, control room dynamics, and advanced techniques such as multitrack recording seminars and virtual instruments and sound synthesis.

Crabtree's innovative approach to education garnered the 2023 True Blue Citation of Distinction for Achievement in Education from MTSU alumni awards. Amid the COVID-19 challenges, he ingeniously repurposed four MTSU recording studio control rooms into fully functional multi-camera, high-definition virtual classrooms. Employing three iPhone SEs for video feeds, a Blackmagic ATEM Mini Pro video switcher, Mac Pro for Zoom integration, and high-resolution audio streaming through ListenTo—developed in partnership with colleague Michael Hansen—this setup enabled real-time interactive lessons, remote student participation in demonstrations, small-group hands-on sessions with graduate assistants, and professional recording experiences with MTSU Commercial Songwriting majors and studio musicians. Student outcomes remained robust, with midterm exams, proficiency, and attendance matching pre-pandemic levels. Beyond this, Crabtree co-chaired the 50th International Conference of the Audio Engineering Society in 2013 alongside Michael Fleming, curated sessions for AES Inside Track in 2019, led Recording Industry study abroad programs including a 2024 trip highlighted in MTSU news, contributed to recordings for university media projects like the CMT Judds concert special and Emmy-nominated 'We Do It All' commercial, arranged sessions for the Center for Popular Music, and freelanced for API audio equipment, authoring user manuals. Under his direction, the M.F.A. program—offering 60 semester hours with 48 required credits and 12 electives—admits 12-14 students each fall, fostering advanced proficiency in audio production, recording, and integrated electronic media through a culminating 9-credit final project.