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By Christopher Walsh
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Ardent Studios and the Visible School (both in Memphis) are grabbing a trend and running with it.

While some commercial recording studios have recently started providing education in the recording arts -- or partnering with recording schools -- the recently announced partnership between Ardent and Visible goes beyond the traditional arrangement.

The Visible School, founded in 2000, offers one- and two-year certificate programs in recording, live sound production, vocal and instrumental performance and songwriting.

Among the Visible School and Visible Media Group's existing learning centers is an independently owned digital project studio -- Sounds Eternal -- and 818 Studios, a Web design and new-media studio.

Ardent Studios, founded by owner John Fry in 1966, adds considerably to the Visible School's offerings. With three recording/mix studios featuring Neve and Solid State Logic consoles -- plus a mastering studio and a client list that includes ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmie Vaughan and Travis Tritt -- Ardent adds a high-end, professional environment to the Visible School experience.

"We had been talking to them about two things," says Fry, who has taught at the University of Memphis and serves as vice chairman of the Memphis and Shelby County Music Commission.

"One was helping them expand their program, because it was initially a one-year program: nine months of classes plus a three-month, summer, practical-application exercise of some kind. They had people saying, 'We want more.'

"Plus, while the Visible School itself has a uniquely Christian mission -- it's directed toward people who want to be in Christian music -- we also wanted to develop an independent path that would be very similar to the course content it presently has, but for persons who were not directed toward specifically working in Christian music."

Ken Steorts, founder of the Visible School, has a long history with Ardent. Once an intern at the studio, Steorts later served as guitarist in Skillet, a group on the studio's Ardent Records label.

Steorts says Ardent "is definitely a more large-scale music environment and mainstream music. We do a lot with Christian music in our facility, but there's a lot more real-world experience at Ardent."

First-year students enrolled in recording programs, Steorts explains, might spend 30% of their time at Ardent, with that figure doubling for upper-level students.

In addition to the education that Visible School students will get in large-format consoles and professional music recording at Ardent, Fry feels that, given the ascendance of digital audio workstation-based recording and home or project studios, education is more important than ever. "The fact of the matter is, there are an awful lot more people that want to do music recording and various kinds of video and media work in settings and for purposes that didn't exist in the past.

"These folks really want or need to be able to do this work themselves," Fry adds, "but they need to know what it is that they're doing. It's great for this equipment to be affordable, but it still requires skillful and knowledgeable use."