Our Story
About The new SAC ACADEMy
The New Sac Academy was opened to give individuals a chance to dive into the music industry. Our instructors are highly qualified and built both programs based on real-life experiences in the studio with artists. They both wrote their own curriculums to reach in the style of “on the job training”. The New Sac Academy stands for small class sizes and hands-on learning. We are proud to offer programs in Audio Engineering, Beat-Making, Songwriting, and Music Video Production. Led by expert staff members, The New Sac Academy is committed to bringing simplicity into the minds of today’s youth.
Take a Look…
OUR CAMPUS
50+
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
60+
ARTISTS RECORDED
70+
PLATINUM RIAA AWARDS
1,000+
VINYL RECORDS MASTERED
Learn about the music business in 1 semester…
OUR PROGRAMS
AUDIO ENGINEERING
The program is designed to train students for entry level positions as audio engineers in the areas of commercial recording, broadcast, and live sound, and to provide the necessary understanding of the music industry for an entry level position in the entertainment business. The New Sac Academy continually integrates guest lecturers who are working professionally in the audio and entertainment industries, for classes and workshops throughout the program.
BEAT-MAKING
The program introduces entry-level students to the creative and technical foundations of beat making and digital music production using Logic Pro X. Through guided instruction and structured lab time, students will learn how to create original beats from scratch using Logic’s built-in tools. Topics include drum programming, sampling, melody creation, arrangement, and basic mixing. The course emphasizes hands-on practice, technical skill-building, and creative exploration.
SONGWRITING
The program will guide students through the full creative cycle of songwriting from personal storytelling and lyric development to melodic phrasing, collaboration, and recording. It will provide students with foundational songwriting skills, emotional awareness, and professional readiness. Through hands-on labs, intuitive apps, industry- relevant insights, and creative exploration grounded, the student will gain the tools to write, revise, co-write, demo, and share their song ideas with confidence, clarity, and authenticity.
MUSIC VIDEO PRODUCTION
The program trains filmmakers to write, direct, film, and edit full length music videos in a professional setting. Providing students with advanced skills in managing a film production, different lighting setups for themes and moods, green screen chroma-keying for digital backgrounds, CGI and animation.
How Much?
TUITION
Students should “never” be burdened with high tuition costs — especially when it entails a lengthy student loan that often takes years to repay! The adage “Education is wasted, unless it is freely given away” means a lot to us at The New Sac Academy. Therefore, our tuition costs are far less than our competition, which makes it affordable for everyone -and that makes learning less stressful!
Meet us!
OUR STAFF
ROBERT HONABLUE
AUDIO ENGINEERING
Robert brings almost 50 years of engineering experience to The New Sac Academy. He started out as a recording engineer for CBS Records in NYC, partnered with George Benson in George’s home recording studio, and worked at Motown Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Robert has earned well over 70 certified RIAA platinum records with artists like Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Santana, Led Zeppelin, Barbra Streisand, and many, many more. Robert was the founder and Director of The Honablue Institute of Audio Engineering Inc. which was endorsed by George Benson, Darius Brubeck, and the late Les Paul and the late Dave Brubeck.
KARLOS HILL
BEAT-MAKING
Karlos Hill has 15 plus years of experience in composition, sound engineering, and beat making As the founder of Mac-Sauce Publishing and Buck’Em Studios, Karlos developed a unique ability of blending jazz, R&B, classical, rock, and 80’s synth into artist-aligned musical beats and artist-aligned compositions. Karlos has collaborated with such artists as Amanda Holley, King Black, MC Scarhop (Spain), Neonz (UK), Dukane, K Fisher, Rocky Mackinroe, AK Dimitri, John Draper, Teef Mobn, and so many others.
KELLY JEAN
SONGWRITING
Kelly Jean has a passion for connecting others through music. With years of experience in song writing, guitar, and piano, Kelly performs across her hometown and surrounding areas, sharing her unique blend of heartfelt lyrics and soulful melodies. She created Song Writing By Design to help others find their own authentic voice in music. Through her words and teachings, Kelly inspires song writers to go beyond their technique, by guiding them to write from a place of truth, vulnerability, and deep creative intuition.
BRITTON THOMAS
MUSIC VIDEO PRODUCTION
Britton Thomas directed his debut feature in Sacramento with help from the stars of the Emmy nominated “Supernatural” series and the critically acclaimed movie, “Reservoir Dogs”, by Quentin Tarantino. After premiering his feature, Britton worked in LA on storyboards for Black Panther, Venom, and Uncharted; learning under film directors Denzel Washington, Katherine Bigelow, James Cameron, and David Spade. Speaking at college campuses UOP, SSU, CRC, and UCLA, and experienced with all types of music video production– from visualizers to stylized video in color and CGI– Britton finds his creativity in music from behind the camera.
VICTORIA LE
ADMINISTRATIVE
Victoria Le is a lifelong music-lover with experience in the performing arts. She is dedicated to recruiting high school students who want to achieve their goals in Audio Engineering, Song writing, Music Video Production, and Beat-Making. Victoria has been instrumental in reaching out to more than 400 high schools, in the Northern and central areas of California, conducting school fairs and instructional presentations.