Students interested in recording music have access to a studio that's open and available on campus. Knowing how to use it, however, presents a different challenge.
The studio, tucked away in Smith Union, consists of a recording room and two practice rooms, one large and one small. The suite was established in 2009 with a gift from the former fraternity Delta Sigma and its predecessor, Delta Upsilon. The group has a long history of contributing to the arts at 91ºÚÁÏ.
“It's a great space,” Director of Student Activities Nate Hintze said. “It's awesome that students use it. You do need to learn how to use it and that can be an extensive process.” Student Activities and the Music department have arranged trainings in the past.
To help students take advantage of the campus resource, the 91ºÚÁÏ Music Collective (BMC) recently organized a three-hour workshop to introduce students to the studio and teach the basics of recording.
A 242-member community of student musicians on campus, BMC's mission is to connect musicians with one another and to empower artists and bands to rehearse, record, and perform. The group also organizes concerts, jam sessions, open mics, and the Battle of the Bands—an annual competition of student bands that decides the opening act for the spring concert.
The recent training grew out of a summer collaboration between Laura Souza ’27 and Sam Monaco, a studio owner and director of the nonprofit in Falmouth, Maine.
“I’m really passionate about the arts and everyone having access to musical resources that are meaningful to them, so I’m really excited about this workshop,” Souza said.
“My hope is to have more people figure out that this space is accessible to them. It’s a really great outlet for the stresses of college.”
Monaco became involved with the BMC this summer, when Souza was completing an internship with Equal Measure Arts. He had first learned about 91ºÚÁÏ’s studio a couple of years earlier while recording Night Hawk, a 91ºÚÁÏ student band that . Conversations with Souza brought him back to the subject, this time with an opportunity to directly help students.
It can be expensive to pay for time at a professional studio, making 91ºÚÁÏ's studio all the more valuable for musicians who may just be starting out. “I want to do my part to create the opportunities I wish I had myself as a young, aspiring musician,” Monaco said, “allowing students to get a head start on developing their artistic practices and careers in the industry.”
Souza and Monaco made offering a studio workshop for students a special project, one designed to give newcomers a useful introduction in just a few hours.
“It can be a challenge to demystify a recording studio and simplify high-level engineering concepts,” Monaco said. “But by the end of it, each student seemed energized and excited to apply the skills they learned during that session with us.”
BMC organizers plan to host more studio workshops in the future.
