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Impacts of COVID on Recording and Production

MajoringInMusic — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 18:12:15 +0000

Music school majors and career professionals are discovering a variety of ways to handle the impacts of COVID on recording and production work.

by Haley Zaremba

To learn more, we talked to music production and technology professors at various schools as well as recording and production graduates. The consensus is that being flexible and trained with a diverse skillset is more important than ever.

Versatility is essential

“I think two suggestions [for current students] are roughly the same as they’ve always been, which is that you need to be multifaceted,” says Rob Jaczko, who chairs Music Production and Engineering at Berklee College of Music. “You can’t be a specialist in one narrow little thing, because whatever that thing is, it’s irrelevant or out of fashion in a year.”

The need for versatility is not new, but has been catalyzed by the current economic and public health crises. “In reality, the professional landscape for music technology has been in flux for some time,” says Michael Gurevich, associate professor of Performing Arts Technology at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. “So the key is to learn a lot about a lot of different aspects of the field and the industry, and to be open to every opportunity that arises. I don’t think that’s going to change.”

When describing modern-day Renaissance women and men of music, Jaczko and Gurevich might as well be describing Aaron Daniels, who graduated from the University of Colorado Denver Music & Entertainment Industries Studies program (MEIS) in 2017 with a bachelor’s in Recording Arts and a piano emphasis. Over the past few months, instead of watching his business dry up, he is busier than ever because he’s been saying yes to all kinds of jobs he had never even imagined before. He’s gone from mixing records and teaching piano to mixing live streams, teaching virtual classes, and producing backing tracks for ministries as far-flung as Japan and Afghanistan. Piano students who had long ago moved to other states have also been reaching back out to him as online learning has become mainstream.

“The pandemic has been one of the best things that’s ever happened to me personally,” Daniels says from his home in Denver. “It pushed me to be able to try new things. I’m making more [money] than ever before.” Although he graduated a few years before the pandemic hit, Daniels says that his program at CU Denver prepared him well for pursuing diverse streams of income and being open to the constant shifting of the industry.

Reshaping the way of teaching and learning

COVID has not changed the art of music production. Instead, it has accelerated a process that has already been in place for years.

Since well before the pandemic, “the way of the large format recording studio [has been] disappearing,” says Los Angeles-based producer, composer, and saxophonist Daniel Weidlein, a USC Thornton School of Music graduate. “The reality is that most recording projects are happening at home or in smaller project studios (like mine) all around the world.”

In this sense, COVID-19 is not necessarily a tragic disruption of the music school curriculum, but rather an essential and overdue opportunity to reshape the way we teach and learn music recording and production for a modern world that requires flexibility over all else.

“It’s super important to continue to learn signal flow, gain staging, and basic physics of sound that are required to engineer and produce in a large format, analog-based studio,” says Weidlein, who runs BioSoul Music production and recording studio, “but it’s increasingly vital to translate those fundamental concepts into digital applications. Those same concepts apply to using a plugin in Logic, but you need to be taught how to properly implement them.

“It’s great to know how to get the perfect sound with the ideal recording setup,” he adds, “but more often (especially with COVID-19 considerations), understanding how to make the best of a less ideal recording situation—like avoiding unwanted room reflections, using good mic technique, and learning how to maximize the returns of more affordable gear—is vital to modern recording. Think of how many great records have been made recently on a tour bus, in a hotel room, or even in somebody’s bedroom. It doesn’t take a huge analog studio, it just takes good knowledge of a DAW (digital audio workstation) and the gear you have.”

Any programs stuck in the past are now reckoning with the future. COVID-19 will be a watershed moment for music programs currently working out how to leave the “old ways” in the past and dive headfirst into the “new normal.”

For Berklee’s Jaczko, the pandemic has been a unique opportunity to learn new skills, broaden his and his students’ horizons, and reshape the future of his program. “The resources, the teaching, the infrastructure that we’re generating now online I think has been overdue,” he reflects. “We could have been exploiting mixed modalities sooner.”

The challenges

There are considerable drawbacks to moving a program that still requires lots of analog equipment and studio time to a purely digital platform. Most schools have had to cancel their studio-oriented courses until students are back on campus and back into recording booths, leaving many students in the lurch.

“When I look at my majors, there are really three different cohorts there,” says Jaczko. The pandemic has had very different effects on each of these groups: students just beginning their studies, students in the middle of their program, and seniors. At Berklee, students just beginning their studies have had no problem moving their foundational classes online. Seniors have also adapted well to online learning by applying their acquired skills at home, with their senior portfolios reviewed digitally. Students in the middle cohort, however, are having a harder time. These students are at a point in their studies “where they absolutely need access to hardware and the recording studios,” says Jaczko. “That is the bedrock of the program.”

Rick Schmunk, Music Technology program chair at USC Thornton School of Music, agrees that COVID-19 has had an uneven impact on different groups of students. “For the most part, the COVID virus is affecting other music students much more than music production students,” he says. “Music production students are already adept at working in-the-box (as we say) and working collaboratively. The only difference is that they are working remotely with their collaborators.” This minor challenge is actually, in some ways, providing a better learning experience as it prepares students to enter an increasingly-remote workforce.

Additional preparation for students

The entire music production industry has already been headed in a progressively more digitized direction for years, and COVID is set to catalyze that transition. Majoring in production and recording is sure to include more digitally-oriented courses going forward. And even if it’s not built into the program, there are plenty of ways for prospective music students to make sure that they are well prepared for the digital world.

“Fill your electives with computer science classes,” recent CU Denver MEIS graduate Michael Stewart advises current and prospective music students. “I can’t stress enough how much everything is moving to IP-based technology.” IP, or Internet Protocol, is the standard system that all network devices use. It’s integral to being able to build, maintain, and understand these networks. “Think of it like wiring a concert over the internet,” Stewart adds.” The hope is that going forward, these classes won’t even need to be electives, as schools plan their post-COVID curriculum with a digitized world in mind.

When asked what the biggest struggle of their COVID-era career is, and what they wish they had learned in school, those working in recording and production respond much like they might in any year, pandemic or not. The hardest things are self-promotion, scheduling, how to file taxes as an LLC, how to network, and how to stay motivated.

“I wish I’d learned DIY marketing strategies, promotion, and advertising for musicians,” says Reymundo Lariosa, a Carnegie Mellon School of Music graduate who uses the name Malrey in his artistic work. “You know, thanks to the internet we have a large database of information that we can draw upon,” he continues, “but it’s also intimidating and time consuming to make sense of all these resources and implement the advice they impart. Maybe having a mentor at school who can guide you through the promotional and business aspects of music would be great at this moment.”

When life gives you lemons…

The increase of digital awareness in university music programs is one of several silver linings to the pandemic. Oftentimes, it’s all a matter of perspective. Jaczko has taken COVID as an invitation to learn to think positively about hardship. “Great art is born out of struggle,” he says on a Zoom call from his home in the Boston area. “Do you think the blues were invented because everything was totally fun and cool and like everyone had what they wanted? No!”

“Recording engineers have traditionally been the technician collaborating with the musician — you do your job, I’ll do mine. Now it has to be more interactive, with both sides learning more about the other in order to make a successful collaboration,” says Riccardo Schulz, Sound Recording Professor at Carnegie Mellon School of Music. “Despite the physical separation, the engineer and the musician have to be less isolated in their thinking about how to get the best results possible.”

According to Schulz, as a result of the pandemic “recording engineers will now be called on to help musicians who are not tech-minded make sonically-acceptable recordings on their own. The emphasis will still be on how the software works, and to help others get going quickly on various software platforms.”

Sure, “the doldrums of pandemic life” as Weidlein describes it, have heightened a lot of these challenges and anxieties, especially financial and social, but they’ve also pushed everyone interviewed for this article to experiment with their craft and explore new perspectives.

“Out of crises,” Jaczko reminds us, “artists rise to the occasion.”

For More Information:

Click here to discover participating schools that offer programs in Music Technology, Recording and Production.

Haley Zaremba is a freelance writer and journalist with an MFA in Food Studies from American University of Rome and a BA in Media Studies from University of San Francisco. Her writing ranges from music and culture to energy and the environment.

Lead Photo Credit: Jason Martin Photography – Audio engineer/producer Aaron Daniels, Aaron Daniels Music

2nd Photo Credit: Taryn Dudley – BioSoul Music producer Daniel Weidlein

Cool Careers in Music Production

MajoringInMusic — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 18:24:19 +0000

Careers in music production vary according to your creativity, education and training, hands-on experience, spirit of entrepreneurship, and connections.

Professional experience outside the classroom is essential for finding a job or creating your own studio. Most college programs in production-related fields provide hands-on training at campus and local area recording studios along with internships at large and small music and music tech companies. This is essential for anyone wanting to work in this field.

“Professional work within the safety net of college helps students build a professional track record,” says Dan Godfrey, chair of Northeastern University’s Department of Music. It helps “fine-tune students’ chosen paths before their first foray into the profession.” Northeastern students are set up with one to three co-op experiences lasting six months each to provide extensive hands-on experience.

Beyond the technical and musical skills, career success “also requires strong networking skills, tireless efforts to make yourself known to others in the field, being persistent without being annoying, and finding creative ways of solving problems facing others who can become your employer or client,” says Scott Metcalfe, Director of Recording Arts and Sciences at Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University. “Most recording engineers have freelance careers that require strong communication and organization skills.”

Metcalfe says students with strong math and science knowledge – especially in physics – find “a wider range of employment opportunities in settings that are more conventional (i.e., full time with benefits). For example: careers in electroacoustics (engineering loudspeakers, headphones and microphones), audiovisual system design (collaborating with architects on the audiovisual and information technology needs of a new construction or renovation project), acoustical engineering consultants, etc.”

Options for Careers in Music Production

A background in music production with business and entrepreneurship skills prepares graduates to create their own production studios.

Others find work:

• at existing studios
• with companies such as YouTube, Avid, Adobe, Apple
• in live performance and multimedia
• touring with musicians
• running music festivals
• working in audiovisual and headphone/microphone design
• as educators

Jobs are also available as:

• acoustic installation engineers
• audio engineers for video
• audio gaming engineers
• audio multimedia specialists
• audiovisual consultants
• front-end/back-end developers
• instructional designers
• master engineers
• multimedia educators and specialists
• stage technicians
• studio managers
• sound effects creators (Foley artists)

We’d like to introduce students and recent alumni who share their best tips for current and future music production majors.

Claire Margaret Wilkins, studio manager

Area of emphasis in college: Recording and production

Music background: Played and performed flute in middle school, high school and college. Also attended a summer study abroad program in Ireland focusing on traditional Irish music.

Current work: Studio manager at Georgetown Masters Audio, LLC in Nashville, TN.

Previous: Internship at Starstruck Studios and Modern Works Music Publishing. Temporary position at KPentertainment.

What I wish I’d known or done differently: In addition to the required final internship for my degree, I wish I had done at least one other summer internship while in school. A lot of my peers gained invaluable experiences at summer internships that helped them narrow down what they wanted to do after graduating.

In addition to the challenging coursework of my program, I also wish I had been more active in the non-music art scene and been involved with projects that collaborated with different departments.

Suggestions for future music production majors: Be as active as you can in the existing arts communities in your hometowns or surrounding areas. Begin to learn how to be a part of a creative community as well as how to communicate with a creative community.

Claire Margaret Wilkins, ’14,
Appalachian State University Hayes School of Music, BS, Music Industry Studies

Matthew Weiner, acoustical and audiovisual consultant

Area of emphasis: Acoustics

Music background: Studied guitar from 6th grade through college. Minored in music as an undergrad.

Current work: Acoustical and audiovisual consultant, SM&W (Shem Milsom & Wilke)

Previous: Live sound events. Instructor at an audio engineering school.

Suggestions for future music production majors: Consider diversifying your studies.

Matthew Weiner, ’17,
Peabody Institute Recording Arts and Sciences, MA, Audio Sciences

Michael Lekrone, concert recording manager, staff recording engineer

Areas of emphasis: Recording and production

Music background: Trumpeter in high school marching band, concert band, jazz band, church bands, and some private gigs. Self-taught in guitar and percussion.

Current work: Several pro audio positions. Concert recording manager and a staff recording engineer for Appalachian State University Hayes School of Music. Stage technician at the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts – live audio, lighting, stage load-in and load-out, and artist relations. FOH engineer for Cornerstone Summit Church – live sound, recording, and livestream video. Freelance engineer and independent audio contractor. Regularly hired by DJ Hamilton Productions to run sound in a local bar and around town.

Suggestions for future music production majors: Read as much as you can about music production. You won’t retain all the information, but every little bit helps. And, if it is something you are really interested in, you will grow to enjoy the research more and more.

• Listen to as much music as possible. Consider the reasons why you like a particular song, or why you don’t like it. Go to live shows and listen to how a song sounds versus how it sounds on a record. Technical aspects of a piece of gear are easy to teach, but an appreciation for what sounds good on a recording is much harder to teach. Listening to as much music as possible will begin to hone your ear for what your desired product is.

• Never turn down an opportunity to learn or gain experience. There are many ways to learn other than just sitting in a classroom. Those who seek out those learning opportunities will go further in reaching their goals. You never know who will drop an opportunity in your lap that will be a stepping stone to something bigger and better in the future.

Michael Lekrone, ’18,
Appalachian State University Hayes School of Music, BS, Music Industry Studies

Elysia Smith, entertainment management, production; event planning

Area of emphasis: Entertainment management and production. Event planning.

Music background: Classical voice and piano

Current work: Projects in entertainment management, production, and event planning.

Suggestions for future music production majors: Find the college that targets your interests. Even if it’s a great school with a great reputation, if they don’t specialize in what you want to do, it won’t be the right school for you.

Pursing music or any of the arts as a career field is rarely a 9-5 day job with cushy benefits. However, the work that we do, in whatever special interest we choose to pursue, is so very rewarding because it reflects our hearts and our passions.

Elysia Smith, ’17,
University of Colorado Denver, Music Business and Recording Arts

Drew Vandenberg, studio engineer, producer

Area of emphasis: Studio and live recording

Music background: Piano for 8 years, drums, electric bass in high school through college.

Current work: Producer and studio engineer. Live and mobile recording in “odd places.”

Suggestions for future music production majors: Don’t worry about how primitive your first recording setup may be. Learn everything you possibly can from that setup before you move on to something bigger.

Seek out opportunities to shadow people who know more than you. Learn from them. You’d be surprised how much you learn just by being there and helping out. That, along with practicing on your own and doing as much reading and listening as possible, will lead to a very well-rounded foundation for whatever your passion is.

Drew Vandenberg, ’08,
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, BS, Recording Arts

Nikki Grande, concert recording staff, administrative director

Area of emphasis: Duel concentration in recording and production and marketing and promotion

Music background: Guitarist; high school jazz band and pit orchestra; singer/songwriter.

Current work: Concert recording staff for Appalachian State University Hayes School of Music. Administrative director for the annual Appalachian Guitar Festival and Competition.

Suggestions for future music production majors: Get involved in as much as possible! The more you put yourself out there, the more opportunities you will have to be a part of something really cool that you might love. You never know who you will meet who will have a useful connection down the line.

Don’t underestimate yourself or feel too intimidated. Everyone in school is there to learn, so put yourself out there! (It’s helpful to have) a background in music theory and performance when working to produce bands.

Nikki Grande, ’18,
Appalachian State University Hayes School of Music, BS, Music Industry Studies, minor in General Business

Peter Leonard, sound engineer

Area of emphasis: Post-production

Music background: Studied alto saxophone for 15 years, electric bass for 11 years.

Current work: Podcast engineer and studio manager at Vox Media (Vox.com, The Verge, SB Nation, Eater, Racked, Curbed, Recode, Polygon). Freelance production work. Bassplayer in Sunbathers, a DC/Baltimore-based pop group.

Masters degree candidate in Audio Technology at American University. Focus: audio algorithms and computer music, computer programming.

Previous: Worked at SiriusXM as part-time board operator for their talk radio division (October, 2015 – January, 2017). Recorded, edited, and mixed album for Latitude 49, a mixed chamber ensemble.

What I wish I’d known or done differently: I wish that I had tried and failed at more things. You’ll never really get the opportunity to fail and not have to pay enormous consequences anywhere other than college. You will have the greatest number of resources, facilities, and people willing to collaborate and help you while you’re in college.

Suggestions for future music production majors:

• DON’T pursue any other area of study just for the sake of having a safety net. Unless you KNOW that you REALLY want to, I’d advise against double majoring. Stick with what makes you happy and what you love.

• DON’T get discouraged when, inevitably, out of college you have to work at that part-time job that doesn’t really pertain to your degree or that you don’t really like. The chance of getting to do exactly what you want, and especially right away, is extremely slim. Keep on! It takes a really long time to align all the details that will pave the way to the next thing. To that end, it’s all about the people you surround yourself with and how good you are to them, because they will remember you later.

• Along the way, if your convictions change (and they probably will!), it’s ok! Discovering that the specific place in the music industry that you sold yourself on in college isn’t actually for you may be a difficult realization at first, but on the whole, it’s a positive thing, and it’ll lead you to somewhere else in music that WILL make you happy.

Peter Leonard, ’15,
University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, BS, Sound Engineering

Joey Diehl, employed by Special Event Services

Area of emphasis or interest: Recording and production

Music background: Guitarist. Played in bar bands in high school, toured in smaller bands during college. Recorded own albums and friends’ albums.

Current work: Special Event Services, a concert production company.

Previous: Worked with and toured with many mainstream artists including the Avett Brothers, Lynard Skynard, Darius Rucker, Il Divo, Lee Brice.

Suggestions for future music production majors: My own personal basic rules of success have helped me succeed in every place I’ve been in:

• Don’t talk out of your ass, don’t lie about anything, and just be nice in general.

• Apart from those three rules, just be hungry and be prepared for competition. As long as you remember that luck is just preparation meeting opportunity, you’ll be fine.

• If fast-paced is something you crave, then the live (sound) world is somewhere you need to be.

Joey Diehl, ’15,
Appalachian State University Hayes School of Music, BS, Music Industry Studies

Emma Azelborn, DSP engineer

Area of emphasis: Digital Signal Processing, audio plugin development

Music background: Vocalist, pianist, composer; member of U of Michigan Chamber Choir.

Current work: DSP engineer at Goodhertz, Inc., an audio plugin company that focuses on unique sounds with intuitive interfaces

Previous: Summer internship at Goodhertz

What I wish I’d known or done differently: I wish I had been less worried about attending things by myself in my earlier college years. Lately I’ve been going to whatever interests me, even when none of my friends are available or interested, and it has been really wonderful.

Suggestions for future music production majors: Google everything. There is so much information available online, and all you really need to get started is a computer with some sort of DAW (digital audio workstation).

Emma Azelborn, ’17,
University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, BS, Computer Science and Sound Engineering

Thanks to students and graduates of these schools for their support:

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University

University of Colorado Denver Music & Entertainment Industry Studies

University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance

Article compiled by Barbra Weidlein, MajoringInMusic.com

Nikki Grande: Appalachian State University Hayes School of Music

Seek out opportunities to shadow people who know more than you.

Drew Vandenberg, ’08, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, BS, Recording Arts

The more you put yourself out there, the more opportunities you will have to be a part of something really cool that you might love. You never know who you will meet who will have a useful connection down the line.

Nikki Grande, ’18, Appalachian State University Hayes School of Music, BS, Music Industry Studies, minor in General Business

I wish that I had tried and failed at more things. You’ll never really get the opportunity to fail and not have to pay enormous consequences anywhere other than college.

Peter Leonard, ’15, University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, BS, Sound Engineering

As long as you remember that luck is just preparation meeting opportunity, you’ll be fine.

Joey Diehl, ’15, Appalachian State University Hayes School of Music, BS, Music Industry Studies

ALSO READ:

Lead photo: Barbra Weidlein

The following participating schools on MajoringInMusic.com offer majors and minors in music production-related areas:

Berklee College of Music – Music Production and Engineering; also Electronic Production and Design

Carnegie Mellon University School of Music – Music and Technology (recording technology, audio engineering, computer music)

DePaul University School of Music – Sound Recording Technology (audio industry: recording, sound for video, music production, multimedia, acoustics)

Florida State University College of Music – Commercial Music (recording, mixing, mastering with a business minor)

The Hartt School – Music Production & Technology (recording, mixing, and mastering engineers)

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music – Audio Engineering & Sound Production (recording, post production, live sound, IT audio, technical support)

Ithaca College – Sound Recording Technology (recording, mixing)

Leeds Conservatoire – BA (Hons) Music Production (production classes also offered in curricula for majors in Jazz, Popular, and Classical)

Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts – Sound Technology (recorded sound, live sound, post-production)

Mary Pappert School of Music – Music Production & Technology

Northeastern University Department of Music – Music Industry (major or minor, recording industry focus); Music Technology (can add Computer Science or Physics); or Recording minor

Oberlin Conservatory of Music – Technology in Music & Related Arts – TIMARA (technology applications for composition, new media and performance)

Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University – Recording arts and sciences

Temple University Boyer College of Music – Music Studies: Music Technology (music and recording technology)

Tiffin University – Music production & technology

U. of Colorado-Boulder College of Music – Bachelor of Arts-Music with Emphasis in Music Technology & Media Studies

U. of Colorado-Denver Music & Entertainment Industry Studies or MEIS – Recording Arts (audition and non-audition tracks in audio production)

U. of Denver Lamont School of Music – Recording and Production (performance area + engineering, production)

U. of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance – Sound Engineering, Music and Technology, or Performing Arts Technology (audio engineering, sound recording, production, electronic music composition, performance systems, sound synthesis, music psychology, digital fabrication)

U. of South Carolina School of Music – Performance, with a Concentration in Technology or Recording Technology Studies minor (audio recording, computer composition, digital technology, multimedia production)

U. of Southern California Thornton School of Music – Music Technology (music production, live performance, multimedia – creative, technical & business aspects)

U. of Toronto – Music Technology and Digital Media (master’s degree, music technology with performance and/or composition)

Music Production College Programs: What You Should Know

MajoringInMusic — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 20:58:19 +0000

Are you interested in studying music production? Are you obsessed with how music is effectively presented live and/or recorded?

This article will help you zoom in on your specific interests and career goals. Find out what you need to know before you apply to music production programs, and learn what schools expect from their applicants.

In a follow up article, students and recent graduates working in a variety of production-related settings will share their insights and recommendations to help you figure out your next steps.

Working in music production

According to Michael Gurevich, chair of the Department of Performing Arts Technology at University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, a producer can play a variety of roles including:

• Organizing and funding a recording project
• Making beats or background tracks for solo recording artists
• Working with songwriters, arrangers, and engineers

The production process also includes various engineering roles that Gurevich describes as follows:

Recording engineer – Decides which microphones to use, where and how to use them, how to process or treat the sound before and after the recording. Recording engineers also manage the technical aspects of the recording session.

Mix engineer – Decides how all of the parts that were recorded in a session should be combined into a stereo recording. A single album may have several different recording or mixing engineers on different tracks.

Mastering engineer – Fine-tunes the audio on all the mixed recordings to make the individual tracks sound good. Provides a cohesive sound for the entire album.

How to find a music production program

Schools offer music production programs under various names such as:

• Audio Recording
• Sound Recording
• Music Production
• Music Technology
• Acoustical or Sound Engineering
• Electronic Production
• Recording Arts
• Some combination of the above
• Something entirely unique to the school

Don’t get caught up with the name of the program! Instead, look for this information on school websites:

• Program focus

• Required classes

• Opportunities for hands-on training, internships, and other real-world experience. There’s a limit to what you can learn just sitting in a classroom.

• Additional career-related opportunities

• Faculty – and their experience in your area of interest

• Facilities available to students

• Careers recent graduates have entered based on their education and training

Note that at some schools, you’ll find these kinds of programs within a Music Industry department.

Program focus

Music production programs center around the science of sound, but the classes you’ll take, the hands-on experience you’ll receive, and the type of degree you’ll graduate with vary according to the focus of the program.

BM programs emphasize a music performance component. They require an audition.

BA programs are less likely to require an audition or strong performance chops. They may require a portfolio of previous relevant work and/or an interview.

BFA programs are less common, may include digital performance, and may offer options for a focus in areas including composition or film. They may require a portfolio of previous relevant work and/or an interview.

BS programs are more science/engineering-oriented, and may or may not include a music concentration. General requirements may include calculus, physics and computer science. They may require a portfolio of previous relevant work and/or an interview.

Ask admission offices any questions that aren’t answered on their schools’ websites. If the schools participate on MajoringInMusic.com, you can use the form on their participating pages to ask your questions. We’ll make sure you get the answers you need.

Who’s a good fit?

Music schools contributing to this article describe their students as:

• Passionate about the arts as well as technology
• Comfortable with math and analytical thinking
• Creative and highly self-motivated
• Entrepreneurial – or ready to become so
• Forward-thinking

Jeff Cline, Associate Professor of Music Industry at University of Memphis, emphasizes the need for students to have “a continuous passion to learn and participate.”

“Students who have a penchant for brainstorming and implementing, often with teamwork at the heart of the enterprise, are more likely to succeed,” says Dan Godfrey, Chair of the Department of Music at Northeastern University.

Scott Metcalfe, Director of Recording Arts and Sciences at Peabody Conservatory, describes his students as “relieved to not have to decide between pursuing engineering or music in college to the exclusion of the other.”

Before you apply

Most of the schools we talked with agree that applicants should be “creative and active musicians who also demonstrate an interest in interdisciplinary collaboration and experimentation,” a description provided by Kurt Isaacson, former Admissions Counselor at CalArts.

But expectations vary as far as what you should already know before you apply to a college-level program in any area of music production. Most schools expect you to have a musical background and at least some formal music training.

At a school with a performance-oriented production program, you’ll audition and also take lessons on your primary instrument. These types of programs seek “strong performers who want to continue to develop as musicians in addition to studying the craft of music recording,” says Justin Kurtz, Chair of the Music Production and Technology program at The Hartt School.

Schools that don’t require an audition will likely require a portfolio of past creative work in recorded and/or live sound. Some will also require an interview to discuss your interests and experience.

For the more engineering-oriented programs, a strong math- and computer-savvy background and a high level of comfort in both areas are important.

“Often students will have gained lots or all of their experience outside of their formal education,” says Darren Murphy, International Manager at The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. “We like this as it shows commitment and enterprise.”

10 Tips on how to prepare

Before applying to college-level programs, get some experience in the area of music production you’re most interested in focusing on in college.

Some suggestions:

1. Take a music technology class at your high school, at a local community college, or online. This is a great way to see how interested you really are in diving into this field.

2. Look for summer music programs to further your knowledge.

3. Take a music theory class.

4. “Start finding out about how the music you love is made,” urges Darren Murphy at LIPA.

5. Talk with people working in the field you’re interested in pursuing. Shadow them on the job. Volunteer.

6. If you’re interested in recording, “Developing your ears to discriminate between the aesthetics of classical vs. jazz vs. pop/rock recording is very important to becoming a critical listener and student of recording,” says Justin Kurtz at The Hartt School.

7. If possible, obtain some home recording equipment, “even an inexpensive system with freeware software to learn on and record friends, associates, and professionals,” says Scott Wynne, Associate Professor and Chief Recording Engineer at Appalachian State University. This can help you “know the trials of recording music” and see if this is the right path to pursue.

8. “The most important thing we like to see is evidence of entrepreneurship, and this can be shown by finding positions of leadership within your school, launching a music club or event, actively performing in your community or seeking opportunities for creative collaboration with peers,” say Brianne Hayes, Administrative Director, and Alan Watson, Administrative Coordinator at NYU Tisch School of the Arts Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.

9. “Above all, be curious and be an independent learner. There is an incredible wealth of resources out there available to students online for self-study in music technology,” says Michael Gurevich, at the University of Michigan.

He continues, “There are free or low-cost DAWs (digital audio workstation software) for recording, editing and producing audio files so that all you really need to get started is access to a computer, the internet, and a pair of headphones.” A microphone is also helpful.

10. Learn how to communicate about your interests. This will be important for successful interviews at schools that require them in lieu of or in conjunction with a portfolio and/or audition.

What about grad school for music production?

The world of music production is rapidly changing. This means anyone entering it must be ready and willing to stay current with technological advances in order to remain hirable.

Graduate-level training will be useful if your career goals are unreachable without it. It may provide training that was unavailable while you were an undergrad. And it can jumpstart your learning new technologies as well as pursuing your creative interests with the assistance of mentors and collaborators.

Gurevich at Michigan encourages anyone considering a graduate program in music technology, production and/or engineering to “start to develop a research or creative focus that you want to explore in grad school” –– ideally while you’re still in college. “At the grad level,” he says, “schools are looking for your ability to formulate original research questions that show an awareness of the state of the art of the field, and have the potential to move it forward.”

The following participating schools on MajoringInMusic.com offer majors and minors in music production-related areas:

Berklee College of Music – Music Production and Engineering; also Electronic Production and Design

Carnegie Mellon University School of Music – Music and Technology (recording technology, audio engineering, computer music)

DePaul University School of Music – Sound Recording Technology (audio industry: recording, sound for video, music production, multimedia, acoustics)

Florida State University College of Music – Commercial Music (recording, mixing, mastering with a business minor)

The Hartt School – Music Production & Technology (recording, mixing, and mastering engineers)

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music – Audio Engineering & Sound Production (recording, post production, live sound, IT audio, technical support)

Ithaca College – Sound Recording Technology (recording, mixing)

Leeds Conservatoire – BA (Hons) Music Production (production classes also offered in curricula for majors in Jazz, Popular, and Classical)

Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts – Sound Technology (recorded sound, live sound, post-production)

Mary Pappert School of Music – Music Production & Technology

Northeastern University Department of Music – Music Industry (major or minor, recording industry focus); Music Technology (can add Computer Science or Physics); or Recording minor

Oberlin Conservatory of Music – Technology in Music & Related Arts – TIMARA (technology applications for composition, new media and performance)

Temple University Boyer College of Music – Music Studies: Music Technology (music and recording technology)

Tiffin University – Music production & technology

U. of Colorado-Boulder College of Music – Bachelor of Arts-Music with Emphasis in Music Technology & Media Studies

U. of Colorado-Denver Music & Entertainment Industry Studies or MEIS – Recording Arts (audition and non-audition tracks in audio production)

U. of Denver Lamont School of Music – Recording and Production (performance area + engineering, production)

U. of Southern California Thornton School of Music – Music Technology (music production, live performance, multimedia – creative, technical & business aspects)

U. of Toronto – Music Technology and Digital Media (master’s degree, music technology with performance and/or composition)

Recorded vs. Live Sound

Live sound refers to amplified sound at a concert. Anytime you see microphones and speakers at a concert, from a small club to a Broadway musical to a stadium rock concert, there is a live sound engineer, or in the case of the latter a team of engineers, whose job is to deliver clean, well-mixed sound to every person in the audience.

Sometimes even if you don’t see the microphones or speakers, there will be amplification happening discreetly. Live sound engineers worry about the acoustics and design of the venue, the unpredictability of performers, and all the things that can go wrong during a performance.

Recorded sound refers to recordings often made in a controlled environment like a studio or a closed concert hall for documentation or distribution. Of course, you can make recordings of live amplified performances, but you’d normally have different engineering teams looking after the recorded versus the live sound.

Michael Gurevich, Chair, Department of Performing Arts Technology at University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance.

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Photo Credits

Top: Appalachian State University

Side: University of Michigan