August 31, 2009

The DSU Music Department has commenced a new construction project that will add a recording studio facility to the music technology lab that was completed last year.

Both the music lab and the future recording studio are the result of an anonymous donation of $350,000 to the Music Department. The recording studio construction is the second of a two-phase project, and is expected to be completed by mid-October. The facility will include a large recording studio area that can double as a classroom as well as a control room area that will included at 128-track DigiDesign mixing board.

“It is a full blown ProTools professional system,” said Dr. David Tolley, associate professor of music composition, recording/production and music industry. He added that the recording studio will make it possible for DSU to have its own recording label and for students, faculty and staff to produce their own music.

It will also make possible a new course, Student Run Company Project, in which students will produce their own music products. “It is a perfect professional bridge for our students to move into the real world,” Dr. Tolley said.

The recording studio is being constructed adjacent to the music technology lab that was completed last year as the phase I project. The lab features a 3M Digital Whiteboard, Korg Keyboards, an EWI electronic wind instrument, a MIDI guitar and a Group Education Controller. The lab includes six workstations that are based on the TRITON series (with a 16-track sequencer), a variety of music and instructional software, as well as a Digidesign Pro Tools M-Box2 Micro Studio Music Production System and a portable isolation recording booth.

The funding was obtained through a grant written by Dr. Yvonne Johnson, DSU associate professor of music and currently acting chair of the department, who also wrote the 1995 grant that resulted in the construction of the original music lab at that time.