When most of us think of learning in college, our minds automatically wander to sitting in classroom listening to a professor or pouring over textbooks and reading assignments in Blackmore Library, but some of the greatest opportunities that come along in college don’t happen on campus at all.
This past weekend, a group of music technology students from the conservatory took a three-day trip to Nashville, Tennessee, for a music technology gear expo hosted by Vintage King Audio. There, they had the opportunity to see the latest audio technology equipment and meet with a variety of professionals from the music tech industry, like DJ Swivel, who has done productions for Beyoncé.
“Our goal was to immerse and show our students a variety of real-life companies and scenarios in which they might find themselves an internship and for those closer to graduating, a job,” Neal Schmitt, the professor who lead the trip, said. “We toured recording studios, visited million-dollar music companies, and networked with some of the best in our industry.”
The industry of music technology he is referring to is one with a broad field of specialties.
“My personal gig is sound for film, some people are really into sound for video games, some people are into hardware, either building or experimenting with the gear, or people install the gear,” Sophomore music technology major Jessi Bennett explained. “Then you have the ‘studio rats,’ or people who are producers and use the gear in the studios.”
Regardless of their area of interest, there was someone for every student to meet.
“I met a guy who was developing a new kind microphone that records sound in an omni-directional pattern, [which means to record sounds from every direction at once],” Bennett said, “and I mentioned I like doing sound for film, and he said ‘Wait you do sound for film? You should talk to the head audio engineer at Skywalker Sound.’”
He then proceeded to offer to introduce her to the head audio engineer for a company
that has worked with George Lucas and John Williams.
Leah Schattschneider, another sophomore who is a music technology and business major, also found it to be a great place to network with industry professionals.
“There was a panel of producers and live sound engineers and [other] people in the industry,” Schattschneider said. “They talked about everything they do and what they did to get there. So, it was a good way to network and see the people you look up to.”
She was particularly surprised by how encouraging the people she met were when it came discussing things like internships with their companies.
“A lot of the people I did talk to were like, ‘Yeah, go to the website,’ or ‘Here is my card,’” Schattschneider said. “I didn’t expect that. I expected searching for internship to be a difficult thing.”
Ultimately, the students who went to Nashville learned things about what it takes to succeed in their field that could only be gained through such an immersive experience.
“Professional networking skills, I don’t think can be taught in the classroom,” Bennett said. “No matter how many times your teacher tells you to go out and shake every hand, you are never going to do that until you are put in a situation where there is something to gain from shaking every hand.”
Beyond just meeting other professionals, they also gained insight into the dedication it takes to succeed.
“He would work 130 hours straight for free. Wouldn’t get paid for anything,” Schattschneider recalled from her one-on-one conversation with DJ Swivel. “It opened my eyes to what you have to do to make it in the industry … You have to be creative, you have to different from everybody else, you can’t just go in there and half-ass it and say ‘that is good enough.'”
These skills are the kind that don’t just apply to the music technology industry. We have all been told many times that developing personal relationships and working hard are necessary for success. But there is a difference between hearing it from your parents or professors and seeing the results of it in the people we admire in our fields.
