CAMtastic October Newsletter | College of Arts and Media | SIU

New Tools and Tech Fine-Tune the School of Music Audio Lab

Students in CAM’s School of Music are excited about an upgraded audio lab that provides extensive new equipment and makes homework easier.

“It’s nice to have [this lab] because I know music technology is becoming a big thing,” sophomore Mckenzie Rider said…“Using stuff like MuseScore, and there are other programs, like Sibelius, and stuff like that to write music and to be creative. It’s really nice to have the access to that here as a music student.”

SoM Director Dick Kelley said the space is set apart from other computer labs around the university because of music-specific software, including Ableton, ProTools, Logic and music-notation programs. Then there’s the hardware.

“The college got a little bit of money to put together to buy these Mac Minis, we got new monitors, there's MIDI keyboards that are also functional with all the digital audio workstation, station programs. And then there's also connectivity so the students can bring in their own equipment, and there's just plug it in through USB. They can monitor everything with headphones,” Kelley said. 

Up next, a big TV up front which will allow everything to be interactive via Zoom.

“So, if a student…is working on a project, and everybody wants to see it, it'll be up there on the big projector. That's really nice,” Kelley said.

The school has also upgraded its Center for Experimental Music in the Altgeld basement.  
“There's three rooms down there, that we did the same thing, but kind of on steroids. We got like the really top of the line Mac Minis. And then those also have reference monitoring speakers, so like studio quality monitoring speakers, and all kinds of surface controllers, MIDI keyboards, and a lot more software,” Kelley said.

All the new goodies were possible with help from an unnamed Alumni Foundation donor. That person will be identified later, after even more is done.

Kelley said the average student traffic in the lab is constantly growing.

Since it's brand new, I think a lot of students aren't used to using it yet. But we've started to see it really uptick as the semester has gone on,” Kelley said. “So, like the first week, it was like, ‘okay, there's three or four people filtering in here and there.’ But yesterday, I walked by middle of the afternoon, and there was like nine students sitting in there. So, I think as more students get more comfortable using it and realize it's there, it's going to continue to grow.”

Freshman Riley Klevorn is one of the students taking advantage of the lab.

“We just did this project that we were writing a drum cadence. So he [Associate Professor of Practice Chris Butler] gave us a few days to write it, so I just spend the last few days in here, just working on that, which is really convenient considering that is where my classes are or I can just come here when I have free time.” Klevorn said.

Freshman Blaine Mayo has used the lab “three of four times.”

“If I have a break, there’s no reason for me not to come in here,” Mayo said.

Kelley said the lab is far from completed, with plans to get interfaces that will allow students to bring in a microphone and plug in midi instruments like guitars, and have it workable on screen.” 
“We're currently designing a Music Technology degree and program,” Kelley said. I think once that gets implemented, we'll continue to expand from there.”