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Volume 38 Issue 11
March 27, 2001

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Students head into the studio

BY BECKY RASMUSSEN
MESA LEGEND
Submitted March 27, 2001

A new Media Arts/Studio Recording degree available at MCC will show students how the sea of knobs and meters that you see in a recording studio really work.

Jordan Currier/MESA LEGEND

Lab technician Karin Starks instructs students on the many details involved in operating a recording studio. A new degree is now being made available to MCC students.

This two-year program can be used in a variety of areas — commercials, radio production and in areas of television broadcasting.

"Due to all of the machines, it looks more complicated than it really is," said Jonathan Valente, an MCC studio recording student.

Beginning in the fall of 1999, studio recording became a program, which allowed students to obtain an Associate of Applied Sciences degree that can be earned from MCC is also transferable to ASU East.

A larger number of students are taking interest in this field due to the popularity of recording software.

"Many of the students have small recording studios and are not familiar with how to fully take advantage of the equipment," said Andy Seagle, who started the studio recording program at MCC in 1991.

MCC’s studio has grown from a 16 analog track to a 32 track digital studio.

Over the last three years, the classes, as well as the number of students enrolled in the classes, have tripled in size.

Currently, there are three different recording classes offered: Audio Recording 1, 2 and 3, Live Sound Reinforcement 1 and 2, and Music Business.

Jordan Currier/MESA LEGEND

Audio Recording 1 student Rico Rossi uses the studio recording equipment during his class at MCC.

Night class options are also available for many of these courses.

"MCC offers the best classes in this field because of the extensive studio, as well as my experience in the business," said Seagle, who has been teaching at MCC for the past 10 years and has a solid grasp of the music industry.

He has recorded artists like Paul McCartney, George Strait, Judas Priest and Alice Cooper.

In 1989, he received a Gold Album as an engineer for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s "Will the Circle be Unbroken, Vol. 2."

"I have been in this profession for a long time and I have a lot of information to pass on to my students," said Seagle.

Seagle has been recording the Phoenix Symphony since 1983 and has achieved all of this through his mobile studio company, Clear Cut Acoustic.

"I couldn’t think of anyone better or more qualified to teach these classes than Mr. Seagle," said Chuck Finfgeld, an MCC recording student and instructor at ITT Technical School. "He is a well-qualified musician and has been a real benefit to the program."

"Mr. Seagle can do anything on the equipment in our studio," said Valente, who transferred from Chicago to be a part of the MCC studio recording program.

"But he also takes the extra step to explain how to use other equipment in the industry that is not available to us on campus."

For more information on the studio recording program, contact Andy Seagle at (480) 461-7273.

Jolayne Hanrahan contributed to this story.

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