(Photo, left to right: Phoenix Keiner, Tito Marsan, Miles Fulwider, Gary Call, Sean Rollins, Derron Allred, Miranda Tyler and Jordan Kortenber.)
University of Saint Francis music technology students gained hands-on experience during a recording session with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.
The session took place on the backstage at the Clyde Theatre on Sunday, Nov. 8, with the USF students recording the orchestra’s performance for “Beethoven@250,” which will air in December on WFWA PBS Fort Wayne.
Students in Music Technology Director Miles Fulwider’s multichannel and immersive audio class recorded the audio and will refine the mix for the broadcast. The students were Derron Allred, Monica Blankenship, Phoenix Keiner, Jordan Kortenber, Tito Marsan, Sean Rollins and Miranda Tyler.
“A project like this teaches students a number of things that need to be experienced and learned during application, “Fulwider said. “Students were working with over 50 musicians, a conductor and several other professional organizations.”
Students recorded the program in standard stereo sound and in immersive audio formats. In addition to Fulwider’s direction, the students also worked with Gary Call, a Nashville engineer who has won Grammy and Emmy awards. Call provided oversight and helped them with the tweaks and adjustments needed.
“Students needed to properly record and set up complex microphone arrays in order to accurately capture the recording for broadcast and for other 360/immersive audio playback environments,” Fulwider said. “This all needed to be done in a manner that didn’t interfere with the musicians nor the video capture. PBS was recording the video and students will have the opportunity to individually mix the performance and we will deliver all the audio back to PBS for broadcast. This will be the first time some of these students will have their work broadcast on television. That is really exciting.”
The students went through a two-hour rehearsal prior to the recording and PBS filming of the official session.
“I definitely enjoy what Miles is teaching us,” Blankenship told The Journal Gazette, which ran a story about the session. “This school teaches you everything.”