Posted in art, Music Industry Recording Arts, SPC in the News, tagged art, MIRA on April 16, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
St. Petersburg College is part of the Grammy Music Revolution Project, which selects 25 students for a free, monthlong summer program with the goal of nurturing future Grammy winners, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
The college is supporting the project along with the Yob Family Foundation, the Tampa Bay Times Forum, the University of South Florida and Ruth Eckerd Hall.
Posted in Gibbs, Music Industry Recording Arts, tagged MIRA on April 3, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Students in the Music Industry/Recording Arts program at St. Petersburg College’s St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus rocked out on a new performance stage on Tuesday, April 2.
The event was part of a coordinated effort to give MIRA students the experience of putting a live show together. A crew from the Palladium Theater at St. Petersburg College, led by Damon Dougherty, and workers from the college’s Facilities department helped build the stage and mix the live sound.
Three MIRA ensembles performed:
“The procurement of a quality performance surface like this is crucial to making sure our ensembles and technical interns get used to professional-type concert environments,” said Mark Matthews, Lead Instructor for the MIRA program.
The 24-by-16-foot stage is usable in both indoor and outdoor areas. The $19,000 purchase was approved and funded by the campus’ Student Government Association and was coordinated by Davie Gill, Coordinator, Student Life and Leadership; Gary Gray, Site Supervisor, Facilities Services; the Provost Office and MIRA.
Watch the April 2 performance:
Posted in Music Industry Recording Arts, tagged MIRA on April 2, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Students in the Music Industry/Recording Arts program at St. Petersburg College will get a close-up look at the rarely seen manufacturing side of the entertainment industry. On Friday, April 5, at 11 a.m., students will tour the Dean Guitars and ddrum factory in Tampa and learn about designing, building and marketing guitars, basses, drums and amplifiers.
“Learning by experience is crucial to each student’s success in the workforce,” said Mark Matthews, Lead Instructor of the Associate in Science degree program. “The MIRA program is dedicated to giving the students a real-world perspective on what the entertainment business is all about, and the manufacturing side is one of the aspects of it.”
The entertainment industry requires a high level of intensive technological training and knowledge. Matthews, a 25-year veteran of the Los Angeles music scene, wanted to give students a chance to visit the factory and contacted Robin Sibucao of Forward Compatible Group for help. Sibucao, former Chief Operating Officer of APHEX Electronics and a strong supporter of the MIRA program, is a close friend of Dean Guitars owner Elliott “Dean” Rubinson. He coordinated with Matthews and Rubinson to make the facility tour possible.
“We’re lucky to have a world-renowned company giving us the opportunity to pay a visit,” Matthews said. “To do this tour, they’ll have to shut the factory down temporarily. They’re doing us a big favor.”
Matthews said the entertainment industry is expanding and evolving despite the economic events that have slowed or stopped growth and employment opportunities in other industries. MIRA, which has been in existence since 2008, has 250 students enrolled in the program and a large number of graduates who are working as professionals in the entertainment industry.
“MIRA isn’t just about being in a band,” he said. “We want to revolutionize how the various entertainment technological disciplines are presented for study, to better prepare our graduates to enter the workforce.”
For more information about the MIRA program, visit www.spcollege.edu/mira.
Posted in alumni, Music Industry Recording Arts, tagged MIRA on February 22, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
SPC graduate Dustin Brause is putting the college’s degree in Music Industry Recording Arts to work behind the camera and online.
Brause, 23, received his associate of science degree in SPC’s MIRA program in early 2012. He now is working as both the leading sound advisor for the startup video game company Solvent Studios and a freelancer for a Tampa ad agency.
SPC MIRA graduate Dustin Brause works as a sound man on a Sweetbay commercial.
That’s Brause behind the scenes during the filming of a Sweetbay commercial where he was part of a two-man sound team. “We’re very proud of his success,” said Mark Matthews, MIRA’s lead instructor.
Brause said he had always been involved in music, participating in band and dabbling on the computer. When he started looking at schools, he found out about the MIRA program at SPC, what it offered and that it was more affordable than other educational opportunities in this field.
“I would say that it definitely opened my eyes as to how much really is involved and how many different types of jobs there are,” Brause said about MIRA. “They try to prepare you for how it will be like to get a job.”
Looking back, Brause said he would advise current MIRA students to network with people in the music industry. “Networking really makes a difference while in school,” he said. “It’s the primary way people get work in the industry.”
Looking ahead, he’s hoping things will take off for Solvent Studios and his work with them. He also is watching for an opportunity to learn more through MIRA at SPC.
Brause’s dream job would be to work as a sound mixer for film and television, he said. However, he would need more specialized training, which he hopes MIRA will provide if it expands and begins offering a bachelor’s program. With people in the music industry considering job options in film, television and online, Brause said, “There are a lot of opportunities for (MIRA) to grow.”
Posted in Gibbs, Music Industry Recording Arts, St. Petersburg College on October 22, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
About 50 students, staff and faculty attended the launch party of MYRA, the Make Your Radio Active student radio station on Monday, Oct. 22 at the St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus.
The event kicked off in the Administration Building conference room with speeches from Provost Karen Kaufman White, Rollin Covell and a video address by President Bill Law. The crowd then moved to the new studio in AD 105 to tour the new radio station facility.
From left: Co-CEOs Chelsea Smith and Rollin Covell are interviewed by a FOX 13 news videographer.
 Students prepare for the online station’s launch around 1 p.m. |
 MYRA Co-CEO Rollin Covell speaks to the crowd in AD 180 and a video of President Bill Law is shown. |
 Karen Kaufman White, Provost at the St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus, celebrates the ribbon cutting ceremony with students and other participants outside AD 105. |
See more photos on the college’s Facebook page.
Posted in Gibbs, Music Industry Recording Arts, SPC, St. Petersburg College on October 18, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The college’s first student-run radio station will launch Monday, Oct. 22. Called MYRA, an acronym for “Make Your Radio Active,” the radio station will feature pre-recorded shows in virtually all music genres, sports, talk and campus news.
Students from the Music Industry/Recording Arts (MIRA) program at the St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus have been working behind-the-scenes for almost a year to prepare for the big day. The goal is to create a radio station that stands out from most modern stations.
“It’s really all about preparing students to work in a professional broadcast environment,” said Mark Matthews, MIRA Lead Instructor who has served in an advisory capacity to the students who control every aspect of the station. “Even their titles are non-traditional in the collegial sense. CEO is used instead of club president, for example.”
On Monday, the station will be available online at http://myraradio.spcollege.edu.
Posted in Gibbs, Music Industry Recording Arts, SPC in the News, St. Petersburg College, Tampa Bay Times on September 14, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The Tampa Bay Times featured SPC’s new radio station, MYRA or “Make Your Radio Active,” which will be launching later this month. Students and instructors have been working for months on the project that draws from talent in the college’s Music Industry Recording Arts program or MIRA, according to the article. Shows on the station will be about everything from country music, hip hop and reggae to sports and campus news.
“The mission statement of MYRA is not just to communicate with students and the college, but to communicate with the community at large,” said MIRA program director Mark Matthews in the article.
Posted in academics, art, Music Industry Recording Arts, SPC, St. Petersburg College, tagged entertainment, MIRA, St. Petersburg College, steve luongo on March 22, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Internationally known drummer, songwriter and producer Steve Luongo will host a drum clinic and music insider lecture at 7:30 p.m., Monday, March 26 at the Palladium at St. Petersburg College. Entitled “My Career in Show Business,” the event is the first in a series that stems from a recent partnership between the college’s Music Industry/Recording Arts program and Aphex, an audio enhancement technology company based in Burbank, Calif.
MIRA interns will help produce Luongo’s show, just as they did for the recent Billy Joel appearance. Luongo, who has played with the Who’s John Entwistle, Mountain’s Leslie West, Cream’s Jack Bruce, Todd Rundgren, Alan Parsons, Billy Squier, and AC/DC’s Brian Johnson and Cliff Williams, will give a solo performance on drums and provide an insider’s look at the music business. He hopes to give newcomers to the industry an edge when they enter this highly competitive business.
The partnership, a first for both organizations, will help broaden MIRA’s curriculum by allowing MIRA students to become certified in using Aphex’s products in a professional setting. The unique partnership also means the company will install its audio products at the Palladium Theater and MIRA’s production suite and will host a series of clinics and workshops with artists, leading engineers, and other manufacturers.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Aphex,” said Mark Matthews, lead instructor SPC’s Music Industry/Recording Arts program. “The company’s philosophy is perfectly aligned with our commitment to helping future sound professionals develop ‘real world’ skills in a collaborative environment. I know Aphex will benefit equally from working side by side with a younger generation of sound pros.”
“Using both MIRA classroom settings as well as the beautiful Palladium Theater in St. Pete for practical applications of engineering techniques, we aim to create unique and exciting real-world lessons for these passionate students of music and recording,” said Aphex CEO, David Wiener.
The event is free for SPC students and staff with ID, and $12 for the general public.
Posted in academics, Music Industry Recording Arts, St. Petersburg College, tagged billy joel, celebrities, entertainment, grammy winner, music, music industry, music industry recording arts, music students, recording arts on March 20, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Billy Joel performs before an SPC-only sellout crowd of 850 at the Palladium Monday night. See the full photo gallery on our Facebook page.
A candid and irreverent Billy Joel delivered lessons in music and life Monday night to an SPC-only, sold-out crowd of 850 at the Palladium. These intimate college settings, dubbed “An Evening of Questions and Answers … and a Little Music,” have replaced Joel’s concert performances recently, giving music students an inside look at what it takes to make it.
“When I was starting out, there was no one to ask how to do my job,” Joel said in his opening. “I said if I ever get the chance, I’m going to help someone out. I’ve made every mistake in the business, and I’m still here.”
During the nearly three-hour performance, Joel bounded between the the Palladium’s Steinway Concert Grand and an electric piano to punctuate his points with song. Running the sound boards and lighting alongside Joel’s team were students from SPC’s Music Industry/Recording Arts program.
“They’re getting to work with world-class people,” said Mark Matthews, lead instructor for MIRA. “Theory is great, but there’s no substitute for an experience like this. This is big. He wants to focus on the students.”
Responding to a question about advice for budding songwriters, Joel broke out Procol Harum’s Whiter Shade of Pale, urging lyricists to concentrate on writing words and finding musicians who are willing to use them.
While Joel’s singing impressions (and there were many) were spot on, there was no mistaking who was behind the microphone. Launching into Just the Way You Are, a song written for his first wife, Joel said, “The most meaningful songs are those written about a real person, from one person to another, because other people will hear that as a real human statement.”
At 62, the six-time Grammy Award winner has not produced a rock or pop hit for nearly 20 years, but has returned to the music that first inspired him as a piano student. His 2001 release, Fantasies & Delusions, featured a collection of his classical piano pieces that debuted at No. 1 on the classical charts.
“I had this passionate affair with rock and roll for 40 years or longer … and now I’ve returned to the girl next door” he said of the classical music he now writes.
Having a strong musical foundation with an instrument is key to success, even for singers, he said.
“When you see kids on Amerian Idol, I can tell some of them they don’t know how to play an instrument because they don’t know how to phrase with the music … they’re not attached to something that makes music that’s not their own voice,” said Joel, whose music will be featured on Wednesday’s episode of the hit show. “I believe it’s always good to learn some theory, some music history and some basis of an instrument,” Joel said to a round of applause. “I was a piano player before I was known as a lead singer.”
MIRA student Chris Hill introduces Billy Joel
For MIRA student Chris Hill, who introduced Joel on stage, Joel’s piano playing partly inspired him to study music at SPC. Hill, who has a bachelor’s degree in business, found his previous profession lacked passion.
“I’m trying to stay calm.” Hill said before the show. “The first album I ever bought was The Stranger on LP. I can remember how big he was … and still is.”
The Stranger, released in 1977, was Joel’s fifth effort and the one that catapulted his career. That level of patience from the music industry is now long gone.
“Today, if you don’t have a hit the first time out, you won’t get another record,” Joel said. “Record companies don’t spend money developing musicians anymore.”
The real game changer, however, has been the advent of digital music production.
“You can record at home now,” Joel said. “Digital equipment makes it possible to have a professional recording in your house. A garage band now can be a superstar band. It’s not just a joke anymore, it’s reality.”
His advice to up and coming musicians: “Make a demo tape, and put your best stuff up front. Send it to record companies and if you get asked, play for them where they can see you. You may have to do a little travelling.”
While Joel was one credit shy of graduating from high school, the game changer in his own life was a teacher. Cutting class to play piano in his high school auditorium, Joel impressed his chorus teacher who overheard him.
“This guy was a really good teacher and I really respected him,” Joel said. “This was the first time an adult said this to me: ‘You should consider becoming a professional musician.’ It was like a door opened and the light shone. Kaboom! … And then it all became possible. So other than musicians I admired, that teacher changed my life.”
