Music Technology, a major combining recording, mixing, and editing of audio. But have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a Music Tech major? Navigating new experiences can be nerve-wracking which is why we sat down with Music Tech BAPS major, Jack Sears. He granted us the opportunity to get an inside look at his day along with some of his favorite parts!
Jack has five classes this semester. Most are on the music technology path, focusing on developing the skills needed for the major. However, there are some classes he is required to take to help him not only strengthen the skills he has already formed but also create more proficiency for him to become a well rounded professional.
Jack starts his day going to Music Entrepreneurship. In this course, they learn about different entertainment laws including publishing, copyright, and licensing. He says it is “a pretty good look at what it's like to get really into the nitty-gritty of the music industry”. Next, he makes his way to Production and History of Electronic Music, where he explains they look at “how electronic music develops from the very basics of backing tubs and pickups, into how synthases were created and learning how to work with these things”. The third class he attends is Intermediate Recording Techniques which is very hands-on. He mentions that in the course they, “learn things like how to record bands, how to do voice-overs, how to handle audio and make it sound good for the listener”. After this he attends video production, a course geared towards learning and understanding the fundamentals of camera, lighting, sound, editing, and storytelling. This is a course that isn’t music-focused which for Jack is “ my first look at handling video, so it’s really interesting learning how to handle video and how to make it look good for a viewer”. The very last class in his day is Audio for Media where students look at creating, mixing, and producing post-production and multimedia audio. He describes it as, “really the best look at what it’s like to go into the media side of things, where you’re scoring audio for movies, you’re doing sound design for TV shows, commercials, and all that and it’s really a different look at the industry besides the music part of things”.
After a day filled with classes, students get to take the knowledge they are gaining and create the things they desire. Jack explains to us, “I do a lot of personal recording projects. I’ll typically book a studio, get a band or just record my own stuff in here one night”. He states that “Capital is really good about allowing students to do that [record their own pieces], allowing students to explore their creative side of things, especially in the music tech program”. He also mentions how “I’ve been working on an album for a while cause I’m a composer and I’m a musician still and that’s what I really love about the music tech program. It allows students to kind push their own creative avenues or just take a look at what they want to do creatively, and produce it, and make it into something that they can put out into the world and so I’ve been taking advantage of that. It allows you to practice what you’re building in these classes and with these professors and with your peers and it’s something that I really appreciate at Capital University”.
The last thing we asked Jack was to tell us about his favorite part of his busy day. He let us know that, “Favorite part of my day, I think it’s just the interactions with professors, with faculty, with students, because this major is something where you kind of do get really close with people and the interactions of music, of media that fall in between that socially is something that’s really cool so I really look forward to going to classes every day and just interacting with people in this major, its something that I’ve grown pretty fond of here”. Although being a Music Tech major can seem pretty hectic. It is filled with valuable information and amazing experiences that will help students excel in their future endeavors.
