On Sunday, August 1st, a group of LA Music Academy students took part in the debut of what the school plans to make a somewhat regular occurrence on your LA Music Academy dial — Recording Workshops at Firehouse Studios. The brainchild of school President Tom Aylesbury and Director of Education Mike Shapiro, the program is designed to open the door to the recording studio, quite literally, to more LA Music Academy Students. With the next workshop scheduled for sometime next February, Aylesbury notes this about the program: "We felt that the opportunity for all students to experience the studio was very important. Our future plans are to greatly expand this studio/recording experience. New products are always in development as we are constantly improving our level of education to meet the ever changing music industry." Award-winning producer and school instructor Philip Giffin adds, "I have a class called Studio Recording, and we go over arranging and composing techniques for popular music — rhythm section oriented with vocals. Only so many students can get into this class. And today was made possible, especially by Tom and Mike, for those students that couldn't be selected for my class."

Those students were each given an hour of studio time under Giffin's watchful eye (and ears) to record a song. Giffin continues, "I haven't been working with these guys for ten weeks like I have the other group [in the Studio Recording class]. So, a lot of covers were recorded today, but it was very interesting, and I was really impressed and with the originals too. For example, Amy [Frances'] was incredibly original — like performance art."

Amy Frances, a student in the drum program, recorded spoken-word poetry against a driving rhythm set. Although, by her own account, she has written over a hundred poems and recorded her poetry before, it was the first time she had heard the results of the marriage of her words with the drum beat and her rhythm work. She enthused, "The big surprise is when you get to hear yourself on playback with the benefit of being in a professional studio. It makes it sound great!" However, Frances adds that the effort to make her performance sound great took some work, "It's a lot to get right — getting everything to sync up."

Helping to get "everything to sync up" and more was Giffin's task as he alternately pumped up the students and gave them savvy technique lessons culled from his years of work behind the console. At one point, he coached voice student Diana Morin as she recorded a gutsy version of "Me and Bobby McGee," giving her a pep talk and immediately following with some technique advice on how to work with the microphone. At the conclusion, he assured guitar student C.J. Hagenfeldt, who had just recorded a largely impromptu solo and was dubious about his performance, that his last take "had feel and had fire," and that the solo "helped elevate the song." Morin had recruited Hagenfeldt and Nate Kivett a week-and-a-half prior to the Workshop to help her record her version of the Janis Joplin classic. Explaining her choice, Morin said, "My mom let me listen to Janis Joplin when I was growing up, and I used to do Janis Joplin shows back in Sweden. I've always loved that song, and my Mom is turning fifty, so I wanted to record it for her." She adds, "I was so excited because it's been all about school for so long and just doing stuff that has to do with school, and now I finally got to do something that I chose, so I liked it. I haven't been in a studio for a couple of years. And this is a nicer studio than I'm used to. This is a real studio."

Although Hagenfeldt, who also hails from Sweden, wasn't entirely satisfied with his work on the solo, he put his first experience in the studio in perspective saying, "We aren't just doing this to produce this one [song]. The learning process is more important. And when you go in there now, you have a different sound. There is another amp and everything is different, and you hear yourself through the mic system, and you sort of have to adjust quickly to all of these new circumstances." For Kivett, soon to graduate from the school's drum program, the session was definitely an eye-opening experience. He explains, "It was really interesting. Amazing how much technology there is in it. You don't really think about it all that much when you're just listening to a CD about all the difficult things that go in to putting it all together. It was not what I expected, but then again, I don't really know what I expected." Kivett also appreciated the chance to work with Giffin. "Phil is a great guy. He's really enthusiastic and gives a lot of input. If you have an idea about what you're doing, he puts in his idea and you kind of meet up in the middle."

Afterwards, Giffin said that alternately giving encouragement and instruction is essentially the craft of producing, "I kind of think of it as a sandwich. When I'm teaching someone how to produce — because it's not for everybody — usually the producer is someone that the band would like to have as a set of ears behind the glass — someone they trust. Sometimes I'm hired to produce a band and sometimes it's the band that chooses me. So, quickly you learn to be incredibly honest. If I need to tell you to do something a little differently, chances are I'm going to identify something that I like first, and then I'll end with a compliment as well. That's the sandwich — the bread, the meat, and the bread." He concludes, "It's a unique balance between taking it [the song] as high as we can get it, but let's not flog the life out of it because sometimes it's the rough edges that make the work unique."