122: Sound Recording and Music Technology

David Ivory, Director of the Sound Recording and Music Technology program, talks about the program. He talks about what students learn during their time in the program, and the potential jobs and opportunities available to them after graduation.

Recorded and edited by Isabel Schweizer, Nicholas Katits and Baph McIver from the College's Sound Recording and Music Technology Program

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:21

Hello, and welcome to the Montco and the Move podcast. I'm Dr. Jared Brown, Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs at Montco's Pottstown Campus. Our guest today is a Grammy nominated multi-platinum recording engineer, producer, studio owner, and music business entrepreneur. His name is David Ivory, and he is the director of Montco's Sound Recording and Music Technology Program. He's going to talk about the Sound Recording and Music Technology Program, also known as SRT, what students learn during their time, and the potential jobs available to them after they graduate. Well, Mr. Ivory.

Speaker 2 1:02

Hi, Jared. How are you doing, buddy?

Speaker 1 1:03

Welcome. Thank you. And I have you to thank. Yes. So we're going to start with that real quick before we get into business. You suggested me for the Montco and the Move, so I thank you.

Speaker 2 1:14

My pleasure. During the pandemic, we had to come up with something. And you came up with me. Yes. And I said, Jared Brown, he's the guy who needs to be the moderator of this podcast, and look how long it's been. How many years?

Speaker 1 1:28

So it's been a number of years, but I know we're over a hundred recordings. And I believe we have over 10,000 downloads. Wow. So thanks to you, sir. Hey, man. And your wisdom. I'm very happy. Happy that it's all coming together, believe me. So can you tell our listeners a little bit about David Ivory? Who are you?

Speaker 2 1:48

Oh, who am I? It's a good question. I'm a lot of things. Good things. Yes. David. I'm a lot of things. Well, you know, long story short, I started playing guitar at a very young age in bars uh at around 14, 15 years old, and I kind of some people kind of worry wonder what they're going to do with their lives. I never had that problem. I always knew that music was going to be it in some form or fashion. And of course, when you start out, all you want to be is a rock star.

Speaker 1 2:17

Yeah.

Speaker 2 2:17

So uh I did that for a while and played a lot of great open for Santana and Jay Giles and Blood, Sweat and Tears, and did some big shows at uh, you know, at the the YSP used to have a B in called the B In at up on Fairmount Park, up on the park up there. Okay. And then they used to before um Welcome America, they used to do Super Sundays on the parkway, and it'd be like a hundred thousand people there. So we we opened and did a couple shows on that on the parkway and all that stuff. So anyway, long story short, I uh started playing a lot, and then I got into recording original music, and then that led me to studio, and then that led me to become an engineer, and then that led me, because of my music background, to start producing bands and arranging music and helping bands with writing and singing and all that. And I opened my first studio in 1984 in Royersford. It was a geodesic dome studio by 1989. We won Studio of the Year Award in Philadelphia. Oh, wow. Signed by Joe Tarcia, by the way, the engineering legend in Philadelphia who ran Sigma Sound. Anyway, and then I moved from that facility into Sigma Sound as an independent producer, engineer. So I was basically not an employee, I just basically rented one of their studios and worked out of there. And that's when I started working with the Roots.

Speaker 1 3:36

Yeah.

Speaker 2 3:37

Because they were a live hip-hop band and I was a rock live engineer. So it kind and they we both had the same attorney. So he put us together and we just did five four records for the next 10 years. Did every one of their did their first record. In fact, the first record I did on what they call a spec deal, which is like free. I just did it like in in hopes that they would get a deal and then come back and record. And they did. So that was on Geffen. And then for the next 10 years, I did Erica Badu and Common, I did Sweetback, Shade's backup band, I did Zap Mama and Brazil, a whole bunch of amazing, amazing artists. So uh, and that was for a 10-year run up until 2000.

Speaker 1 4:18

Yeah.

Speaker 2 4:19

2000, I moved out in this area, a mile from this campus, basically, and I started my own studio. And there is when I discovered Hailstorm and got them signed to Atlantic. And same with Silvertide and got them signed to J Records. Clive Davis recently passed away, but Clive, along with a four suburban entourage, four-car suburban entourage, comes down to Manayunk, Clive Davis, watches a set of Silvertide, we're all there, and at the end of the set, he signs them to J Records. So that's a Clive Davis story for you.

Speaker 1 4:54

Well, and I think that Philadelphia offers many things, and this area offers many things, but the music scene in Philadelphia is unbelievable. And you're a part of it, dude.

Speaker 2 5:05

Yeah, yeah. Well, and I'm yeah, I'm lucky to be a part of it, to be honest, because it is, it's it is so amazing. Because the what we don't understand about Philadelphia is and it's it's unfortunate because it is such a rich musical community. And you know, not even just with the Philly sound, but like with classical music, with the early stuff from Cameo Parkway. I mean, the biggest thing American Bandstand was in Philadelphia and started the whole rock scene. And it it's like it's unbelievable what Philly has and still does have to offer as far as great music.

Speaker 1 5:36

Aaron Ross Powell So you've had this experience, this longevity, you're building this wisdom and these connections. How did the SRT program come to be? And how did you get involved? And what is it?

Speaker 2 5:48

Right. Well, while I was still at Sigma, Mike Kelly was working at CCP, and Mike Kelly is a coordinator here. Yep. But he was at CCP in the beginning, and I used to do master classes there. So when he moved out here and he got a job here, and before this beautiful building was built, they didn't really have a studio or working recording studio. Okay. So Mike would bring his business class to my studio down the street. So for like five or six years, he would do that twice a semester. A little field trip. Yeah. For like a mile away. He would almost walk to my house. So they started bringing, and then you know, he said, Why don't you just teach? Because I was pretty busy, but I said, Yeah, sure, why not? So I started as an adjunct in 2009, actually.

Speaker 1 6:29

Wow.

Speaker 2 6:29

Just taught one class, you know, just to kind of get my feet wet or whatever. And then what happened was they built this building, and then I started teaching more. It was like around 2014, I started teaching like war classes. And then around 2015, Celeste and Vicky and a couple other people came and asked about what would you do if you wanted to build a big program. So, of course, the first thing I said is we're gonna have to spend a lot of money. Yes. Yes. And and much to my shock, they said, okay. And I said, I mean, like a lot of money. And they said, okay. So then that's when we started getting gear, and we brought on WSDG, which is Walter Stork Design Group, who helped do all the acoustics. I basically designed the room and I designed it after classic fashion that all the major recording studios are designed. And if you walk into our main room right now, it would be just like you're walking into Electric Lady Land, or if you're walking into Ocean Way in LA, it's the same kind of setup.

Speaker 1 7:26

The first time you gave me a tour of the recording room or lab here, if you will, you played Earth, Wind and Fire, a song, an Earth, Wind and Fire song, and I was just blown away by the technology and the professionalism, and the students just have hands-on experience of the best of the best.

Speaker 2 7:49

Yes. And for a third of any cost, they would go anywhere else in the country.

Speaker 1 7:54

When I meet an alum who leaves Montco with an SRT degree and they go work in the industry, they're like, what what's this? Because the equipment that I have as a student is better. Is way better than what you're asking me to work on, which is a testament to you, but also the college's dedication to ensuring that students at Montco have the best.

Speaker 2 8:23

Yeah. And it really is true. And it was and like again, we're we're literally one of the only colleges that have half of the things that we have. I know. We do we we did a Grammy presentation two summers ago where the Grammy organization flew in some uh engineers and we had a couple come down from New York, and every college in the region was here. Drexel, Temple, Westchester University came to Montco because they didn't have a facility to describe what we were doing.

Speaker 1 8:50

Were they were they drooling a little bit?

Speaker 2 8:52

Yeah, a little bit.

Speaker 1 8:54

So back to the program and the student experience. What are some of the things students can learn as an SRT student?

Speaker 2 9:03

Well, you know, the obviously the basics, learn how to edit all the different digital audio workstations, otherwise known as DAWs, and and basic mic placement and all that. But more importantly, they learn some of the skills that are not really taught in a book, meaning how to interact with people, how to work an artist, how to try to get the best performance out of people, things that are not really short. You gotta know what what that microphone that we're talking into does, what its pickup pattern is, if it's phantom, ribbon, whatever. But what's more important is too, and which is what they do with the in one of the last semesters of the course, is work with other bands. They work with an outside group that they arrange and take all the knowledge. Because besides teaching the technical side, we also teach the arrangement, the musical side. So we do deep dives into the Motown sound, muscle shoals, uh the Memphis sound, why, how it was created, what do the horns do different in the Memphis sound as opposed to Motown? So they're learning all the different kinds of techniques to actually implement into their productions moving forward. And if not, at least they understand it. So say you get a client who wants to do a commercial and hey, I want that Motown sound. Well, maybe a band might not need that, but maybe a media client would love that sound. Right. So then you would know how to create it. And that's even as important as knowing what mic to microphone to use for somebody's voice.

Speaker 1 10:20

Sounds like to me, there there's a strong curriculum, but then there's this strong hands-on organic experience that you just have to navigate to really build those skills and knowledge, which is so important.

Speaker 2 10:34

It's so important because you would be amazed. It's like when you get away from that mouse and you start turning knobs, like literally that sounds kind of weird or whatever. Like it's like, why what's the big deal? But when you start actually touching a knob and seeing where that frequency is and then adding it and turning it besides your mouse, you could you get a different experience, which is really, really important. And that's why we even still record on tape, because we just did that last week. We did a recording both to Pro Tools, a digital station, and then to tape at the same time. And as soon as we played it back, seconds, everybody goes, Wow, I can't believe it because of the sound.

Speaker 1 11:11

Yeah.

Speaker 2 11:12

And but you can't get that in on YouTube. You can't get that on because it has to be A-B. And well, I'm not going to record it on tape. So what does that mean? Well, it means a lot because you know at least what it sounds like. And you know exactly like what people are talking about when they talk about tape and the warmth and the sound of it. So those experiences are are pretty, you know, they're that's really special. And students here are the only students that really have that, because no other studios around even record the tape.

Speaker 1 11:39

A To me, it sounds like it's giving them a foundation.

Speaker 3 11:41

Correct.

Speaker 1 11:42

And that's very important. That's a good thing. You have to have a foundation before you jump to the finish line. Correct. So speaking of, what prerequisites are required? And then as someone that might be interested in the SRT program, do I have to have studio, audio, or music recording experience previously, or can I come in like just with interest.

Speaker 2 12:05

Just with interest and a desire. And we will work you right on up. We have amazing tutors. So like if you need extra help, it's so easy. We have an open Tuesday night that any Tuesday night you can pop in.

Speaker 1 12:19

Like a drop-in.

Speaker 2 12:20

Yep. Yep. And and you don't even have to sign up. You can just drop in. Hey, you don't have a problem. We we run that on a weekly basis, and then we have individual t times or you just log in, you can book a time with a tutor. But besides that, as long as you have a desire and you're willing to learn, you can come in here with like zero knowledge of recording and leave here producing a band. Wow. You really can.

Speaker 1 12:43

So Dolby Atmos, what is it? Why do we have it? How does it work? Right.

Speaker 2 12:50

Okay. And that they're all good questions. Uh let's see. Well, most importantly, the the you know, technology changes, right? And like I just talked about tape, and now we're going to talk about Dolby Atmos, which couldn't be further apart .

Speaker 1 13:04

From tape.

Speaker 2 13:05

Exactly. Right. But Dolby Atmos is the future. Like when everything that you've ever heard in your life, you have been in the audience. Think about it. Yeah. Speakers come at you, or even in your headphones, you're like in the audience. That music is being played as if the band's in front of you and then you're listening to it, right? Right. Dolby Atmos puts you on stage. And that experience alone, that listening experience makes it like now you've heard Dolby Atmos in movie theaters when the helicopter comes flying over the top of you and bombs and your chair rocks a little bit. But you've never had heard it just standalone music, right? So think of that movie theater experience where you have things all around you, and that's what Dolby Atmos is. Wow. And once you start mixing in it and listening to it, it's really difficult to go back to stereo because the space alone, it's just you're immersed in the sound. You're not just listening to it, it's a different experience. So Dolby Atmos, I believe, is the future. We teach it here and we expose the students to it so they really understand it. And that's that little box that you see in Apple Music. You see rock, you see hip-hop, and now you'll see immersive audio or spatial audio. And that's what that is. And they're there are Dolby Atmos mixes.

Speaker 1 14:17

So I'm a great student and I successfully complete the sound recording music technology program. What can I do with it? Where can I go?

Speaker 2 14:28

Well, I hope you went to the career day that we just had in April. We had like 15 different companies here that we had a career day where we had a panel of the employers. That is great. And they were able to talk about what they look for in a student. And so I hope hopefully if you were the graduate, you attended that. And besides that, we have every one of our instructors is an in the music business currently. Not 10 years ago, not 20 years ago, but they're currently in the music business, active in the music business. Why is that important? Well, if your instructor owns a studio, that's a perfect spot to start seeing if you can intern there. If your instructor is an amazing keyboard player, well, that's a great opportunity to learn all these complicated keyboards that we have here. Or if your instructor is a live sound engineer, he has a gate for you next Tuesday, right? So those are the kind of things that when when instructors are in the business, they have connections.

Speaker 1 15:26

Right.

Speaker 2 15:26

And those connections can help you. So we bring people in, we recommend different students to different places. Now, again, I always tell everybody you know, you have to have some entrepreneurial skills. Like you just can't stand there and somebody pick you, right? You have to kind of be, you know, forward thinking and put yourself out there and present yourself.

Speaker 1 15:46

So, David, I always say, you don't ask, you don't get.

Speaker 2 15:49

Right. Exactly correct.

Speaker 1 15:50

So you have to network and put yourself out.

Speaker 2 15:52

And I kind of know what other employers are looking for because you know, obviously I have a studio for 30 some years. So we try to get them in their portfolio well rounded. So when they leave here, your portfolio will have several podcasts. You'll be having several songs that you recorded with different bands. You'll probably have some of your own songs. You'll have some music to the film. So and you might even have an audio book in your in your in your repertoire. So that way when you go to an employer, it's like here, I do audiobooks, I do bands, I do all that stuff. And here's my resume. So that's what we really focus on here, too, is to prepare your resume, your digital portfolio, so that you can forward that to somebody or be part of the conversation and be proud of it.

Speaker 1 16:35

So if I don't go towards music, production or recording or what have you, where else could I go with an SRT degree?

Speaker 2 16:44

Well, I mean, you could get into forensic audio. What's that? Well, you have a a lawyer who has a f a conversation that he can't quite hear all the all the words on that's a tape recording. Wow. You can go in there and clean that up with all the skills you know, and I think that job pays maybe $200 an hour. I don't know. Wow. So uh there's there's that. There's uh you could work at any music store, obviously. You could be a uh a manager at a store like that, because you'll already know the gear.

Speaker 1 17:10

Right.

Speaker 2 17:10

Uh cruise ships. There's you know, there's like anywhere from 15 to 30 engineers, audio engineers on a cruise ship. Think about it. There's six stages, they go all night.

Speaker 1 17:21

I would think any place with a stadium or any place with a concert venue.

Speaker 2 17:26

Think of how many churches there are. I have get I get calls literally, maybe twice a month, inquiries about students who engineers at churches, because what do they do? They buy all this equipment, but nobody at the church knows how to use it. And then it feeds back and it's all that stuff. So like it's amazing the the amount of work and stuff that's out there. If you just you know, everybody thinks, okay, well, I'm gonna try to produce Beyonce, but that's really not there's so many other jobs out there that's unbelievable. One of our students works for Hinckles and McCoy, which is a construction company. Wow and he does all their videos and all their instructional videos. So like for training. Yeah. And he puts the music, he does music with it too. It's like crazy. He's got health insurance, he makes, you know. So it's like, you know, you don't know where these jobs can lead.

Speaker 1 18:15

So the industries out there, like hotels, conferences,

Speaker 2 18:21

think about it.

Speaker 1 18:22

Cruise ships, all of those things, our program here could take you into the direction,

Speaker 2 18:28

totally prepare you for any one of those jobs without moving forward. Now, if you do want to move forward and get a bachelor's, sure. And we have uh specific, only specific colleges like Millersville, Lebanon Valley, and we're about to bring on West Chester University. And these are all of our transfer agreements. Correct. Okay. And the reason for that is we can't do it, we can't even do it with Temple right now because of their facilities, it would be a step down for our students. So we pick the four-year colleges that would be an equivalent to the experience that the students would get. And we like Millersville because they have a lot of live sound and music disciplines that they can continue with. But West Chester does a lot of gaming. So if you're into game music or if you're into sound effects and gaming, West Chester University might be where you want to go. Now, if you want to end up ultimately being a publisher or maybe a a business manager, then Lebanon Valley is a great way for you. They still have a program, but they're they're more on a business track. They have a conference, they have a record label, all that stuff.

Speaker 1 19:32

Dave, you've created with your peers, because I know it's there it takes many to ensure our students need to get to where they need to get to, but you've created these opportunities for we're going to give you the knowledge and skills to either go in the workforce or if you want to continue on your education, here's the paths that we've created for you, which is phenomenal.

Speaker 2 19:56

Here's a great story. Uh we also have an articulation agreement with Berkeley Online, right? So one of our former students who's now an instructor here just got his master's at Berkeley. He is featured in Berkeley's music magazine, and he's speaking at graduation. I think I know who you're talking about. Yes, Colin Foley. So he's doing really well, and he was one of our students. I just, you know, I remember him having an interview with me before he even started. Hey, what's this program about? Do you think I can do something in this business? You know, the whole thing.

Speaker 1 20:27

Shout out to Colin for teaching SRT at Pottstown.

Speaker 2 20:31

Yes, at Pottstown. And remember, as you said before, which I don't think I quite answered, you don't need any prerequisite.

Speaker 1 20:38

No prerequisites.

Speaker 2 20:38

You can just start, you know, you need a prerequisite to keep going in our but to start, you don't need anything.

Speaker 1 20:45

That's great to know. Well, you've shared a lot. And the last thing I'm going to ask you, I promise if someone is interested in learning more about the SRT program or registering in the fall for SRT, where would they go? What's the best place for them to start?

Speaker 2 21:02

Well, I think to look at the program first, you would go to mc3.edu forward slash SRT. So we have our own URL for our program. Very nice. So which is great. There you will see our two divisions, basically live sound and recording sound, because live sound right now is a huge job opportunity. So we provide a great live sound experience. And then the best thing though is to hook up with an advisor and get the ball rolling. If you have any questions, you can always email me at d ivory at mc3.edu.

Speaker 1 21:33

That's awesome. Well, David, it's always a pleasure. Always and thank you for tapping me and seeing the potential in me to uh lead for now the the the uh Montco on Move the podcast. I really appreciate all that you do here at the college for our students and more importantly, also for the industry locally and in Philadelphia. You've really contributed a lot, and I always learn something from you when we chat. So that's good. That's good. You know, so thank you for being here.

Speaker 2 22:06

I appreciate being here, and uh and you you've been great, and uh I'm so happy that this is what over a hundred?

Speaker 1 22:13

Over a hundred episodes and over ten thousand downloads.

Speaker 2 22:16

That's that's something to say every every broadcast.

Speaker 1 22:19

Thanks to you, dude.

Speaker 2 22:21

Thanks to you.

Speaker 1 22:22

All right. Well, thank you, David, and I would also like to send a special shout out, and I think you know some of these individuals, to some sound recording and music technology students, Isabel Schweitzer, Nick Cadis, and Bath McGyver for being here today and producing the show. They're gonna use this great podcast as part of their portfolio. And I thank everyone for listening to the Montco and the Move podcast. Check back soon to hear more stories from our Montco family. Until next time, I'm Jared Brown. Thanks again for listening.

Speaker 22:57

Thanks for listening to Montco on the Move. Students at Montgomery County Community College working in the Sound Recording and Music Technology program, record, edit, and produce this podcast. Check out mc3.edu forward slash on the move to listen to our latest episode or download our podcast on your favorite podcast app. You can also learn about the latest episodes by following us on social media. Have a guest in mind you think would be great for the podcast? Email Eric Devlin at edevlin at mc3.edu or Diane Van Dyke at dvandyke at mc3.edu. And come back next time to find out more about what's happening at your community college and catch our Montco momentum.