Drexel University recently finished building three fully functional recording studios as part of the expansion to the music industry program, which will soon be available for juniors and seniors to book for sessions.
The new studios are Studio One, Studio F (both located in One Drexel Plaza) and Studio G (located in MacAlister Hall).
To accommodate the increased size of the this year’s junior class, the music industry program secured a deal with Drexel that guaranteed the construction of more recording facilities. Since all the studios become available to Music Industry and Production students during their junior year (when enrolled in Sound Recording II), the new studios were due to be finished by fall 2017.
Studio One, located in One Drexel Plaza on Market Street, is considered to be the new flagship studio of the MIP program. It has one live room, three isolation booths and a control room fully equipped with a Rupert Neve 5088 console. The studio also has a seven-foot Yamaha Disklavier grand piano.
The new music industry suite in One Drexel Plaza is home to Studio One, but it also contains Studio F, records storage, two Musical Instrument Digital Interface lab classrooms, a student lounge and a small kitchen. Many music industry students already have one if not several classes in the new MIDI labs this term.
The new Studio F boasts a mixing room with two Teletronix LA-2s, two UA 1176s, two Retro EQs, an Avocet controller, UA Apollo and ATC monitors.
The entire music industry facility in One Drexel Plaza was designed by world renowned Walters Storyk Design Group. This is a huge milestone for the growth of the MIP program, given that up until now all of Drexel’s recording studios were designed in-house.
Studio G, located in the basement of MacAlister Hall, features one large live room with a control room next door and a window in the wall between. It was constructed in the area where the DUTV studio used to be. The live room comes fully equipped with microphones, stands, cables and a drum kit. The control room has a full setup supplemented with Focal monitors, Manley Mastering EQ and preamps including Rupert Neve 522, Chandler, Millennia, A-Designs and API 2500.
The three new studios together with the old ones give music industry students a total of eight recording facilities to use for academic as well as extracurricular projects.
“The access that the students have to the studios to do their own work really sets us apart from other colleges,” MIP program director, Jim Klein said in an interview with The Triangle. “It makes a sense of community.”
The construction of these fabulous new studios shows the growth in the music industry program, since its humble beginnings in the early 2000s. Starting out with a much more stripped-down version of Studio B designed by music industry professor Ryan Schwabe, the program has acquired more studios through the years (Studios A-F). It became apparent that the facilities would have to be expanded to accommodate the increasing interest and class sizes.
“This project was many years in the making and couldn’t have been accomplished without President Fry, Dean Sabinson and the help of private donors,” Klein said.
“MIP’s new studios are incredible! I can’t wait to get to work,” music industry junior Ryan O’Grady said. “I feel myself mixing with the giants in the room.”
“It’s a conducive learning environment for audio engineers and music business students alike,” music industry junior Ben Weiss said. “Now I have no excuse for not making hit records.”