Of Sound Mind> Husson Students engineering futures in music recording industry

It was a dark, drizzly Friday morning before fall break at Husson College – not exactly the kind of weather that makes you want to get out of bed. Most students would rather have slept in, packed and gotten a jump-start on the long weekend, if they hadn’t already skipped town the night before.

The students in Dave McLaughlin’s introductory audio engineering class had other plans, though. One by one, they meandered into the studio in the basement of Husson’s gym, some sleepy, others wide awake, all ready to go. They had something to look forward to – something other than break.

Halfway through the class, after the students had taken turns at the soundboard working on a song by The Dogs, Maine musician Anni Clark breezed in, said hi, and headed straight for the sound booth. She adjusted the microphones, took off her sneakers and grabbed her acoustic guitar. Her sidekick, sophomore Matt Hall, took over at the newer digital soundboard, and the other students gathered around as Clark played the guitar track for “Kickapoo,” a spunky tune named for a town in Texas.

“She’s a professional, so she likes it perfect, so we may have to do this three more times,” Hall explained to student Tom Doucette as Clark’s seemingly perfect track streamed into the studio’s speakers.

It wasn’t perfect, but Hall was wrong. He only had to do it one more time. After the second take, Clark ran out of the sound booth, knelt down in front of the speakers and sang along, bopping her head.

“I got it!” she shouted, slapping her knee. “Second take all the way through … yeah, baby.”

She and Hall gave each other a high five – they were both closer to their goal. Plus, they beat Whitney Houston’s average by about 30 takes, a running joke in the studio.

“Whitney Houston is notorious for taking 32 takes of a vocal, so every time we get it in one or two, it’s like, ‘Take that, Whitney,”‘ McLaughlin said.

Together, Clark and Hall are working on Hall’s semester project for his advanced audio engineering class. He needs to record, mixmaster and press a six-song CD. As part of the process, students from both the advanced and the introductory classes sit in on the recording sessions, watching and learning. Clark, a professional singer-songwriter who plays throughout the United States, gets a new CD out of the deal.

“I have a bunch of new songs and I was at least entertaining the thought of putting out some of them,” Clark said. “In helping him with his project, I’m helping myself toward a new CD. The songs grow up a little bit.”

For Hall, a 19-year-old student from Houlton, the process is a valuable learning experience, even if things don’t go so smoothly. With what seems like a million buttons to press and details to consider, it’s inevitable that something goes wrong every so often.

“That’s fine. Every time we go back and do something new, it’s experience,” Hall said. “The more mistakes I make with this equipment, the more I know about it.”

The two teamed up after instructor McLaughlin asked Clark to visit Husson’s studio. She had visited the campus before, playing in the student center, but she wasn’t familiar with the sound engineering department.

Hall was among a group of students who heard her work in the studio, and he asked her if she’d help him with his project.

“She’s been in studios before and she knows what she’s looking for,” Hall said. “So in a way, that shows me what musicians in Maine may be looking for in an engineer. It’s inspiring to me because I’m working with a pro already and I’m still in school and she’s pushing me. It’s a little more pressing on me. You have to be focused and get things done. If I had a student, I’d feel less pressure and not get as much done.”

Everyone in the advanced class has to complete the CD project, but most of them record songs by student bands or their own bands. Having Clark in the studio has given Hall and his classmates a different perspective.

She’s on a tight schedule when she comes to the studio – usually on her way to or from a gig in the area. She lives in Old Orchard Beach, so she can’t just come back the next day if things don’t go well. And because she’s put out CDs before, she knows what to listen for.

“We’re constantly looking for people like that but they’re really hard to find,” McLaughlin said. “Recording in a studio is vastly different than playing live. Someone like Anni, we’re really very fortunate to have her here in the studio. That makes a huge difference.”

It also makes a difference to have a pro working behind the scenes. McLaughlin, who has worked at studios around the world, and who has recorded songs by bands such as Rush, knows when a song sounds right. He can tell when a note is off, when there’s “noise” in a recording. He knows how to shave an “s” off the end of a word in a song if it’s the only thing sullying a perfect vocal track.

“The instructors here are people who work every day in the field,” McLaughlin said. “A lot of people who teach are working broadcasters or worked for a long time in the field.”

The audio engineering major is part of a four-year bachelor’s degree program in communications. The program started out in 1981 as the New England School of Broadcasting, which moved to the Husson campus 11 years ago. Three years ago, NESCOM merged with Husson. In addition to the college’s core curriculum, the program includes classes in television, recording arts, multimedia, advertising, public relations and marketing.

“They all tie into each other so it’s smarter to take them all,” McLaughlin said. “The more you know, the more employable you are.”

Hall is a musician – he plays guitar, sings and writes lyrics – but he’d like to make a career on the recording side of the industry, preferably as a producer. He spent the summer working at Acoustic Energy in Ellsworth, setting up the sound for shows on Mount Desert Island, along with the Sonic Flood concert at the Bangor Auditorium and some sound work for the Bangor State Fair.

While he has some experience in the industry, working with Clark has given him the opportunity to record his first CD.

“I kind of wanted to get myself hooked into the music industry somehow,” Hall said. “I like getting creativity going and creating and this is a good way to get there.”

When the CD is finished, Clark wants to “create a real-world experience” by having a CD release party on campus. For now, though, the playing can wait – they’re having enough fun working.

“For him and for me I want this to be a really nice-sounding tape,” Clark said. “This is really cool. I had no idea what I was getting into when I first came in here.”