Student-operated NESCom Records issues first release

It must be nice to go to school to learn how to make a living in rock ‘n’ roll.

That’s what the students in New England School of Communication’s Business of Music class are doing, through hands-on experience in recording, mixing, distributing and marketing the music produced in the class during the semester.

Now these students have an even better place to learn about the music biz, with the launch of NESCom Records, an entirely student-run record label. And local bands have a golden opportunity to work with some up-and-coming producers to record at NESCom’s state-of-the-art studios and release a professional-quality album.

NESCom Records was the brainchild of executive director of audio David McLaughlin and Business of Music professor Lincoln Clapp.

“Like everything we do here at this school, it’s an opportunity for students to work on something real,” said McLaughlin. “We’ll be working with local acts to make a product that will be sold to the general public. Every semester they’ll have a CD to work on.”

Case in point: the Bangor band Spilled Milk, whose new album “News of the Century” is the first release on NESCom records.

“[The album] was produced by Stephanie Dufresne, a NESCom student who graduated last year and has since moved on to work at a recording studio in New York,” said Doug Hoyt, lead singer and guitarist for Spilled Milk and a teacher at NESCom. “She came to see us live, on both our ‘on’ nights and our ‘off’ nights, so she knew what we sounded like. She managed to bring out the best in us.”

The album that came out of Dufresne’s painstaking 2006 recording sessions with the band was given some more audio polish by other NESCom students, as well as some eye-catching cover art. It officially will be released at 8:30 p.m. tomorrow at a party at the Husson College Campus Center, featuring Spilled Milk along with River Bottom Funk, Rhymes With Funk and Some Damned English City.

Hoyt, who has played in bands in the Greater Bangor area for more than 15 years, wrote the songs on “News of the Century” over the past two years.

“We’ve got so much playing time under our belts as a band that I think it comes across on the album. We’re really tight,” he said. “I like being able to draw from multiple influences, too. The best compliment we were ever given was when someone said that they couldn’t say exactly who we sound like. It just makes everything more original.”

Spilled Milk was a natural choice for the first release on NESCom Records, given Hoyt’s association with the school. Though the label is a business venture, none of the people involved expect to make loads of cash from it.

“The goal is not to make money for the school,” said McLaughlin. “It would be nice, but the idea is really for the students to gain real life experience.”

Some of the students involved in the inaugural NESCom Records project said they’ve already gained a lot of knowledge about the music business.

“I’ve already learned so much,” said Tony Bitetti, an audio engineering student who also plays in the band Some Damned English City. “I feel like if I was going to go out and get a record deal or work in a studio, I’d have a real leg up. Though I feel like I’ve also only nicked the iceberg in terms of overall knowledge.”

“It’s great to get this kind of experience early on,” said Theresa Dziezyk, who is president of the NESCom chapter of the Audio Engineering Society, a worldwide organization. “I’ve learned more doing this than I ever knew before.”

For more information about NESCom, or about recording at its studios, visit www.nescom.edu, or call 941-7176. Emily Burnham can be reached at eburnham@bangordailynews.net.