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ALSO
IN THIS ISSUE Beyond Books Designer's Challenge Improving Mother Nature Bach to the Future Chancellor's
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Bach to the Future Computers bring music composition into the digital age. Tune in during Channing Booth’s digital music class at Miramar College, and you’re as likely to hear discussions of the modern electronic-music technique of sampling as you are about classical sonatas. Sampling is sort of musical déja vu, where snippets of older songs are inserted into a new one. Everything old is new again in today’s music, and technology is allowing anyone to share, transform and create new tunes. Booth’s students are in sync with the modern music age, and Channing Booth is the ideal professor for this fluid genre –– his own career plays like a medley of varied musical experiences. He has performed on stage with Latin jazz greats Tito Puente and Poncho Sanchez; Booth's compositions have been broadcast internationally, and he has extensive experience in engineering, sampling, sequencing and producing. "I began by playing classical music at age 5, then moved on to jazz at 10," Booth said. "I then turned to Latin jazz, because it offered me a form of instrumental expression that went beyond playing the prescribed notes. Jazz allowed me to express my emotions in a moment." Booth attended a performing arts high school in Fresno, then went on to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. While his primary instrument is piano, Booth plays multiple instruments. "I was inspired by my music teachers from elementary school on," Booth said. "By the time I got to college, I was already teaching music at adult schools. The teaching bug bit me. I realized that I could have a whole life of learning, playing and teaching. Playing enhances my teaching, and teaching enhances my playing. It was the perfect circle for me." An interest in digital avenues formed at Berklee. "That interest developed when I wanted to get my compositions down and record them," Booth said. "People in bands show up and you must rehearse over and over. You get a virtual band and they show up on time and don't take a break." Creative digital audio designers and composers are in high demand, and Booth and his colleagues provide the training for these professions. As bandwidth and Internet streaming technology improve, multimedia elements are becoming standard. Meanwhile, as music distribution becomes more Web-based, the industry will change. With copyright enforcement making original works more affordable than paying royalties, advertising, marketing and Internet design companies are recognizing the need for Web designers with digital-music composition skills. Booth tuned in to this early on, and his ideas evolved over years of research and personal experience while attending Berklee, the world's largest independent music college. The school is founded on the principle of providing training for careers in the contemporary music industry, looking at current music and seeking its relevance to our past. The program works backward from the present, rather than employing the traditional approach of educating students from a historical perspective –– that is, starting with music of long ago and working toward the present. "The old-school theory is that percussion isn't music," Booth said. "The more contemporary school of thought is that music is simply the organization of sounds. For example, 'Stomp,' the percussion-based, popular touring stage show, is definitely music, in my opinion. Old-school music theorists would not agree." This outside-the-box, nontraditional perspective allows for tremendous creativity inside the classroom. More than just music theory sets traditional music programs apart from Miramar's digital music program. The Miramar College state-of-the-art digital music lab features individual workstations. While most college and university programs require shared or group use of recording equipment, Miramar's lab features 24 identical G4 Macintosh computers with keyboard/mixing stations, allowing each student full use of an individual station for the entire semester. A recording booth, mastering equipment, professional microphones, compressors and amp modeling devices complete the lab. The technology and technical applications of digital audio recording and MIDI sequencing are the primary focus of the lab, but music education software and CD production equipment are also available for student use. "I want to produce producers," Booth said. "And I don't believe it's always necessary to be a musician or have musical skills to excel as a producer. An effectively trained producer can identify respective needs for a good composition, record, manipulate in digital media, and bring in computer elements, as necessary, for a finished product." Music is always evolving, Booth says, as is technology. "So the marriage of music and technology allows for exciting developments," he said. "Look at surround-sound technology, where you will find two distinct mastering approaches –– one that mimics the sound an audience would hear from their seats at a live performance, the other from a place on stage, inside the band." Students who complete the five-semester, Miramar College digital music program are equipped with the skills necessary to enter this dynamic industry, with proof of their expertise. Completion provides solid experience for work as a recording studio engineer, radio/television engineer, film scorer or sound technician, Internet scoring and jingle writer, music studio producer or composer. Booth believes a successful career in digital music is built upon a solid foundation of electronics knowledge. The program attracts more than those seeking a career in digital music. Hobbyists, band members who want to produce their own music and performers seeking technical knowledge in recording, arrangement and composition also fill the workstations. Booth hopes to orchestrate continued growth of the program. He would like to link digital music with graphic arts, so that students work together to produce a complete music package –– a professionally produced and recorded CD along with commercial-grade CD cover art. Meanwhile, Booth is getting a new Latin jazz band together to perform at select local locations and perhaps beyond. As excited as Booth is about digital, he's still attracted to the heat and thrills of a hard-charging live performance. "Live
music is where my heart is," Booth said. "As a means of expressing
myself, there's nothing quite like it." SOUND BYTES. Channing booth sets input levels for the mixer in preparation to record using the studio's recording booth.
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