For Ethan Herring, Pitt’s music production club is a place for students with a passion for music production to share, collaborate and learn skills from one another.
A senior neuroscience major and club president, Herring joined the club during her sophomore year. Haring said that before joining the club, he primarily experienced music by playing the guitar. But once he arrived at the pit, he said, Haring was able to explore the world of electronic music production at the club.
“It’s kind of like a place where people who love music and people who make music can collaborate and learn techniques together,” says Herring. “I think in general now it’s kind of like a place where people make songs together and get ideas for new things, instruments, etc.”
Joining Herring on the club’s board of directors is club vice president Brandon Rodas, a sophomore majoring in law, criminal justice, and sociology.Rodas said the club discord group With about 100 members, it’s difficult to determine how many active members the club has, but Herring believes it’s somewhere between 15 and 20.
Like Herring, Rodas continued to pursue his passion for making music by joining music production clubs. Before joining the club, Rodas created both rap and hip-hop music, but is now exploring creating a new genre called drill music.
“I started making rap and hip-hop because I think it’s pretty easy,” Rodas said. “But lately he’s been making a lot of drill music and he’s been making a lot of R&B music.”
Herring says the music production club has changed the way he listens to and interacts with music. Prior to joining, Haring said that making music was not one of his main interests he was, but since he joined the club and now runs the club, making music has been a passion of his life. is.
“Before I joined, I wasn’t really into production stuff,” says Herring. “But after that, that’s one of my main concerns with the songs I’m listening to right now, producing them. I’m into drum and bass music. My musical tastes are now more It feels more diverse.”
One of the club’s main focuses is electronic music production, but we agreed that the club includes a wide variety of music, from EDM to metal to folk music.
“There are people in clubs who are more than just electronic music,” Haring said. “Like someone sending me a recording of a metal guitar riff or something and talking about its production. There is a wide variety of music involved in
Alex Gosek, a senior environmental science major, joined the club in his first year at the pits. The club, he said, allowed him to continue pursuing his passion for producing electronic music, as well as learning more about Pittsburgh’s music scene.
“I thought it would be a cool way to meet people with similar interests in Pittsburgh, especially because it allowed me to get a little more familiar with the Pittsburgh music scene, especially the slightly smaller electronic music scene,” Gosek said. increase. He said.
For Gosek, the club allowed him to share his music with other members and receive feedback. Through club discord, Gosek said he could send his own projects to see if other members had any advice.
“It was the first time I showed my project to other people and got their feedback. I watched other people’s recording process, saw how it was different from mine, learned from it, and applied it to my own. We’ve applied it to music, which is huge,” said Gossec. “Not only did I show it to all my friends who might not be as interested, but I was able to send it to the club’s Discord to get feedback and get tips and tricks on how to make it sound better.”
Herring said many members have their own Soundcloud pages, although the club doesn’t have a public platform to publish the music it co-produces. herring and OccurHerring said she hadn’t posted on her page for a while, and while Rodas had two songs, he said:dose” and “Kami Kilasavailable on the page, usually he creates beats for use by another artist.
“A month or so ago, someone from the server came over to rap a drill beat, and we usually don’t get a lot of rappers,” says Rodas. “Most of the rappers I work with are all over the world: Italy, France, California.”
Despite their respective backgrounds in music production, the two said the club is for those interested in learning. Rodas and Herring are experienced, but say they’re still learning new things about music production through the club. As intimidating as it may sound, Rodas encourages students interested in music and music production to come to the club and give it a try.
“It’s not as scary as it looks,” Rodas said. “Even if you have no experience, it would be helpful if you could come casually. You don’t need any prior knowledge to start working. Like myself, I don’t know music theory, but I can still make music. Many people thinks they need music theory, but they don’t.”
The music production club has served as an outlet for both Rodas and Herring to explore their creativity and passion for music. In addition to the music production club, Haring is also the bassist for a Pittsburgh-based band. valley viewwill help you satisfy your passion for music.
“I play in a band too, and I’m doing my part,” Herring said. “But when I’m not hanging out with them, I enjoy making music because it’s so kind of cathartic to sit on a Saturday and make a song all by yourself. It’s definitely a great creative outlet.” ”
Like Herring, the music production club opened up a whole new musical path for Gosek. So he became a DJ. Gosek said the club’s former president introduced him to the music scene outside of Pitt and taught him the tricks of DJing. Since then, Gosek has continued his DJing mainly at house parties around Pittsburgh and now runs his house venues in South Oakland. deli.
“I don’t know if it was last year or not, but the president introduced us to a lot of people outside the pits, including a lot of local DJs,” Gosek said. “I also learned about it through the music production club.”
Herring said music production clubs are a good place for students to work together and dive deep into the music that interests them.
“I’m always amazed by the variety…I hear other things people make,” said Herring. “We all start with the same idea, but people take it in completely different directions that you wouldn’t think of. It’s so cool to work with people like that.”
