On Oct. 4, Rochester Producers & Musicians (RPM) hosted a workshop for students interested in learning to use GarageBand, Apple’s free digital audio workstation.
Digital audio workstations offer a platform for music production and composition enthusiasts to develop tracks and projects in a full-fledged application, outfitted with plugins, effects, and tools necessary to bring an idea to fruition. Songs like Kendrick Lamar’s “PRIDE.” and Steve Lacy’s “Dark Red” were famously produced on GarageBand.
Students gathered at Rettner’s Video Studio at 8 p.m. for icebreakers and an introduction to the software before taking the time to work individually on projects, with organizers sophomores Richard Zhu and Kyle Jhong providing instruction and mentorship as needed.
“[My] freshman year, I attended a lot of the RPM performance events, and that’s generally how I became more interested in the club,” Zhu, who is studying Audio and Music Engineering, said. “I think at the end of one event last year, they asked for community feedback, and then we brought up production workshops […] I wanted to help out with this type of event because I’ve been producing for a while, and I like teaching other people.”
Both organizers, who began producing music in high school, reflected on the process of being creative as well as how they could help bridge the gap for those who had their own ideas but didn’t know how to put them on paper. “I know people who want to start writing, like they write their own songs […] but they don’t necessarily produce. I want to connect with these people,” Jhong said.
Students who attended came from a variety of backgrounds — from having zero experience in GarageBand or music production, to having their own MIDI keyboards and setups. For Zhu and Jhong, understanding how to help the students came from reflecting on their own journey making music.
“The way we wanted to structure [the event] was so that there was the least amount of time of us just lecturing as well as the most individualized attention time,” Zhu said. If students demonstrated greater proficiency at the event, the one-on-one time allowed for them to gain more directed feedback.
“I learned a lot from other creators in the workshop space, as many people go about producing differently,” Zahali Vauclena, a sophomore studying Audio & Music Engineering, said. “I usually start with drums or percussive instruments, but as I learned and talked with others, I’ve found some base their projects on piano or even samples they’ve found.”
Organizers and students at the workshop also reflected on the impact that having a community of producers had on them.
“I’ve been producing for four years, [and for] the first three, I didn’t know anyone else who produced music,” Zhu stated. “Knowing that there was a club at UR for like-minded people […] was very comforting, and it’s really great to just talk to people and bounce ideas off of each other.”
As one of the University’s primary student organizations for music production, the GarageBand workshop is only one of many RPM intends to host. With previous karaoke nights and artist performances being held, their outreach extends not just to the output of their artists, but towards the collective education their members can acquire.
“This workshop kind of represents a gateway into starting music production. I think starting to learn a new skill in general, there’s often a lot of resistance that you’ll come up against […] it can be intimidating when you look at the whole roadmap of what there is moving forward,” Jhong adds. “The main impact I felt like [the workshop] had that I actually saw was that it provided [that] gradual step up to starting the first project for a lot of people.”
Additional events they offer this semester include workshops that dive into the various aspects of music production, including working with live sound, DJ sets, songwriting, as well as breaking into the industry.
