The Weeks Recording Studio was buzzing with new energy during the final days of school. Known as one of the world's most advanced academic recording studios, Frost School of Music's professional studios have three full-size integrated mixing consoles with digital and analog capabilities. One might have noticed a chill in the air as you walked in. However, as you made your way down the dimly lit hallway and found the studio's single door, you couldn't help but feel the lively blend of music and technology that attracts students to Weeks—Frost's creative hub for artists and home to the Music Engineering Technology (MuE) program.
In the control room, the state-of-the-art music recording equipment hummed with potential. Colin Raab, '23, sat intently listening to a track, his expertise and precision evident in every movement. Surely, with his skill and the state-of-the-art music recording tools at his disposal, Raab's work needs no introduction at Frost.
If you have been listening to Frost students' recordings, you most likely have heard his engineering work. From music industry major Carlo Redl's "Empty" album's remix to Frost student-based group Phoenix A Acapella's EP, and Frost Stamps Jazz Quintet group performance of their seasonal classics, featuring student Joshua Polion on the trumpet for their rendition of Auld Lang Syne, Raab's work as an engineer is flawless.
"Colin is the award recipient for Top Music Engineering Student this year, and he has had remarkable accomplishments during his time with us," says Christopher Bennett, director and professor of the Music Engineering program. "His capstone project, an audio plugin synthesizer with customizable distortion, showcases his innovative approach to audio engineering, honed through practical experience in the Weeks Recording Studio, where he was a mainstay. We are proud of Colin and confident in his ability to excel in his master's studies in music technology at McGill University in Montreal."
Raab looks forward to continuing his studies at McGill University, a program less focused on recording engineering and more on software for inventing new instruments or ways of interacting with music.
His interest in making a powerful connection between music and technology began early. Throughout middle and high school, though he performed as a singer/actor in theatre productions, his favorite subjects were math, science, and computer science. This all led to his focus on electronic music, connecting the technical side of the brain with his creative musical side. So, when choosing a college, Frost School of Music was his obvious choice.
"I really liked what Frost offered, which was different from other schools that had this or that, or a combination of majors, which I didn't want," says Raab, whose work in the Weeks Recording Studio will be a hard act to follow. Early in his sophomore year, he started getting licensed to work in the smaller studios throughout campus, and by the end of that year, he was licensed to work in the Weeks Studio.
While all the studios have doors opened wide to enrolled undergrad and grad students interested in working on their academic projects and other audio innovations, they must be licensed before they can operate any of the equipment.
"The policy of being licensed is clear," he explains. "Before you can work in the Weeks Studio, you must serve as an apprentice in the other three smaller studios. Then, you take an online certification and accumulate a certain amount of studio session hours, where you're watching and learning how the technology works in each space."
As a student engineer, Raab learned from every session and every studio, understanding there was something creative and innovative to be done for every artist at every stage of the process. Before he came into the studio, he planned each session, creating a comfortable environment where he and his peers could make music together.
For Raab, it didn't matter that this was not a paid position; he did it for the experience. He says, "We're very fortunate to have access to that space as freely as we do. I got a cool project with my name on it and put it in my portfolio and used it to build myself as an engineer."
