Prairie State College gives music students a professional-grade studio

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Sheila Burt
chicagotribune

It might not have the title “School of Rock,” but Prairie State College is quickly earning a reputation as a place for people to learn about the music business.

Just ask Kamille Contreras, a 20-year-old guitar player who sings back-up for her six-piece industrial goth band, Dressed in Decay. Contreras is getting a degree in music production at the Chicago Heights school. In between classes, she and her band can record in the school’s newly upgraded studio, at no cost.

The college allows students to earn a degree in music production through its associate in applied science program. And because Prairie State recently received about $16,000 from a state grant, the school was able to buy much-needed music equipment for the program.

Local bands also use the recording studio, which has the workings of a major sound studio, said Chris Ussery, a music instructor at the school.

Valerie Nicholson, a music professor and coordinator of music and performing arts at the school, helped create the program last year after noticing a demand for it among students. Knowing they needed updated equipment, she and Ussery applied for the grant this winter and received money from it in February, allowing the school to buy microphones, cables, speakers and sound booths, all of which should better prepare students for opportunities in the field, they said.

“What people need depends on the technology that they’re using,” Ussery said, “and who provides it depends on who’s able to keep up with those technological advancements, along with whatever real skills they have.”

The grant money also has bought keyboards and digital audio programs for students to use with lab computers.

Before the school got the equipment, if Contreras wanted to record, her options were limited to home-recording methods or more expensive studios in the Chicago area.

Now Contreras, who hopes to open her own studio one day and work as a producer, gets to use top-notch equipment while learning the details that make a live band sound much richer.

“It’s helped us know a lot of what to expect when we go to do shows, how it should be set up properly,” she said. “Also for recording, it helps us to know what microphones would be best to use for what instrument, how we should go about recording it, where microphones should be placed, stuff like that.”

She also dabbles in video — she’s working on a documentary about her band for her video and audio technology class.

Nicholson had been working on creating the music production program for nearly a decade, after listening to one too many concerts where the “sound guy was just blasting everyone’s ears.”

She said there’s “this idea that louder is better, with no consideration of finessing the sound.” She said she wants to teach students how to run sound for a band or at a concert, “where the acoustics of the room are considered, and the style of music is considered, whether it’s an acoustic ensemble or electric ensemble.”

About 30 students are enrolled in the program, which Ussery and Nicholson emphasize is meant to “create a community of artists,” not cutthroat competition.

Nick Disterheft, a 19-year-old from St. John, Ind., said he appreciates the environment. He said he tried several other classes but couldn’t find a major that felt right until taking music production classes.

“For me, it’s not even like going to school,” he said. “I would be doing this anyway, at home.”