What is your major and year in school?
I’m a second-year music production and audio engineering major.
What made you choose music production and audio engineering?
I think my senior year of high school, I kind of thought I knew what I wanted to do, but then that kind of changed, so I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. And one of my friends who I sang in choir with at my high school, he was going to be doing the music production program at LB. So I looked into it and what music production was and all that. So I decided that I wanted to do it after I did my research. It seemed really interesting. So that’s kind of what got me into music production. Plus I love music and I’ve been singing in choir for I think nine years at this point. So I wanted to do something music-related. [Audio engineering is] another aspect of music production. It’s like engineering audio, manipulating the audio to make it sound different.
What brought you to LBCC?
I’m dual-enrolled at LB and OSU, and I wanted to take as many of my classes at LB as I could before transferring over to OSU since the classes are cheaper and smaller. Also, my sister went here for her first two years as well. So I figured it would be a good place to go for my first two years of college.
Was choir what sparked your love for music or was there anything else?
Oh yeah, that was definitely what sparked my love for music. I started in the second semester of my sixth grade year because I didn’t want to do it my first semester. I was like, oh, choir is dumb, or whatever. But then I joined and I absolutely fell in love with singing and music. I went to Calapooia Middle School and it was just a beginner sixth grade choir called “treble chorus.” And then my seventh and eighth grade year I did the men’s choir, as well as the acapella choir in middle school. And then I did a couple more choirs in high school.
What is your favorite genre of music to create versus your favorite genre to listen to?
I like listening to basically any genre except for country music. Whatever sounds good. As for creating, probably lo-fi music, which is a chiller, somewhat upbeat kind of music that you can relax to and do homework to. So that’s a lot of fun.
What does your process of producing music look like?
I think when starting out, you have to come up with a song form for the song that you want to make. So you have to decide if you want an intro and outro, and how long you want your verses and your choruses to be. And then you want to decide what instruments you want to use. When it comes to making music, at least when I’ve worked on projects in class, it’s usually been with a partner, but we’ve kind of just started. We come up with a little melody for a bass instrument or whatever, and then we just go from there and build off of it. It turns into a song that grows as we work on it. But I think definitely deciding what instruments you want in the song and coming up with a strong song structure is important when creating music.
Could you tell me about some of your classes that you’re taking?
Yeah, so obviously I have my music production class. That’s where we spend a lot of time learning how to use Pro Tools, which is the industry standard DAW (digital audio workstation). We also learn how to use the [mixing] console that we have in our production classroom. We learn how to mix music, which is essentially steadying levels and then applying an audio effects processor to the different tracks, that way it all sounds pretty clean and clear.
I’m also taking a music theory class, learning how to create different chords and whatnot. And then I have an aural skills class, which is learning to listen to different intervals and learning to use your ear, essentially. Then I have my choir class, which is an absolute blast. I’m also taking voice lessons.
Are there any music artists or professors that you look up to?
I don’t think that there are any music artists I look up to, but I definitely admire all my professors. My music theory and aural skills instructor, Bill Whitley, he’s the same instructor for both those classes. He’s really smart and he composes music and he’s really good at it, so I think that’s really cool. My music production instructor, Buddy Anderson, is also really good at teaching the production classes that he does teach. So I like him a lot as well. I like all my instructors.
What would you say has been the most challenging part of the music production program?
For the music production class specifically, especially when we work on a lot of projects, just keeping up on those projects. We generally have a schedule that we follow when it comes to recording different things for different songs or projects. So just keeping up on that recording schedule and making sure everything is turned in, I suppose.
What would you say has been the most rewarding part?
I think definitely when you finish a project or you finish a song, just hearing it all come together at the very end is definitely the most rewarding. It’s a lot of fun to hear all the work that you put together all fit together, like a big puzzle.
What would you say are some of your passions and interests outside of school and music?
Outside of school, I really enjoy playing sports. My church is part of a church softball league that we do every spring/summer, so that’s a lot of fun. I enjoy going on walks, listening to music, and playing video games. I also enjoy building Legos when I get the time and space to do so.
What are your plans for after you graduate from LBCC?
After LBCC, I plan on transferring to OSU to get my bachelor’s in music, and they have a music production program there, so it’ll be my bachelor’s in music production. Then possibly moving to Corvallis to live in a co-ed Christian House that my sister’s living in (Courtyard).
Is there anything else you’d want people to know about the music production program?
I think, not necessarily specific to the music production program, but just the LB music program as a whole – all the instructors are super supportive. If you need help with any of your classes, even if it’s not music-related, they’ll find you help. If you need financial help in any way, then they’ll also help you. Overall, the instructors and the people are super kind and really supportive. So if you’re struggling, they’ll walk alongside you and help you out.
This article originally appeared in the March 2025 edition of The Commuter.
