Recording Arts Studio renovated for state-of-the-art student experience

Before the start of the Fall 2023 semester, the HFC Recording Arts Studio in the MacKenzie Fine Arts Center (Building F) has been renovated with state-of-the-art sound-mixing equipment and technology.

“The recording studio desperately needed new sound treatment,” said Interim Music Director Anthony Lai.

The recording studio contains diffusers and other devices whose purpose is to balance out the sound – high frequencies and low frequencies – to make it a professional studio.

“High and low frequencies behave differently. The new diffusers scatter 'highs' in all directions and the bass traps absorb the 'lows,’” explained Lai. “This is the way a professional recording space should be.”

“A professional mix in a professional studio has to sound good”

“If the high and low frequencies aren’t treated, then there’s a problem,” said Manager of Recording Arts Jeremy Palmer. “For example, if you’re mixing music on a recording studio’s speakers and it sounds great, but then you play the same music on your car radio and it sounds bad, that’s because the sound is off. Every room has a frequency at which sound resonates. Every room boosts frequencies unnaturally and cuts others unnaturally; therefore, untreated sound doesn’t translate well outside the recording studio. A professional mix in a professional studio has to sound good everywhere – earbuds, cell phones, car radios, digital players, CDs, home stereo, etc. You can have the best recording possible, but if the mix is done poorly, then the end product won’t sound good elsewhere.”

Lai and Palmer said the renovated recording studio boasts the most advanced technology of any community college in the Metro Detroit area.

“This is what you will see in a professional studio,” said Lai.

Added Palmer: “Our program is a small program, but it continues to thrive. We have space for one cohort of students every semester. We’re hoping to expand that in the near future to accommodate our interested students.”

For questions or information about the recording arts program at HFC, contact Palmer at jspalmer1@hfcc.edu.