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The Diablo Valley College Music Industry Studies program provides the basic skills and training opportunities needed for careers in the industry or for entrance into university-level commercial music transfer programs. Those who work in the music industry enjoy an exciting and dynamic career combining art and a passion for music with many aspects of business.

Today’s music industry is driven by sophisticated audio technology. The music industry, along with a growing number of manufacturing and information delivery industries, needs audio experts and musicians with technical skills and production experience. Students learn about the creation and production of recordings of music, and learn how to complete recording projects that are typical of those found in contemporary professional recording and production environments. The MIS certificate provides a focus of study for students seeking internships and entry-level employment in the music recording industry.

The program has several unique features that set it apart from other programs of its kind:

• It has a distinctive entrepreneurial focus emphasizing an industry trend toward DIY (Do It Yourself) music production, marketing and distribution via newly emerging Internet based markets.
• It has a one-of-a-kind music production facility, the Music Technology Center, which models DIY entrepreneurial principles with a focus on individual Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) technology.
• It has a unique program of study that embraces the enormous and continuing changes in music marketing and distribution by allowing students to incubate business concepts with a variety of student-run music businesses.

The Music Industry Studies program enables students to experience the full cycle of professional music project development. Our certificate cap-stone class allows students to gain real-world work experience by participating in student-run businesses which include the operation of the college’s Internet radio station KDVC.org, and a student-run record label, Duck Pond Records.

At the heart of the Music Industry Studies program is our DVC Music Technology Center (MTC). The MTC is a state-of-the-art fully networked and cross-platform electronic music production lab. The MTC lab is based on a innovative and unique model of music production. The old model of music production and recording was a monolithic recording studio. The new model is based on individual computer workstations in a state-of-the-art computer lab. The MTC consists of 26 fully equipped workstations that accommodate students from the novice to advanced electronic music classes as well as students enrolled in music theory and music literature courses. In addition, an advanced digital audio mixing suite is available for advanced students, two iso-booths are provided for the recording of live musicians, and a specialized workstation is equipped for use by students in the analog multi-track recording program.

The Diablo Valley College Music Industry Studies program prepares students for one of the many careers in the music industry including:

Careers in Music Production & Engineering: Recording engineer, MIDI engineering, music director, producer, program director, studio director or manager

Careers in Music Synthesis: MIDI technician, programmer, performing synthesist, music sequencer, sound designer

Careers in Performance: vocal/instrumental soloist, session musician, general business musician, performing artist, orchestra/group member, background vocalist, floor show band

Careers in Songwriting: composer, jingle writer, lyricist, producer/songwriter, singer/performing songwriter, staff or freelance songwriter

Careers in Contemporary Writing and Production: arranger, composer, conductor, copyist, jingle writer, orchestrator, record producer, transcriber, publishing editor

Careers in Film Scoring: film composer, music editor, music supervisor/director, film arranger/adapter, film conductor, film music orchestrator, synthesis specialist, theme specialist.