When the punk band U.S.A.D needed to record their single “Hey Colla Poppa” they turned to Loyola’s Vital Sounds Recording, run through the College of Music and Fine Arts.
Vital Sounds Recording is fronted by music business senior Tim Hall and is located in the studio on the second floor of the Communications/Music Complex. The studio works with numerous groups of all genres.
“Most students are unaware we even have a recording studio on campus, and I’m trying to fix this.” Hall said.
Hall is interested in spreading the word around to campus and local bands as well. “We would like to see more student business,” Hall said. “There are a lot of Loyola bands looking for affordable recording time and we can provide it.”
Vital Sounds Recording, which has been on campus for one year, reports having success recording local artists, but they’ve also worked on helping to produce some music’s biggest acts. The outfit recorded the horns for the U2 and Green Day song “The Saints are Coming,” as well as a number of local artists.
“It’s amazing to see how much this whole thing has evolved,” said fellow engineer and music business senior Sean Powers.
While many of the studio’s student operators are part of the College of Music and Fine Arts, they offer apprenticeships to any student on campus. The apprentices set up microphones, sit in on sessions and learn how to make professional recordings.
Vital Sounds Recording is not the only self-run company in the college. Under the guidance of John Snyder, director of the music industries studies department, a number of “enterprise units,” or EU’s, have developed.
Vital Sounds Recording is producing a profitable studio, and there are many others EU projects, such as the new campus radio station and production group Nolasound.
“The EUs are pseudo-companies,” said Jay Crutti, adviser to Vital Sounds. Though the university supports them, EU’s are meant to expose the students to real life situations in diverse fields of the music business.
The EU’s also strive to teach the students enterprise. In the case of Vital Sounds Recordings, the studio made enough money to invest in new equipment.
“There was a time when music business students thought they would go to school and automatically get a job for Sony, but now the industry is split, and students need to learn to be entrepreneurs as well,” said Crutti.
Cole Adams can be reached at [email protected].
