Al Kooper Plays Dakota Jazz Club, IPR’s DIY360

Posted by brianjacoby on Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

Check it out! Citypages’ Rick Mason published an article today on the upcomming event Tribute to Al Kooper (featuring Al Kooper himself) at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis on Sunday, May 2nd. A number of IPR staff, faculty and friends will be playing at the show including our own Adam Levy, who is also the organizer of the show.

Al will also join Adam Levy to talk to IPR students as a very special guest at IPR’s own DIY360 on Friday, April 30th. 

You don’t want to miss either event! (more…)

Posted in Newswire, Newswire Announcements, Newswire Events | No Comments »

Join us for an Open House on May 15th

Posted by brianjacoby on Friday, April 23rd, 2010

Considering a career in Media Arts?

Join us for our Open House:
Saturday, May 15, 2010 • 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
312 Washington Ave. N., Minneapolis, MN

Come and see why IPR is proud to be recognized as one of the premier music production, recording, and entertainment business schools in America.
• Tour the campus and see our cutting-edge recording facilities
• Meet some of our award winning faculty members
• Learn about the wide variety of job possibilities with a degree from IPR
• Meet with representatives from Career Services, Financial Aid, Student Affairs, and Student Services

IPR is a fully accredited college offering Title IV funding to those who qualify.

Posted in Newswire, Newswire Events | No Comments »

Two-time Grammy winner Dan Wilson @ DIY360

Posted by brianjacoby on Friday, April 23rd, 2010

Minneapolis – April 22, 2010 – Two-time Grammy winner, songwriter Dan Wilson, will speak at the Institute of Production and Recording (IPR) DIY360 series this Friday, April 23 at 11:30 a.m. in Robinson Hall. Wilson will speak about the craft of songwriting and the state of the music business. IPR is located at 312 Washington Avenue North in Minneapolis.

Wilson has released platinum selling records internationally with his group Semisonic as well as writing Grammy winning hits for groups like the Dixie Chicks.  His co-writing skills are widely sought- after in the industry and he has written with people as diverse as Adele and Keith Urban. He has worked closely with Grammy winning producer and great popularizer of hip-hop, Rick Ruben.  He continues to tour nationally and releases his own music and recently reunited with his brother Matt Wilson for a live release.

(more…)

Posted in Newswire, Newswire Events | No Comments »

Mark Mallman joins IPR’s DIY 360 events.

Posted by brianjacoby on Monday, February 1st, 2010

Songwriter Mark Mallman joined DIY 360 Friday 1/28.  Mark talked about his numerous musical projects, the songwriting craft, played a few of his songs on piano, discussed his artistic and commercial evolution as an indie artist, and he showed us and discussed some Hollywood blockbuster trailers for which he provided music.

Mark Mallman @ DIY360

Mark Mallman @ DIY360

DIY 360 is a weekly event hosted by Adam Levy.  The goal is to introduce students to professionals in the field who have been successful, frequently by adapting to changes in the business where they make use of multiple skill sets. Guests share information about their careers, their philosophies about professionalism and their art.  Guests often give advice to budding artists, entertainment business professionals, producers and engineers.  DIY 360 is an opportunity for students to network with those working in the field and with each other as they work toward career success.

Posted in Newswire, Newswire Events | No Comments »

In The Mix: Tom Kenny at IPR

Posted by Travis Norman on Monday, December 21st, 2009

The IPR community and select local industry professionals were recently treated to a talk from Tom Kenny, editor of the esteemed Mix magazine.  Joining Tom in discussion was moderator Scott Legere, who opened the event with an honest admission that not only does he read each installment cover to cover, but has actually saved them all as a sort of ongoing time capsule.  Not many publications are likely to inspire this level of admiration, yet it came as little surprise to those in attendance, nearly all of whom could easily relate to the practice of revisiting useful articles months, or even years later, and concurred with Legere’s statement that Mix “let me into the world of what audio meant…and helped me discover the art and science behind all this.”

Ever since joining the San Francisco based Mix magazine team in 1988, Kenny has had a front row view on events which have defined and redefined professional audio and music production over the last two decades.  He pointed out that “In ‘88 big studios ruled; artists routinely camped out for 5 or 6 months at a time working on songs in the studio.  Now, the process has changed – access to technology has dramatically changed the production process.”  Concurrent with this shift have been the new directions taken by the front cover “stars” of the publication, the studios themselves.  Kenny added, “Technology changes the shape of production, production changes the shape of facilities.”

One factor which has greatly expanded Mix’s mission statement since its inception has been increased coverage of sound for picture.  In 1991 Kenny was assigned to write an article detailing the audio involved in The Doors movie and travelled to Skywalker Sound to get the scoop.  After a first attempt, a brief interview with the dialogue editor which “missed the real story,” Kenny returned for a much more in depth examination of the ways in which music and audio were being used to develop and enhance the action onscreen.  Once the issue was released it triggered an influx of calls from movie studios eager to receive similiar coverage on the audio aspects of  their own upcoming blockbusters.  Today, sound for picture might more accurately be described as “sound and picture,” as opportunities to join visuals with quality sound continue to expand into lucrative sectors including video games and internet content.  Kenny continued, “Anyone who laments the decline of CD sales is missing the point – there is more audio out there than ever before” and urged post production students in the audience to remember that ” as an audio person, you are first and foremost telling a story.”

Tom Kenny’s discussion on critcal components of finding success in the fast paced and ever changing music industry returned repeatedly to a single topic: quality.  When asked by moderator Scott Legere to offer opinions on what tactics are actually working in the modern marketplace, Kenny stated that “What works is finding talent; product that is of quality eventually rises to the top…be careful of chasing the flavor of the month, that’s not  a career.”  Also of high importance when considering potential paths to success: distribution.  As new techniques for cutting through the clutter of mediocrity emerge, the winners will be those who understand how to get heard and how to distribute to fans on their terms.  “The internet allows you to know your fanbase in ways that were previously unimaginable,” Kenny continued, “You can in fact make a fine living with quality product that people will come back to.”

The event culminated with IPR’ co-founder Lance Sabin awarding an honorary degree to our guest.  Upon his exit, Kenny left the audience with an encouraging confirmation of their chosen career path in music, “If you are here because you can’t live without it, you are in the right industry.”

Tags: IPR, Mix Magazine, Tom Kenny
Posted in Newswire, Newswire Events | No Comments »

Joanna Jahn, Matt Cannon at DIY360

Posted by Travis Norman on Friday, November 6th, 2009

10/30—Joanna Jahn, producer from Modern Music joined us to discuss sound design, advertising work and opportunities in the Twin Cities.

Modern Music has produced music for some of the biggest Target advertising campaigns like “Hello/Goodbye.”  Internship opportunities for IPR are being discussed now! Check her out at http://joannajahnvoicetalent.com/.

11/6—Matt Cannon game designer and inventor  came to discuss his work with Zivix on a new Guitar Hero-like game requiring the design of dozens of loops.

Students were asked to contribute ideas and tracks and will be reimbursed. They have used a number of IPR grads for internship positions and will use more!  Check out Zivix at http://zivix.net/index.html.

Next week 11/13, Alicia Wiley, a fabulous singer songwriter!

http://www.myspace.com/aliciawiley Check out her MySpace and come with comments and questions.

DIY 360 is a weekly event hosted by Adam Levy. The goal is to introduce students to professionals in the field who have been successful, frequently by adapting to changes in the business where they make use of multiple skill sets. Guests share information about their careers, their philosophies about professionalism and their art. Guests often give advice to budding artists, entertainment business professionals, producers and engineers. DIY 360 is an opportunity for students to network with those working in the field and with each other as they work toward career success.

Tags: DIY360, Modern Music, Zivix
Posted in Newswire, Newswire Events | No Comments »

The Melismatics at DIY360

Posted by Travis Norman on Monday, October 19th, 2009

The Melismatics played DIY 360 on Friday 10/16. The amazing Minneapolis four piece blazed through a ½ dozen raucous post-punk songs and talked about touring, songwriting, working with internationally renowned producers, and getting songs placed in big TV shows like MTV’s Laguna Beach and NBC’s The Hills. The band sold CD’s and mentioned a big show at the Turf Club in St Paul on 10/30. It was a spectacular kick-off for the Late Fall DIY series.

“No one ever accused The Melismatics of being predictable.” ~ The Onion

DIY 360 is a weekly event hosted by Adam Levy. The goal is to introduce students to professionals in the field who have been successful, frequently by adapting to changes in the business where they make use of multiple skill sets. Guests share information about their careers, their philosophies about professionalism and their art.  Guests often give advice to budding artists, entertainment business professionals, producers and engineers.  DIY 360 is an opportunity for students to network with those working in the field and with each other as they work toward career success.

Tags: DIY360. The Melismatics, IPR
Posted in Newswire, Newswire Events | No Comments »

DIY 360: Davina Sowers and Michael Cavale

Posted by Travis Norman on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Davina Sowers and her band-mate, bassist Michael Cavale, recently joined us for DIY 360.  Davina has a huge blues belter voice and amazing blues piano skills.  She and Michael entertained the rapt audience with their brand of New Orleans and cabaret influenced blues and soul.  Davina talked about managing the career of her up-and-coming, world touring band—doing everything from booking the band, doing web-design, writing the songs and networking with musicians and entertainment business all over the web and world. Michael taked about his transformation from heavy metal guitar shredder to jazz hipster. Davina left students with a great list of resources for up-an-coming musicians, managers and booking agents which you can get from Rebecca Buller at rbuller@ipr.edu. It was a great end to the Early Fall DIY 360 series.

DIY 360 is a weekly event hosted by Adam Levy. The goal is to introduce students to professionals in the field who have been successful, frequently by adapting to changes in the business where they make use of multiple skill sets. Guests share information about their careers, their philosophies about professionalism and their art.  Guests often give advice to budding artists, entertainment business professionals, producers and engineers.  DIY 360 is an opportunity for students to network with those working in the field and with each other as they work toward career success.

Tags: DIY 360, IPR
Posted in Newswire, Newswire Events | No Comments »

Making a Living in Rock and Roll: Christy Hunt at IPR

Posted by Travis Norman on Monday, September 21st, 2009

Christy Hunt recently joined us at IPR for an installment of DIY 360.  She’s the singer-songwriter of the local band Ouija Radio and guitarist for the Detroit-based, internationally known indie rock cult band,The Von Bondies.  Christy discussed growing up on the Iron Range and coming to the Twin Cities rock and roll mecca. Described by City Pages as a “bubblegum Axewoman Barbie,” Christy Hunt is a rare post- punky guitar shredder in a mostly man’s world.  She discussed making a living in rock and roll as songwriter, club booker and for-hire rocking guitarist.

DIY 360 is a weekly event hosted by Adam Levy. The goal is to introduce students to professionals in the field who have been successful, frequently by adapting to changes in the business where they make use of multiple skill sets. Guests share information about their careers, their philosophies about professionalism and their art.  Guests often give advice to budding artists, entertainment business professionals, producers and engineers.  DIY 360 is an opportunity for students to network with those working in the field and with each other as they work toward career success.

Posted in Newswire, Newswire Events | No Comments »

Innovation and Cross-Pollination: The James Buckley Trio at IPR

Posted by Travis Norman on Thursday, September 17th, 2009

The James Buckley Trio recently joined us at IPR for DIY 360.  The Trio is one of the young leading ensembles in the Minneapolis jazz renaissance.  The group played a few selections and discussed the unique Minneapolis jazz scene characterized by stylistic innovation and cross-pollination with other musical genres the twin cities like indie rock, electronica and hip hop—they described fluidity between styles compared to calcified jazz scenes elsewhere in the country.  Bassist James Buckley, pianist Brian Nichols and drummer JT Bates described their personal development and musical evolution in the Twin Cities and discussed networking, jazz music, songwriting, and recording with IPR students.

DIY 360 is a weekly event hosted by Adam Levy. The goal is to introduce students to professionals in the field who have been successful, frequently by adapting to changes in the business where they make use of multiple skill sets. Guests share information about their careers, their philosophies about professionalism and their art.  Guests often give advice to budding artists, entertainment business professionals, producers and engineers.  DIY 360 is an opportunity for students to network with those working in the field and with each other as they work toward career success.

Posted in Newswire, Newswire Events | No Comments »

Announcements

April 28, 2010

Al Kooper Plays Dakota Jazz Club, IPR’s DIY360

November 10, 2009

Jackie Lee Robinson Remembered

October 30, 2009

Mary Ann O’Dougherty Remembered

October 14, 2009

Networking at AES