Recap: Igloo Experience from MSB Richfield Creative Media on Vimeo.

Nate Maydole of Visumm Media recently worked on a major, national commercial project for Igloo coolers, and he turned to MSB Richfield and IPR for help. Five graduates were hired for the project; 3 from MSB Richfield and 2 from IPR. If you know Daniel Schlueter or Ethan Shiell you’re definitely going to want to congratulate them on a job well done! Read more about it here.

Something special often happens when people come together for a good cause. On Saturday August 20^th, 2011, two IPR graduates and six current IPR students volunteered their entire day to assist Walter Chancellor Jr., and myself, Christian Groves, at the Metrodome’s “We Care: North Minneapolis Recovery” stage. The event was designed to work in conjunction with the Metrodome open house, which was the first time since the dome roof collapse that the dome has been open to the public. But the real story here is how this opportunity has opened the doors for “We Care” to help tornado victims.

“We Care” is a non-profit setup specifically to help meet the needs of those who were affected by the Tornado this spring in North Minneapolis. The organization is new, and they’re just ramping up their efforts, so it was a no brainer when Minneapolis Mayor, RT Rybak, asked them to put something together for the Metrodome open house and reopening. The idea was to connect the reopening of the Metrodome with the North Minneapolis recovery effort in an attempt to send the message that, even though Minneapolis has had a few tough blows within the last 9 months, we are rebuilding, and we can weather the hardships. I personally applaud the Mayor’s attempt to make a difference.

So why did IPR agree to help “We Care”?

Stephen Slater (S4 Design), a close friend to IPR and the JLR Foundation (Ideawerks.org), was brought in to handle the branding for “We Care”; he, in turn, approached IPR about getting involved. We decided Stephen’s request for help would be a good way for IPR to extend our community outreach efforts as a college. Since IPR had a few volunteer staff and students to help with the city’s tornado relief effort earlier this year, Stephen thought it might be a good match to include us here too.

Local business man Ezell Jones, and Sarah T. Paul of partneringforyouth.org were the go to leaders for the “We Care” team, and they provided necessary direction to make sure we were ready by a very tight deadline. Our goal was to collect school supplies and backpacks for 1,000 children by September. The estimated cost of this was $22,000 ($22 per child), and the biggest donor for this so far has been Target Corporation… they donated $11,000. World Vision is contributing an additional $29,000 worth of brand new winter coats and tennis shoes for children affected by the tornado. And, even though these numbers are representative of the “We Care” effort, full restoration is still to come.

It’s typically a casualty of popular news cycles to cover tragedies like the one in North Minneapolis for a short time and then move on to the next big story; the peoples’ collective psyche has a tendency to follow. At IPR we hoped that participating in the “We Care” event would help keep the relief effort fresh in the minds of our community for at least a little longer. Just because we’re subject to a short media tail doesn’t mean the people’s needs have been met, and it’s good to be reminded that the estimated recovery for the spring tornado could take between 3-5 years. That’s why it was essential that “We Care” make an impact early on.

The quality of participating artists helps to illustrate the importance of this cause:

Warner Brothers’ recording artist Auburn headlined the day. She’s a Minneapolis native, and we were honored to have her on board for such a great cause. Check out Auburn’s YouTube channel.

Supporting artists included Ne’s Salem Baptist Church Choir, rap artist Protégé, and indie rock artists West of Aldine. Ne’s Salem Baptist Church Choir literally had the speaker stacks swaying, rap artist Protégé brought a Twin Cities Hip Hop flavor to the mix, and West of Aldine offered a rock groove that transitioned nicely into Auburn’s headlining role.

IPR Instructor and independent recording artist Walter Chancellor guested on sax with Auburn for her song “Perfect Two”, and both Walter Chancellor and Stephen Slater guested on a tune with West of Aldine. The West of Aldine Jam was a highlight of the day for me.

All artists agreed to perform because they too wanted to highlight the ongoing need of the North Minneapolis tornado recovery.

Even though the work has just begun, it’s my hope that IPR will continue to foster a sense of community through participation in events like this, and that IPR students will continue to volunteer and truly feel they’re a part of the North Minneapolis community as well. We may not be able to take up the entire burden of helping those around us, but we do want to play a part in the solution.

Please take the time to notice the volunteer work of the following graduates / students, and let them know you appreciate them for their efforts:

The “We Care” stage crew included April Wallace, Caleb Hollenback, and Tanner Shelle.

The “We Care” video crew, assisting Dan Schmidt and Fade to Black video production company, included graduates Josh Burdette, and Jimmy Watkins, and current IPR studentsAndrew Marshall, Phillip Moore and Michael Swan.

Special thanks to all of you; the day would’ve been a mess without your assistance.

By Christian Groves

Friday, August 19^th, 2011 – Melissa (IPR front desk) invited me to attend a North Community YMCA Youth and Teen Enrichment Program talent show. A seemingly odd request, until I learned the rest of the story.

Melissa’s Son, AKA Frizzy Free, and his partner Milkman were to perform. Earlier in the week I heard their track “On My Level”; I was blown away that Frizzy Free, 9 years old, had, as they say in the rap world “crazy flow”. Flow is that cool place where language and rhythm connect and draw the listener in.  I had to ask “who produced this?” The answer was no surprise: IPR graduate J.T. Evans.

J.T. works with North Minneapolis youth at the YMCA about 5 minutes from IPR. He’s teaching production as part of the youth program there, and he’s working with kids to help produce them, and coach them to be better rappers and vocalists (mixed in with other program activities). The evening’s talent show showcased kids J.T. has worked with as they performed original raps, and, in some cases, choreographed dancing. I was captivated to say the least; the number of kids and event attendees alone speaks to the high quality of the staff and planning of their youth program. And J.T. plays a key role along with many other youth workers I saw that night. The North Community YMCA Youth and Teen Enrichment Program truly gets it right.

When I spoke with J.T. after the show, he agreed to connect with me very soon to talk about what he’s been up to since graduation. He was careful to note that he works closely with another YMCA staffer and wanted me to know that he (J.T.) doesn’t deserve all the credit. J.T. also handed me a free copy of this year’s Youth and Teen Enrichment Program CD that highlights some of the talent I saw at the show. This stuff is unusually well done; J.T. is quite a good hip hop producer – I was very impressed. All the performers I heard had a positive, upbeat message to convey, and I had a blast watching the show. If you like working with youth, I know a really good place to apply.

• The students this week were really engaged. Sure we had to construct a framework within which the students could operate, but they were all really creative, and, most of the time, they didn’t need to be told to participate; the students naturally gravitated towards video production tasks in which they were interested. This made for a satisfying week of instruction and learning.
• Both the students and their instructors wanted to dig in deeper, and do so much more to the video project than time permitted. We (Josh and Jimmy) agree the project turned out well for the time students had to complete it. Even so, we’re already strategizing to tweak things for next week’s group.
• Jimmy and Josh agreed that this week’s camp was a fun sharing experience. They were able to connect again with why it is they love doing video (and audio), and they were able to see some of the same excitement in their students as the week moved forward.
• The final video is close to 10 minutes long with the blooper reel included. Check with your “campers” to see the final result. As it turns out we cannot post it for online viewing due to release and consent issues, but pre-planning for next week’s reporting should include releases for video and pictures. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

Today’s first IPR hosted U of M Summer Camp went off without a hitch. Instructors Jimmy Watkins and Josh Burdette successfully transition a group of roughly 10 students through the beginning stages of the video making storyboard process. Both students and Camp Counselors helped with brainstorming. It turns out “Oprah” and “Indiana Jones” will be making  “guest appearances”. The students are even putting together a “Making of” video to document the process. The first homework assignment involves bringing props. and costumes to tomorrow’s set. Let the filming begin!

Saturday, June 25^th, 2011 – The jams were on, the lights were up, and the people were plenty. Instructor Scott Nelson (MC “Scooter”) did a fantastic job of keeping commencement focused, and Steve Hodge, keynote speaker, gave his shoes to the graduates (metaphorically speaking). No worries, he doesn’t need them anyhow.

Dean of Students Rebecca Buller announced our graduates as IPR co-owner Lance Sabin and IPR Director Brian Jacoby congratulated students with handshakes and diplomas. Let’s be honest, this part of graduation is for everyone but the graduate; we’re proud of our students, and we want to show off our best (that’s why we parade you across the stage).  And, it’s fun to see the smiles and the brief facial realization that they’ve finally done it! Congratulations graduates!

DJ Aaron Litschke provided our soundtrack for the day.  And all the usual suspects were present including lots of IPR faculty and staff; because we love our students, and we also enjoy the added benefit of cake and free punch.

Summer Commencement 2011 Valedictorians were Ian Morland (winter 2011), and Jayson Whitmore (spring 2011); IPR’s holds two commencements per year and graduates two classes per commencement.

Each graduation the IPR faculty also takes a private vote for an in-house recognition called the Icon Award. Students never know in advance who will receive it, and they’re always surprised when they do. Some awards simply can’t be defined through academic achievement, and the IPR faculty sees value in the “the hustler”, the hard worker, and those who reach out and help others even when it requires personal sacrifice. Icon Award winners for winter 2011 graduates include Ethan Shiell, and Brittany Wallman, and Icon Award winners for spring 2011 include Jayson Whitmore and Youa Vang.

The IPR Student Services Department works really hard to make sure graduation goes off without a hitch. Special thanks to Erica, Anna, and Joe. This summer’s commencement was choice!

If you’re interested in seeing additional commencement pictures, click on any of the above photos to view our Flickr photostream.

A few facts about our new talent:

• Born and raised in North Dakota
• Moved to Minneapolis to go to IPR in 2008
• Graduated valedictorian October of 2010
• Was on the student advisory board for most of my time at IPR
• Pro Tools certified
• Logic Studio Master certified
• fluent in Ableton Live, Photoshop, and Illustrator
• Stuff I enjoy
  • I’m a big nerd, I love learning and talking about computers, technology, and the internet; especially when it somehow relates to music
  • movies: I actually almost went to film school before deciding IPR was a better fit. I love watching movies and discussing movies
  • music-wise, I really enjoy punk rock, hip-hop, electronic, some metal and jazz, and most of all oldies (as is apparent by my final project, which can be listened to and downloaded from here: http://soundcloud.com/hisaac/gotta-write-a-song-mastered).
• A few months before graduating, I started a record label called Hospice Media (http://hospicemedia.com) with Ryan Terrell, a friend and fellow IPR student of mine.
• Recently, I’ve been recording live shows for friends with my portable 8-channel recorder/mixer, and have enjoyed that very much.
• Immediately after graduation, I was hired on in the Lab office here at IPR. Working overnights was tough, but I eventually made it to the day shift. I had a great time and learned a lot.

Good news from the inbox; IPR student Max Petrek’s band Howler was recently featured as no.3 in NME magazine’s  50 best new bands of 2011. This is a British, online publication – just sayin. Kudos to Youa Vang  for tipping me off to the City Pages blog that highlights Howler’s recent recognition. As I researched this further I discovered several other sources linking the NME recognition. Let’s do our part to help Howler gain some web traffic – and please congratulate Max.

Many of you may already know the guys from Debbie Does Malice, but three of its members are IPR Students: Steven Lane, Brandon Lupori and Andrew Murzyn. Music and Noise recently interviewed Brandon Lupori, and he’s got some wisdom to offer. Please check out this interview and show your support by letting the guys know we celebrate this success with them. Getting to the interview is as simple as clicking on the magazine image and turning to page 14 and 15.

These guys are huge, loud, heavy and everything in between. You can find a downloadable track for sale on their web page. Check out their band bio as well. You can also find them on Facebook (stop by their FB page and Like or Comment). When you’re done, come back and blog with us – let’s get these guys as much web attention as we can!

When I first met Josh, I knew right away he was a pretty focused guy with a strong passion for songwriting, engineering, and production. And, based on the pre-IPR demo he gave me back then, he was already pretty dang good at this audio thing… from scratch. He had taught himself and picked up enough knowledge along the way that I knew he would be able to come into IPR and push himself in ways most students don’t until they’re last couple of quarters here. He left the gate running, and he’s still at it. If you don’t know him yet, meet Josh Kaufman.

JK BIO:

I moved to Minnesota from Chicago, where I was in the wonderful world of Corporate America, being rewarded with great pay and a miserable working life. Once I quit my job in Chicago, I started to seriously consider my next step and decided it was now or never to make a permanent change.

This, and a wonderful sales pitch by Christian Groves, led me to IPR. I relished the opportunity to take my former hobby and make it a career. I didn’t move to Minnesota for IPR alone, however, rather, I moved to follow my wife who was starting her residency at The Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

This required a three hour daily commute, but I made up my mind and made the journey every day. My third week at IPR, there was a career fair, so I printed up some resumes and handed them to all the businesses I could find. I got a call the next day from Pachyderm Studio’s, where I interned for a little less than a year. It was there that I learned large format consoles, how great rooms are supposed to sound, took some great notes from some very talented engineers and producers, and was able to engineer some records of my own in the legendary studio. In addition, I met a former IPR grad at Pachyderm, and I signed on to do the mastering work for Twin Town Tapes, a local live show recording outfit.  I’m still mastering for Twin Town Tapes today.

Throughout school I learned a bunch and made a lot of good contacts. One of which (Eric Olsen) led me to get an assistant position with Brian Setzer. In addition to this, I sought out a part time job at a local TV studio. I started in the master-control room but quickly worked my way up to being an Audio Operator and Production Assistant. All the while, I was recording different groups and artists, on the side, to build my demo reel, and I started getting some paid gigs. Marketing myself as a recording engineer also brought me some live recording gigs for local events, High Schools, etc…

Now that I’ve graduated, I’m still doing all of the above jobs, recording my own music, I have a few full length records lined up, and I’m working on a few business ideas. I intend on owning a business that will someday make me several billion dollars a year; if not by the merit of my work, then certainly by currency inflation.

Q & A:

What would IPR students and instructors say they remember about you?

Well, I hope that people would remember that I am dedicated and excited about this industry.

Were there any big projects you undertook in your production or engineering capstone that laid the ground work for some of the things you’re doing now?

I think the entire capstone system was the jumping off point for me to understand that I could do this as a career. I’m having the opportunity to produce and engineer records now because of the examples that I came out with from IPR. When you are pitching someone to produce their album, it’s far easier to let them make up their own minds about your work then having to sell them on it, so I think the Capstone 1 and 2, along with Mixing and Mastering, gave me good additions to my reel.

Out of all your instructors who would you say worked most closely with you and had a special interest in your success?

Eric Olsen was my biggest influence as an instructor. Not only is he the most capable person to do pretty much everything in the industry, he is also so enthusiastic, so creative, and so earnest that he inspired me to do more and more with my projects. I was his TA the last quarter at IPR and through that he got me the assistant position that I hold now with Brian Setzer. He is completely intentional and generous with his knowledge and was a great help to me in a variety of ways.

How do you feel your IPR education prepared you for the industry?

I think IPR prepared me well to deal with a lot of the technical side of things so I could troubleshoot problems in the studio, but also gave a great example through the instructors of what it looks like to be a working engineer/producer/worker in this industry.

What types of things did you have to wait for industry experience to learn?

Learning the communication skills in dealing with artists, troubleshooting, or just getting good sounds in a recording setting can only really be done out in the field because even if you are in a capstone, you are still a student. Once you start getting paid, there is an inherit expectation that you know what your doing.

What do you think it means to be successful in this industry? What advice would you offer to students who are either just getting ready to graduate or who are wondering how to find their place in this industry?

For me, simply being able to make a living in this industry is success. The only advice I would give those that are graduating would be to keep an open mind, work hard at everything you do (even if that’s cleaning the floors), and do what it takes to stay busy in the industry. For me that means I work as an audio operator and production assistant at the NBC and FOX affiliates in Rochester, do live recordings for local high schools and choirs, Assist for Brian Setzer, record my own music, do mastering for Twin Town Tapes, and do freelance recordings for local bands and artists in the area.

What types of engineering work have you done?

I was able to engineer at Pachyderm, have done a bunch of smaller projects for local artists, record my own music,  do some live recording for high schools, and engineer audio for local newscasts.

Do you have experience with audio and video editing?

I did some video work for Pachyderm and I edit audio and video for NBC and FOX for my production assistant position there, along with all the editing of audio that comes with freelance recording!

How important do you think attitude is when it comes to success in the audio world?

In some ways, it’s the most important thing. I know that everyday I wake up with passion and excitement for this industry and that I have big ideas for the future. I think those that will succeed will be dedicated, positive, and patient throughout all the deviations that there is bound to be. I’m just starting and I never thought I’d be doing half the things I am. As the industry has changed, so must the attitudes of those that truly want to be a part of it.

What one trait/ability/skill do you feel has helped you more than any other to be successful in this industry so far?

Probably persistence, but I think being creative is equally important. And not just creative musically, being creative in a career sense will give opportunities that others never would have thought to pursue.