By Andrew Danielson
A top notch facility. Collegiate level instruction. And the chance to get your hands on professional-level audio equipment and produce original recordings.
That’s what is being offered, and more, at the Music Technology Camp, coming up July 14-17 at the PFW Sweetwater Music Center. Located just a stone’s throw away from the renown Sweetwater company headquarters, the PFW Sweetwater Music Center will be hosting a group of young students interested in the ins and outs of music technology.
“I see it as an outreach to what students know about career paths that they might never have heard about before,” professor John Buteyn said.
He’s the man for the job when it comes to all things music and technology related. Buteyn is currently clinical assistant professor of music at PFW’s School of Music and the director of the Music Technology Camp. In addition to his classroom teaching, he also helps lead PFW’s very own music recording label, Gold Top Music Group.
For Buteyn, the Music Technology Camp is a way to expose pre-college students to what careers and opportunities exist in the music field. He explained that high school students may not know the variety and depth of career opportunities available to musicians today.
However, when Buteyn first came to PFW in 2020, there was no Music Technology Camp to offer.
At the time Buteyn was settling in as a professor at PFW, folks at Fort Wayne Community Schools were looking for new opportunities for summer camps they could offer to students who were part of the GEAR UP program.
According to Buteyn, GEAR UP is a program for high school students in the Fort Wayne Community Schools system that helps students navigate their time through high school. That assistance can include such things as mentorship, scholarship programs, and visits to various prospective colleges at which the students may decide to enroll after graduating from high school.
When the Community Arts Academy learned of the interest the GEAR UP program had in a new music summer camp, they approached Buteyn about possibly creating a camp to meet that need. Buteyn jumped at the opportunity and the Music Technology Camp was born.
“I saw a need for it and offered it,” Buteyn said.
Now in its fourth year, the camp offers students diverse opportunities to use technology in the professional music technology field. And those experiences begin on day one of the camp.
Buteyn explained that on the first day, he spends time getting to know the students, their interests, and what they hope to learn or accomplish.
“When they first walk in the door, we’ll just spend a little bit of time getting to know one another,” Buteyn said. “You want people to feel comfortable when they’re in a creative space.”
From that first meeting, Buteyn learns about the students’ music experiences and what music they may have played or even written.
At the end of their first full day, students will have created a plan for what they want to do. It could be doing a recorded performance of a song that a commercial band has already recorded. Alternatively, the students may want to give free reign to their creative abilities and write their own unique song.
Whichever route the students decide to go, by the end of their first day they have become familiar with their surroundings, they know what they would like to record, and they’re ready to begin the whirlwind process of performing, recording, editing, and mixing an actual song.
Days two and three see Buteyn, his college helpers from the PFW School of Music, and the student campers busy at work making their creative vision a reality. The PFW Sweetwater Music Center is fully equipped for any recording situation, including musical instruments, professional recording studios, and capable computers that can record, edit, and mix the final music product.
Recording a piece of music takes a lot of work and effort, including figuring out how to properly mic the instruments so the end result is a pleasing composition to the ear. Sometimes, the students have to record a piece of music or even a section of a song multiple times to get just the right “take.”
But the students’ job isn’t finished with the completion of the recording. Once the recording is done, the students learn how to edit the recording until it meets their musical expectations.
To get that editing done, Buteyn introduces the camp attendees to different software packages used for computer editing of recordings. These software packages, called “Digital Audio Workstations” or DAWs for short, are standard pieces of software used in the industry. Programs like Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Ableton Live, and other DAWs are all possible software options that students can use and learn during their time at camp.
By the end of the camp on day four, the students have written, recorded, edited, mixed, and completed their very own recording of a song that they can then show their friends and family. To help celebrate that achievement, camp finishes on a high note with students having lunch at Sweetwater’s Downbeat Diner.
Buteyn said that the camp is open to any students in grades 9-12. Typically, students come from area high schools like Snider, Northrop, or Homestead. Student campers are allowed to bring their own instruments with them if they like, but the camp has many instruments available for use by the campers.
July 14-17 will be a whirlwind of activity for Buteyn, his collegiate student helpers, and the student attendees. The camp gives them a great opportunity to experience so much of what music professionals in the industry do as a career. With professional tools, coaching, and a learning environment centered on meeting students’ interests and goals, the Music Technology Camp will open the music doors of the future to the student musicians of today.
For more information about the Music Technology Camp, contact Professor John Buteyn at jbuteyn@pfw.edu. For more information about all the various camps offered by the Community Arts Academy or scholarship opportunities for these camps, contact Molly Papier, Director of the Community Arts Academy, at mpapier@pfw.edu.