Henry Ford College Manager of Recording Arts Jeremy Palmer works in the college’s newly refurbished state-of-the-art Recording Arts Studio.
DEARBORN — Before the start of the Fall 2023 semester, the Henry Ford College Recording Arts Studio in the MacKenzie Fine Arts Center was renovated with state-of-the-art sound-mixing equipment and technology.
“The Recording Arts Studio desperately needed new sound treatment,” said HFC Interim Music Director Anthony Lai.
The studio contains diffusers and other devices whose purpose is to balance out the sound – high frequencies and low frequencies – to make it a professional studio.
“High and low frequencies behave differently,” Lai said. “The new diffusers scatter ‘highs’ in all directions and the bass traps absorb the ‘lows.’ This is the way a professional recording space should be.”
HFC Manager of Recording Arts Jeremy Palmer agreed.
“If the high and low frequencies aren’t treated, then there’s a problem,” Palmer said. “For example, if you’re mixing music on a recording studio’s speakers and it sounds great, but then you play the same music on your car radio and it sounds bad, that’s because the sound is off.
“Every room has a frequency at which sound resonates. Every room boosts frequencies unnaturally and cuts others unnaturally; therefore, untreated sound doesn’t translate well outside the recording studio. A professional mix in a professional studio has to sound good everywhere – earbuds, cell phones, car radios, digital players, CDs, home stereo, etc.
“You can have the best recording possible, but if the mix is done poorly, then the end product won’t sound good elsewhere.”
Lai and Palmer said the renovated recording studio boasts the most advanced technology of any community college in the metropolitan Detroit area.
“This is what you will see in a professional studio,” Lai said.
“Our program is a small program, but it continues to thrive,” Palmer said. “We have space for one cohort of students every semester. We’re hoping to expand that in the near future to accommodate our interested students.”
For questions or information about the recording arts program at HFC, contact Palmer at [email protected].