THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 8, 1995 TAG: 9509080536
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
They have resumes, all right - but on a bouncin' CD, not on paper.
The title tells their tale - ``Check the Resume.''
The songwriters and singers are Elizabeth City State University students, part of the Music Industry Studies program.
And their CD, filled with rhythm and blues and hip-hop, is free.
``It's not for sale commercially - just through the university,'' said Bill McGee, director of music engineering and technology. ``It's free - if you donate to the scholarship fund.''
The money will help students interested in pursuing degrees in music engineering or music business administration.
``The Music Industry Studies program is the best-kept secret in northeastern North Carolina,'' McGee said. ``We're one of the first schools to have a degree program in music engineering through music industry studies.''
ECSU offers a bachelor of science degree in music industry studies with a concentration on music engineering or music business administration.
``Some schools have business components, few have had music engineering,'' McGee said. ``Only 20 schools in the country offer a four-year degree in music engineering, only three or four black schools - if that many.''
Members of the ECSU Class of '95 were the first to graduate with a music industry studies degree.
Stephen Talley of Richmond and Rico Dawson of Goldsboro went on to intern with Intersection Records of Virginia Beach, working with country music artists.
``I'm learning about record promotion, the tracking of songs (finding out how they are received by the public), gathering data on stations playing our records and finding out how the records are doing on the charts,'' Talley said.
Nate Jones, a junior from Chicago, works at the campus radio station, WRVS, and has these goals: ``Announcer, engineer, promoter, radio personality. You gotta have more than one goal.''
Another of the students' goals is their next CD endeavor - all gospel.
Meanwhile, they express pride in project No. 1, which has the sound and look of a professional offering.
``Check the Resume'' is a variety package mixing ballads, go-go and Miami Bass with rap/hip-hop selections.
The songs have the titles you expect of such a mix - ``Six Feet Deep,'' ``Money Makes the World,'' ``Check My Psyche,'' ``Stop, Drop and Roll,'' ``Mental Mayhem,'' ``Gokool'' and others.
McGee gives a lot of credit to the school's 48-track state-of-the-art recording studio.
``It's all professional equipment, computer automated. Several CDs and cassettes have been done here,'' he said.
``A lot of people don't expect this in such a small school,'' Talley said, ``but we have something positive going on.''
So, is McGee happy? Yes. Does he want more? Yes.
``I'm looking for a $500,000 console by SSL or Neve,'' he said. ``They're the top consoles in the world - used by the best recording studios.''
Talley calls the program ``an opportunity to achieve goals I've had since I was a kid. When I was younger I wanted to be an engineer, but I was terrible with math and science. I came here for the music industry program.''
That industry has many options - songwriting careers, management, marketing, sales, distribution, promotion, publishing, record production, retailing, live concert production. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by FRANK ROBERTS, Staff
Bill McGee, left, ECSU's director of music engineering and
technology, works a console as students Nate Jones, center, and
Richard Ashe take a look as part of their studies.
by CNB