Texas A&M University Kingsville

KINGSVILLE (News Release) — The School of Music at Texas A&M University-Kingsville is now offering a new bachelor’s degree for its students.

The school created the Sound Recording Technology (SRT) undergraduate program that will give students a unique opportunity to pursue studies in the field of audio production while maintaining a balanced approach to musical studies.

The new degree is the only bachelor’s degree program in SRT offered in South Texas, and currently one of two in the entire state.

"The innovative new program offers students a wealth of hands-on experience working with expert faculty, award-winning musical ensembles and in truly world-class facilities," said Dr. Scott Anthony Jones, School of Music Director and Director of Bands.

"Our students will not only develop skills in the technical aspects of recording, but they will develop the artistry of accomplished musicians," Jones added. "We are excited for the future of this program and what it will add to the School of Music and the musical landscape of South Texas."

The degree program will officially launch for Fall 2023, but a small group of music students started taking recording classes in Fall 2022.

The program will be led by Associate Professor Dr. Brian Thacker who said the program is working to develop a certificate program that will be open to any student on campus who has an interest in this field.

"We have a few music majors who are switching over to the new program because it fits their original interests," Thacker said. "The current plan is to offer an opening freshman cohort of 15 [sound recording technology] majors, as well as those current music students accepted into the new degree. Hopefully by the time the first group graduates we will have approximately 50 to 60 majors [total in the program]."

The new degree offers an avenue of study for students wanting to pursue a career as a tonmeister, or sound master, a person who creates recordings or broadcasts of music who is both deeply musically trained (in 'classical' and non-classical genres) and who has a detailed theoretical and practical knowledge of virtually all aspects of sound recording, music mixing and mastering.

Thacker said another goal of the program and new recording studio will be to help preserve musical traditions of south Texas including traditional Conjunto, Mariachi, Tejano, and Indigenous cultures by recording and archiving these genres before they are lost to antiquity.

Many ensembles housed in the School of Music have already used the state-of-the-art studio to record their music. The Texas A&M University-Kingsville Trumpets recently released their album "Out of the Blue." It includes four jazz songs that are available for purchase on several streaming platforms.

The trumpet ensemble is led by associate professor of trumpet and jazz, Dr. Kyle Milsap, who said this is the third album recorded in the new studio.

"I think the more albums we produce and release, the more that helps our new Sound Recording Technology degree. It gives those students more real experience to better prepare them to be engineers and producers," Milsap said. "I think it helps set the stage for what we will be doing in the future and gets us moving down that road."

Students interested in studying Sound Recording Technology must audition for the School of Music and be accepted to Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

Courses in the program include:

MUSI 1321 – Audio Recording I

MUSI 1322 – Audio Recording II

MUSI 2235 – Recording Studio Operations

MUSI 3261 – Music Entrepreneurship

MUSI 3276 – Live Sound Techniques

MUSI 4335 – Classical/Jazz Recording and Mixing

MUSI 4336 – Commercial Recording and Mixing

MUSI 4337 – Advanced Recording Systems

MUSI 4351 – Multimedia Sound Techniques (Applied Lessons in Recording)

MUSA 3210 – Applied Recording

MUSA 3220 – Applied Recording

MUSA 4210 – Applied Advanced Recording (Internship)

MUSA 4220 – Applied Advanced Recording (Senior Recital/Project)