André Knecht Named Co-Chair at LAMA

The LAMA family is very happy to announce André Knecht will co-chair the Music Producing and Recording Department, effective immediately. Current students and grads have been very fond of the former Warner Bros. Records executive’s approach in the classroom setting. He was among the first in the industry to embrace the digital recording era. The promotion comes on the heels of our expansion of the music production degree, which now includes the Composing for Visual Media major. To accommodate additional students and classes, LAMA is adding a new building in Pasadena, just steps north of the current campus.

André will oversee all aspects of the Music Producing and Recording Department and help the college meet the tastes and demands of new students, many of who come internationally to study at LAMA.

From current LAMA Chair Sean Halley:

André is a true master of the technical aspects of audio. He is also as in touch with the sweaty and organic side of production. LAMA students respond well to his passion and approach in the classroom, because they know that his only goal is to see them succeed. His many decades of experience – both as a successful audio engineer and as a marketing executive as Warner Bros – are a welcome addition as LAMA continues to develop and broaden its music producing and recording program.

The Swiss native has an academic and professional background including electronic music studies at Padua University (Italy) and a seven-year stint as sound designer, recording engineer, music supervisor and composer with the Swiss Broadcasting Company (SSR) where he also hosted a number of radio and TV shows. He moved to California in 1983, where he continued his career at Warner Bros. Records.

Halley continues:

André has an intensely solid background in analog technologies but embraced the digital era at its dawn, adopting MIDI and digital audio workstations when they first appeared. André is active as a consultant, freelance engineer and producer, instructor, beta-tester and as technical editor for book projects in the audio field.

Be sure to congratulate André on his new role at LAMA!

Students in class at one of the computer and production labs at LAMA.

For more information, please visit www.lama.edu.

-LAMA Staff

LAMA’s Music Producer, Engineering Degree Program Explained

LAMA has released a new video featuring department Chair Sean Halley, who eloquently describes what students can expect while learning at LAMA in Los Angeles. Besides spending a lot of time recording, getting produced and producing others, you will learn signal processing, computers, songwriting and you take lessons on other instruments — so you can learn the language of instrumentalists and singers. Plus much more… Check out what Sean has to say in the video below:

-LAMA Staff

5 Reasons: Study Bass Guitar at Music School

We LOVE the bass guitar. And some of the most dedicated players to have passed through LA Music Academy were bassists. We’ve learned a lot about why they chose to study music in a professional setting like LAMA. Besides the obvious — learning from and playing with pros, formal training, diverse understanding of styles and technique, peer to peer feedback, networking — we’re highlighting five of the reasons why you should pursue a degree for bass guitar:

1) Stand out.

Savvy business folks find a need and fill it with their product or service. This can apply when it comes time to pick your instrument —  usually people flock to the guitar and everything else comes after. You might be asking “Shouldn’t I study something more popular then?” Well, frankly, guitarists are a dime a dozen whereas we constantly hear of musical settings where a good, solid bassist is in need. Here’s an opportunity to be big fish in a small pond? When people meet a student who is studying bass guitar, relatively speaking, you are already a stand out.

2) Everyone needs a bassist!

Speaking more about standing out and filling a need — just scan classifieds and musician ads. There are always tons of situations where a qualified bass player is in need. Bands having to book a last minute tour frequently scramble for a bassist. You would be surprised how many great gigs you can score just being a bass playing journeyman. Having a degree from a music college like LAMA would certainly help with this process. The same goes for recording projects — being a solid bass player comes in handy for getting interesting session work.

3) Bass playing is an excellent complement to music production.

Whether you are studying music production or just fancy yourself as a “weekend engineer” a proficient understanding of bass can help quite a bit with your production career. Most musicians can play a little guitar or a little piano but very few play bass properly. This is a huge plus for musicians looking for a producer — they’ll see a bass in the corner of your studio right under your framed bass performance degree, which lets them know they are in good hands.

4) Good company.

Roger Waters. Paul McCartney. Geddy Lee. Phil Lesh. Les Claypool. These are some of the most versatile bass playing songwriters around. While guitar was used to compose some of the classic songs we hear, there is no doubt those bass playing fundamentals impacted the incredible songs in these catalogs. The reason we mention all these people is to illustrate to you that just because you play bass doesn’t mean you can’t be front and center of your group — be a classic songwriter and verified rockstar!

5) Your value in a live setting.

Have you ever heard a band sound checking without a bass player because he or she was running late? We have – and it’s usually terrible! The bass is insanely vital and nowhere is it felt more than in a live setting. It connects all the different instruments with the drums and keeps that song grooving. In a live setting, bass is one of the instruments that the audience can truly “feel”!

So when you are touring your possible music schools make sure you ask if they have a bass program – and if they don’t offer one we suggest you think twice about that school! #stopthebassism lol. For more info on the visit the webpage for LAMA’s bass performance degree.

-LAMA Staff