Last Friday, I had my first scheduled studio session of the semester in the newly renovated Studio B in Dodds, and it was awesome! Nothing is better than getting to play around with a bunch of brand new audio gear, especially since they upgraded the studio space itself so it’s much better then it ever was before (upgrades include raising the ceiling and changing the orientation of the room, as well as acoustic treatments)! The only negative was that while we were in the studio, a tour group came in, and we were told that they would be about 15 minutes. We were also told that while they were in there, we just needed to wait around. Luckily we were getting ready to leave at that point, but it was a little odd to me that this happened.
I fully understand wanting to show off the new studios; they’re impressive both in the sense of the gear in them, and the modern vibe thanks to a new console and some gear in Studio A and new modular/console-less technology in Studio B. Regardless, I think it’s inappropriate for a tour group to just pop in and expect the students in the room to stop working until the tour is done. We were figuring out signal flow with the new gear and patch bay, plus doing some scratch recording, but if my group had a band in the studio with us, what would have happened? I wouldn’t have wanted to stop recording just to accommodate a tour, and if we were in the middle of tracking a song when someone came knocking, that could ruin a take!
Most things on campus are scheduled on a calendar somewhere or another, for example, room reservations are all on EMS now, most event’s can be found on the Student Activities calendar or ChargerConnection, and in the case of the studios, there is a calendar with all of the times listed when each studio is occupied for a student group, a class, or maintenance. With this in mind, why doesn’t someone just check the schedule in advance to see if there will be people in the studios? I don’t mind being interrupted if I can plan for it. Send out an email to students letting everyone know when tours will be going around, or at least give us a place where we can check the tour schedule. I can still remember the number of times freshman year when I would be leaving my room in new hall only to stumble into a tour group and get stuck unable to get on the elevator, or even get to the elevator.
In the end, all I ask is for a little heads up. I know it’s been a little bit of an issue in the past since I had the same issue with my studio time last year, and with the simple solution of checking on availability, nobody needs to get in anyone else’s way! I’m proud of the campus and the university as a whole, and I would be happy to help show off the new studio while I’m working if a tour group showed up and was interested, but I’m not going to be prepared for that if I have a band setup in the studio with cables and mic stands all over the place (I do keep the studio orderly, but that doesn’t mean its not possible to trip still). Send someone an email, give a quick phone call, shoot them a text, post a notice on the door for all I care, just don’t interrupt people at work out of the blue!
