IAR News Feed

IAR Graduate Profile: DJ Boris

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 13:15:00 GMT

After graduating from IAR in 1993, DJ Boris has been an extremely successful DJ and re-mixer over the last several years. Born in Russia’s St. Petersburg, Boris’s heart pounding driving sound has become one with the “New York sound”, often imitated in cities around the world. Since leaving IAR, he took his first professional DJ gig at the well know NYC club Tilt. He continued working the New York crowds and in time built a steady following from gigs at the Sound Factory, Exit, The Grand, Supper Club, Warsaw and Carbon. Boris’ “Big Friday Party” at New York’s Roxy, along with his residency at the infamous Limelight, kept club-goers dancing until well past 9am the following mornings. In the present, Boris continues pushing his career forward and has been working with major artists and labels. Virgin Records retained Boris to remix Janet Jackson’s “All I Want” and Thalia’s “I’m in Love”. Epic Records used Boris to remix Anastacia’s “Left Outside Alone,” and Atlantic Records contracted Boris to remix Jewel’s “Stand”. Columbia Records employed Boris to remix Pink’s “Real Good Feel Good.” Most notable, he also remixed Pink’s “Get The Party Started”, which went to number one on Billboard Magazine’s dance chart. And with his non-stop professional work ethic, he has been rewarded with dj residencies in every major city. He has also received with two Club World “Best Resident DJ” nominations. He finished in the top 5 in the national America’s Best DJ fan poll, and recently started a new residency at super club Space in Miami. Boris is moving forward and looking to hit the international clubs next!

Graduate Profile: Jerome Young

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 09:23:00 GMT

Jerome Young also known as Three Star, is not only a former Iraqi war veteran, but also a creative music producer and song writer. Jerome has been keeping himself busy since being back from Iraq, and recently completed his new mix tape, which is entitled Jah Son Emerge. “I’m loving the creative part but there are a number of challenges.” In order to become a more thorough entertainer, Young has gone into engineering, producing and mixing his own songs with the skills that he gained at The Institute of Audio Research and LaGuardia College. “Most of the time I do everything for myself. I’m going to be releasing my third album soon and I still do a lot of producing for underground artistes. Basically, I’m just exploring all the knowledge that I am gaining from school,” he stated. The first two albums that Young created were when he was in combat in Iraq. The first was called Out of Many One People and the other, released last year, was Nothing But Real Talk. “These two albums spoke of what I was going through during combat in Iraq, but this new album talks about the new energy that I have now found from that experience, especially since I’m back in the real world. On his current release, there is a track featuring Max Romeo entitled Tribal War Inna Babylon. There is another track that he is currently promoting called Hardcore Loving and these two songs are receiving good rotations on radio stations in New York, where he resides. Jerome Young is looking forward to coming to Jamaica to get his career to the next level. “People keep telling me that I am good and that I am the next big thing, so I am basically working towards becoming a household name”, he mentioned. He wants to make a change and has said he will be coming Jamaica to represent good, positive music.

Summer 2010 Audio for Picture Awards

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:56:00 GMT

On Wednesday, June 30th, IAR hosted its Summer 2010 Audio for Picture (AFP) Awards Festival to a standing room only crowd! In the fourth quarter of IAR’s program, students take an audio post-production course, one of the school’s most popular subjects. In this course, students learn to synchronize audio to video. They then interpret and produce their own post-production projects from start to finish, and can submit them for recognition at IAR’s AFP Awards Festival. Students choose any video piece, such as a movie trailer, movie scene, video game trailer or animated film and they then remove all audio content. Utilizing all of the techniques they have learned at IAR during the first 3 quarters and in the audio post-production course, students recreate every aspect of audio. This includes dialog replacement (ADR), sound FX’s, sound design, and musical selection and composition. AFP teaches and allows students to raise their standards and creativity, and gives them a final project or “demo reel” to showcase their talents. Over twice as many projects were submitted to the Summer AFP Awards Festival 2010. Thank you to every one who submitted! The winners were as follows: 1st Place Best Overall Project Jay Sakong - “28 Weeks Later” (Trailer) 2nd Place Best Overall Project Aditi Iyer & Jon Casale Honorable Mention: Best ADR: Juan Parioni, Russell Reggio & Doug Leibowitz – “Black Hawk Down” (Scene) Best Music Selection/Edit: Colin Smith – “Where the Wild Things Are” (Trailer) Best Mix: Tim Standring – “Howl’s Moving Castle” Best SFX Editing: Ivan Hodoba – “Nightmare Before Christmas” (Scene) Best Sound Design: Ryan Davis & Eddy De La Hoz – “Matriculated” (Trailer) Best Original Score: Jay Sakong – “Nuit Blanche” (Commercial) Most Entertaining: Mark brown – “Delicatessen” (Scene)

Avatar Lead Compositor Speaks at IAR

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:46:00 GMT

On April 22nd, IAR had the wonderful opportunity to have the lead compositor of Avatar, Nathan Hopkins, speak at the school. He spoke at length about the specific work he did on the film while students looked and listened with awe. He also explained the pressures of working on extremely tight deadlines and spending late nights on the job, sacrifices he had to make to get the work done. Nathan worked closely with James Cameron and other personnel over the last five years while creating the world of Avatar. Nathan also presented students a few samples of past work, which ultimately got him the gig with Avatar. The event lasted for several hours while students and faculty asked questions. He did mention that, though it was extremely hard work and long days, the pay off was great. Since having Avatar under his belt, he has gotten an abundance of work.

IARrecords on iTunes

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 09:03:00 GMT

IARecords are now on iTunes. Search Keyword IARrecords and download for free.

D.I.Y - Live Sound Seminar

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 08:43:00 GMT

On March 30th, IAR instructor and former graduate, Sean Corcoran, presented his seminar “The In’s and Out’s of Live Sound”. This presentation gave students a more indebt look into the world of live sound and sound reinforcement. With his experience at the legendary Birdland Ballroom in New York City, Sean brought his extensive knowledge to the classroom. Students were informed with all aspects of doing a gig, from “knowing the venue” to interacting with the client or band, as well as mic placement and stagecraft.
The DIY Seminar’s are implemented throughout the year on various subjects give students an opportunity to learn more detailed skills and tools of the trade outside of the classroom.

Spring 2010 AFP Awards

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 10:02:00 GMT

On Wednesday, March 17th, IAR hosted its Spring 2010 Audio for Picture (AFP) Awards Festival. In the fourth quarter of IAR’s program, students take an audio post-production course, one of the school’s most popular subjects. In the course, students learn to synchronize audio to video. They then interpret and produce their own post-production projects from start to finish, and can submit them for recognition at IAR’s AFP Awards Festival. Students choose any video piece, such as a movie trailer or a commercial, and they then remove all audio content. Using the techniques they have learned at IAR during the first 3 quarters and in the post-production course, students recreate every aspect of audio. This would include dialog, sound FX’s, sound design, and musical composition. AFP teaches students to raise their standards and creativity, and gives them a final project or “demo reel” to showcase their talents. Sitting in at this AFP Awards were composer Wendell Hanes, author of The 30/30 Career: Making 30 Grand in 30 Seconds and owner of Volition Sound. Also joining him, was world-class guitarist Tony Aliperti. They gave their expert advice to students and also judged over the material presented. This AFP’s projects included Alice & Wonderland, Ninja Assassin, Transformers 2 and many more. Thank you to every one who submitted! The Spring 2010 AFP Winners are: 1st Place Best Overall Project: "Alice & Wonderland" Trailer: Malcolm Williams, Cory Reed, Jonathan Silva 2nd Place Best Overall Project: "Ninja Assasin" Trailer: Maksim Yakovlev Honorable Mentions: Most Entertaining: "Late Night with Boogie & Geez": Kenneth Hines & Michael Gutmakher Best Music Supervision: "Bambi": Elizabeth Lopez Da Luz Best Music Editing: "Madame Tutli": Whitney Faucher Best Sound Editing: "Madame Tutli": Whitney Faucher Best Sound Design: "Transformers 2" Trailer: Ramprasad Sundar & Carlos Mota Best Mix: "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" Trailer: Edgar Lagares

DIY Seminar: Starting an Independent Label

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:47:00 GMT

Over 25 years ago, Alan Cohen formed his own independent label, ACM Records. Working together with his wife and partner, Eve Adams, it has since become a staple in the industry, featuring some of the world's best Indie Artists with music in almost all genres. In December, 2009, Mr. Cohen spoke with IAR students about what it takes to start and maintain an independent label in a digital age. In an interactive forum, Alan engaged his audience by asking what they knew about independent labels. He stated that unlike many years ago, artists are now either releasing their own records or starting their own labels. He continued by providing a brief history of record labels, focusing on the four major music groups: Sony, Warner Music Group (WMG), Universal, and EMI. These groups are the main distributors for many major and Indie labels. Mr. Cohen discussed what a label seeks to accomplish to deliver a successful product, touching on publishing, trademarks, and 360 Deals. Since labels are not making as much money just selling records, CDs or downloads, they developed what is called a “360 Deal”. that, Alan explained, is a new arrangement where the label gets a percent of everything the artist does, i.e. publishing, clothing line, perfume, acting. There are some Pros and Cons for the artist. Pros: with the right backing from the label, more opportunities can be developed that the artist would not normally be exposed to. Cons: the label has too much interest in the artist, and the artist is locked into the label on everything he does. “Currently at WMG, approximately 50% of their artists are signed to 360 Deals”, Alan added He went on to go into detail about label structure, involving functional areas such as A&R, Marketing, Promotion, Website design, and several others, and stressing the importance of staying active in public forums such as MySpace and Facebook. “You must stay current with the music trends and be versatile and flexible to stay in business. You must be able to adapt and change your business structure every 6 months to a year as the industry changes.” Alan emphasized that by eliminating the enormous marketing and manufacturing costs that traditional major labels faced, the digital age allows anyone to start his or her own label. His advice: “Spend as little as possible to get the most you can. Money makes money but overspending can put you out of business very fast.” Mr. Cohen’s prominent position in the music industry is a major achievement in a business dominated by the major labels. At times, he received little or no credit for the music he wrote for others, hoping it would benefit him someday. As he stated, “Sometimes you’ve got to give up something to get somewhere.” Alan’s efforts have indeed paid off over time, as he has managed to build his label working with some of the top names in the industry: CBS/Paramount, Miramax, Roc-A-Fella, MTV, E! Entertainment, the NBA, NFL, Verizon, and many others. Alan still enjoys his first love, music, and has played guitar for over 2 dozen Broadway shows and Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame’s Bo Diddley, to name a few. His motto is “Don’t forget why you got into music in the first place”.

IAR Launches School Scholarships

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:03:00 GMT

IAR launches School Scholarships and Extended Payment Plans:
Find out NOW if you qualify for either of these new programs!
IAR has now launched an annual scholarship program for present and future students, ranging from $225 up to $4750. Also, qualified applicants can arrange payment plans that will extend beyond graduation date. Scholarships are need-based and are awarded on a number of criteria. For full details on the requirements of this program, future students should contact their admissions officer and present students can stop in student services. Applications can be submitted immediately.

Important aspects of IAR’s Scholarship Program are:
• Partial scholarships available, ranging from $225 up to $4750
• No credit rating or lengthy application process
• There is no application fee
• Scholarships are need-based with certain requirements for eligibility
• This is an annual scholarship pool
• Recipients must meet academic progress standards while attending IAR
• Application deadlines apply for each future starting class

Interested in a Scholarship? Future students: contact your Admissions Officer.

IK Mulitmedia T-RackS Master Class

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:39:00 GMT

Over the past year, the Institute of Audio Research and IK Multimedia have partnered together to bring students and guests a series of seminars. IK is an industry leader in music software, with reasonably priced products. The educational seminars at IAR have introduced some of these products, such as the AmpliTube Fender, T-RackS, SampleTank 2, and the StealthPedal. On September 16th, IAR and IK hosted a T-RackS Master Class with Production from SampleTank, the fourth of the series. T-Racks is a modular mastering and mixing application; SampleTank2 is a professional, sample bank with over 2,000 sounds licensees can use. IK Product Specialist Tony Grund demonstrated to students that the T-RackS 3 Deluxe would be a valuable addition to any DAW for mixing and mastering. Tony introduced the T-RackS 3 Deluxe suite, comprised of 9 total processors, 5 new effects (including the vintage tube 670 Compressor/Limiter based on the famous Fairchild 670), and 4 classic award-winning T-RackS processors. Tony showed the efficiency of the T-RackS suite and how its new configurable mixing chain allows for minimal CPU power. He suggested that the students start with the effects presets and tweak them to achieve the sound they want. He demonstrated the full production of a song from scratch with SampleTank 2 XL and the T-RackS 3 suite. Tony illustrated the full control of the synth engine with the new editable knobs. He stated, “What’s cool about SampleTank is that it works in different DAWs like Live, ProTools, Logic, etc.” The seminar was concluded with a round of questions and answers. All the students and guests were given a free demo of T-RackS 3 and additional discounts for the full and crossgrade versions of the software demonstrated.