On Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 2pm, LA-based hip-hop producer and musician Thavius Beck gave an electronic music production workshop to over a dozen WCU students. Sponsored by WCAT and Student Media, the event included demonstrations of Ableton Live and Reason music production software, tips and tricks for production, a Q&A session, and individual critiques of student work.
Thavius Beck has put out two solo albums on Mush Records, a free solo album online, an album as one half of the group Subtitle and several albums under the moniker of Adlib, in addition to producing and remixing a plethora of various other projects. Over the years, he has worked with names such as Nas, Saul Williams, The Mars Volta and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. He is sponsored by audio gear manufacturer M-Audio and has been asked to demo Ableton Live software at the previous two NAMM conferences, the largest audio gear trade show in the world.
The workshop gave students interested in music production an overview of some common production techniques used in electronic music and gave them chance to ask specific questions on their own work to a practicing producer. Five students had their work individually listened to and critiqued by Beck and all involved seemed to find his advice very useful.
Students were also able to see Thavius Beck perform at Club Illusions in the UC on Monday, Feb. 23, along with fellow LA hip-hop artist K-the-I??? and local acts Kinjac, Everflaw, Elibot, and A Bliss Abyss. That free show was sponsored by Last Minute Productions, the Student Government Association, Student Media and the WCU division of student affairs.
