Head of Music Production & Recording Arts program at Mercy University visits Sound Production

Students observe audio synthesizing mixer in action

Stephen B. Ward stepped off his Mercy University campus and on to Southern Westchester BOCES’ Valhalla campus in late January to meet with students in the Sound Production class. Mr. Ward currently serves as Mercy’s Program Director of the Music Production & Recording Arts program. He is a composer and music technologist and has taught at Mercy University for more than 20 years.

Mr. Ward brought in a mixer and showed students how to connect it to the computer and began creating beats for them to hear.

“That’s the beauty of this. You have the ability to mix, turn things on and off, make the rhythm more complex,” said Professor Ward as he showed the students his audio synthesizing mixer.

Students were captivated by Mr. Ward’s demonstration as he utilized his equipment. They watched and listened as he created original beats. 

“It was interesting how he connected the mixer to the computer. I’ve seen a mixer before and didn't really understand what it did, but I do now,” said Maya Eaton, a junior at Rye High School.

Once a year, Mr. Ward visits the SWBOCES campus to speak to students about how the audio synthesizing mixer is set up and utilized to create sounds from scratch.

“This is one of the areas I don't teach because of the time it takes, but they learn the basics here so when they go to college they have an idea,” said Sean Harty, Sound Production teacher at SWBOCES. “I teach them the hardware, some of the software, the basics, and techniques so if they want to pursue this further while in college they can.” 

Mr. Ward showed the students how he created his mixer by adding different modules to it. “A lot of these things are about spending time with each module to get what you like. At the end of the day you will find the different sounds that you prefer,” said Mr. Ward.

The students watched as Mr. Ward moved different wires to create different lengths of notes, change the melody and create music. They asked questions to gain a better understanding of the equipment. He explained that taking time and getting to know your equipment is important and invited them all to visit the Mercy University campus in the spring.