Audio Production holds auditions for SWBOCES’ next voice talents

Students will record and produce new on-hold messages for SWBOCES

For eight years, callers to Southern Westchester BOCES were often greeted by Victor Pineiro and Sean Harty Rivera. When Pineiro, SWBOCES’ Director of Technology; Harty, the Audio Production instructor at the Center for Career Services; and Career Services Director Dahlia Jackson reunited for a project to refresh these on-hold messages, they agreed that the project should be student-driven.

“We at BOCES are here to support students,” Mr. Pineiro said. “What better way to do that than for the students to be the voices behind those services that we provide?”

To produce new English and Spanish on-hold messages for use at the six SWBOCES centers, Audio Production students are hard at work. They have already engineered music that will play in the background of the messages. They also recently organized and conducted auditions for nearly 90 students around campus who expressed interest in serving as the voice talent.

 “They are doing a lot of different jobs,” Mr. Harty Rivera said. “They are acting as the studio manager, studio director, and engineer, and have been in charge of all pre-production. They had to recruit students to audition, so they’ve really had to work on both their soft or social skills and also solidify their hard skills, too.”

Juniors in the Audio Production program were responsible for outfitting auditioning students auditioning with microphones. The students then entered the recording booths and read scripts provided by Mr. Pineiro.

“We are putting a lot of energy into this project,” said Ben Quintana, a senior at New Rochelle High School. “We have never been asked to produce anything that will be heard by such a large number of people, so you really want to make something that is high quality.”

Each of the seniors will be allowed to select a student to work with on one of eight messages — some in English and some in Spanish. The Audio Production students will then coach the new voice talent prior to recording the final product. The messages will play during phone calls to the center for Adult & Community Services, Interscholastic Athletics, Career Services, Special Services, Professional Learning & Curriculum Support, and the Lower Hudson Regional Information Center whenever a caller is placed on hold.

“It’s a lot of responsibility, but it’s been a great experience,” said Xarlee Gilyard, a senior from New Rochelle High School. “If we want to pursue this career after high school, we’ll definitely have the confidence to know we can do it.”

Although there is no timeline, Mr. Harty Rivera hopes the on-hold messages are completed prior to holiday break in December.

“I can’t wait to see what the kids come up with,” Mr. Pineiro said. “It will be great to hear our students in action, and to see our Audio Production students producing work and using the skills they are learning to create something for use in the real world.”