Students find their rhythm in the art of music production, mixing, and music business in a symphony of masterclasses with QWave.
As the self-proclaimed number one resource for music production at Queen’s, QWave provides students with access to their studio in Rideau Hall, and holds masterclass tutorials on music production. Their most recent masterclass was held at Mackintosh-Corry Hall on Sept. 20 and 21, and offered aspiring artists and music industry enthusiasts the opportunity to learn about music production and mixing records at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.
“This class is for anyone who’s interested in music. We have people who want to learn how to produce, record, and mix. We also want people who want to be A&Rs [talent scouts] and executives in the music industry, and who want to know the laws behind releasing music,” Club Director Muhammad Ibrahim, CompSci ’24 said in an interview with The Journal.
In the Sept. 20 and 21 masterclass, QWave hosted 1Mind, a trio of music producers made up of Mac Sutphin, Michael Lohmeier, and Sebastian Lopez. The group is best known for their work on R&B, hip-hop, and dance records which have earned diamond, platinum, and gold record awards.
During the masterclass, 1Mind did a question-and-answer forum for QWave members. Afterwards, they went to the studio in Rideau Hall and assisted students in mixing their records while providing feedback on their music.
Though the club’s executive hiring has concluded, general members can always join. There are no requirements needed to join the club, which is meant to be a resource for music education. When members join the club, they can expect free access to the music software Ableton Live, access to the Rideau Hall studio, and access to the masterclasses and events run by the club.
“We have people who didn’t know anything about music [before the masterclass], and they just saw that [1Mind] made a cool track from their favorite artists and they just wanted to see how that track was broken down,” Ibrahim said.
Ibrahim welcomes students interested in joining QWave to reach out to the club via Instagram.
The next masterclass will be a two-day event in mid-October.
On the first day, QWave plans to host ClickNPress, a multi-platinum hip-hop production and songwriter duo. According to Ibrahim, ClickNPress mixes and produces songs for popular American rapper J. Cole.
“They’ll be coming in for an online class and they’ll just teach us the basics of how they produce a record and how they can set records,” he said.
The next day, the club will host Joshua Wexler, a TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube content creator. According to Ibrahim, Wexler plans to do a masterclass on marketing, and will teach students how to market themselves as artists and how to enter the music industry.
“There’ll be a workshop in which he [Wexler] and the students will craft emails [to] reach out to whoever they want to reach out to. [The students will] send them out of that class and there’ll be a real learning experience,” he said.
Ibrahim became involved in QWave out of a both passion for music production and a desire to one day enter the music industry. He’s passionate about providing students with opportunities to do the same.
“The last masterclass taught me that opportunities like this are what make people’s years and make people’s semesters—just meeting some of the people that they look up to.”
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