ISU opens new recording studio made possible by alum donation

POCATELLO — The Idaho State University Department of Music has opened its newly-upgraded and updated recording studio — the Medina Recording Studio.

Thanks to a donation from alumni Galo and Robyn Medina, the commercial music program has a recording studio that will allow its students to gain experience working in a professional recording environment, according to College of Arts and Letters dean Dr. Kandi Turley-Ames.

“We have invested in upgraded equipment and technology that will transform our commercial music program and what our students are able to produce,” Turley-Ames said.

The upgrades to the recording studio and mobile recording rigs allow the program to “keep up with the growth in the commercial music industry,” music department chair Dr. Shandra Helman added. With the donation, the department also created an endowment that will provide future students with scholarships.

“(That) is, of course, the biggest need anywhere on campus,” Helman said.

“This is enormous,” she added. “… Our students will know the Medina name for decades to come.”

Galo responded:

“When you get your Emmy, Grammy, Tony or Oscar, make sure you let them know where it was recorded.”

Students have begun creating and recording music in the Medina Recording Studio — and outside the studio, using the mobile rigs.

Claire Smedley, a senior in the commercial music program, recorded her own album and has taken part in performances across campus and beyond, something she expects will become more common with the new equipment.

“Because of (the new equipment), we’re starting a new radio show from the commercial music department,” Smedley said.

She called the prospects of these new opportunities “super-exciting.”

Music recorded at ISU are done so under the music department’s record label — City Creek Records.

More information about the label and music samples can be found at the ISU website — here — or on Soundcloud — here.