Students Perform at "Tips for Talent"

Ethan Shafer

For the second year in a row, students took to the stage on February 15th in the Trojan Center cafeteria for our second annual "Tips for Talent" event! The event, hosted by DSU Live and the campus Diversity club, is meant to show off the musical talents of DSU students while raising money for charity.  Just a few of the many performers are pictured in this post.

Amanda Welbig

This year, we made over $150 in a 90-minute timespan that will be donated to a local food pantry. Equally exciting was the amount of great talent that took the stage, which included many of music instructor Sandy Champion's students from her private lessons. The event garnered such positive feedback that we are hoping to host another one before the end of the semester. Congrats to all of the performers, and thank you to all of the students and faculty for their generous donations!

Billy Hofer

Tasha Draven

Audio Student Performs at Mochavino

We were excited to see DSU audio production student Mike Rugg play an acoustic show at Mochavino, which featured some fantastic cover songs from bands such as Radiohead and Tears for Fears.  A great crowd of students came out to check out the show.

Mike also performed recently at Myxers coffee shop on campus.  Check out his performance of Someday You Will be Loved by Death Cab for Cutie:

The video was filmed by Luke Arens and edited by Paul Schipper.

Bands Rock the Underground in January

Last Friday, DSU Live hosted three intense rock bands from areas of North and South Dakota.  These bands included I, Apparatus, Victor Shores, and No Parking on the Bridge.  In addition to hosting the performance, the students are working on producing a 4-camera HD video shoot.  Student Luke Arens set up a shot from a unique angle in the rafters and was able to control the camera via an ethernet connection to his laptop.

Fans at the show were impressed by the non-stop energy from the bands.  Despite playing music from a similar genre, each group had a unique sound to keep the intensity high throughout the evening.  It was an exciting first showcase of the semester!

Dust of War trailer debuts

During Summer 2011, the movie Dust of War was filmed near western South Dakota.  The film features several big screen veterans including Tony Todd, who has played roles in a number of films and television productions, and Doug Jones, who has also played a number of roles including that of "Pan" in the film, Pan's Labrynth.

Several DSU students assisted on the production crew of this film, including audio production student Mitch Williams, and digital arts students Carrie Aus and Donna Rice.  The DSU theatre instructor, Kelly MacLeod, was also a key member of the production crew.

The film is set for release within the next several months, and the trailer was just recently debuted.  We are hugely excited to have a connection with what looks to be a phenomenal movie production.

Funk Musicians Record at DSU

Audio Student Tyler Steele found a great way to kick off the holiday break by recording a group of musicians from the University of South Dakota called 'Olde Funk Riot'.  In order to capture the entire band live, they set up in the adjacent auditorium, utilizing a drum shield and the hallways to create separation between the instrumentalists.  With Tyler bringing out his tracking and mixing skills, the project is sure to produce some fantastic results!

Digital Arts Students Premiere Video

Digital Arts and Design students Luke Arens and Paul Schipper made their big video debut this week, when they showed a 5-minute video presentation at the annual Scholarship Banquet, with an attendance of upwards of 400 people.  The video was created as a part of Paul and Luke's university-related internship, which challenges them to create promotional material for the DSU Alumni Foundation.

The video featured DSU alumni and donors who stressed the importance of supporting current and future students through scholarships.  It also featured students who discussed the benefits of their scholarships.

The response to the presentation was overwhelmingly positive, and the students will continue to work with the Foundation in order to continue creating their engaging presentation materials.

'DSU Live' brings huge talent to campus

It's been a busy month for members of our campus live music organization, 'DSU Live', which includes many of the university's Audio Production Program members. In addition to DJ'ing a huge Halloween Dance hosted by the Student Activities Board, the group has hosted some really exciting musical acts during October:

The premiere band showcase of the semester featured Sioux Falls area band, Avian Sunrise, with The Broken Resolve. We treated this as our big event to show the campus and community the kind of great shows that we are able to bring to DSU. The bands were a lot of fun and both played stellar sets. The Broken Resolve has an uptempo pop-rock sound, while Avian Sunrise has a piano-driven sound with a strong emotional core. The DSU Live crew was very on top of things, and they impressed the band members with their quickness and efficiency.

More pics can be seen in the flickr gallery.  The group also had the pleasure of hosting an acoustic show in the 'Myxers' coffee shop in the campus Trojan Center. Our first show of this kind featured a hugely talented singer-songwriter, Audri Vargas. Her amazing vocal skills made it clear why she was a top 50 finalist in American Idol several years ago. DSU student Austin Donley kicked off the night. There was an excellent turnout and a very positive response that helped to ensure that DSU Live will be hosting more events of this kind very soon!  Check out Audri's cover of Taylor Swift's song, 'Mean':