"Condor" to perform at DSU!

Condor is an outstanding folk trio from Sioux Falls, featuring cello, guitar, and banjo. They will be visiting DSU on Saturday, February 21st at 7:30pm for an intimate concert.

DSU Live and the Madison Area Arts Council are very excited to add another talented band to their series that has been running over the past several years. There are plans for Audio Production students to record the concert for potential airplay on South Dakota Public Broadcasting Radio. It looks to be a fantastic event!

Audio Students Return to the State Capital

For the second year, students from the Audio Production program visited the state Capital in Pierre for the annual "Madison Hosts the Legislature" event. After taking a visit to the Capitol building, we set up for the reception, in which legislators are given the opportunity to browse the various displays and talk with students, faculty, and Madison representatives.

It was fun to travel and connect with our state representatives, as well as people from the Madison community that we don't often have a chance to connect with. Students Dan Shay, Kyle Vis, Dylan Norris, and Derek Carlson set up an excellent audio/visual presentation and promoted our program with enthusiasm. It was great to get the word out about Audio Production at DSU!

Students Take the Stage for Open Mic Night and More!

Open Mic nights can be a fun way for students to take the stage and show off their skills, and that's exactly what happened in late October when DSU Live assisted student Tanner Bowman and the English club with the event.

Talent included some great singers and poets, some of which were using this as a warm-up for the English Club Poetry Slam that took place several weeks later. In a change of outcome from the past several years, the faculty snagged a victory based on the final tally from the judges' scoring.

The entertainment continues as DSU Live hosts a Karaoke night this week and Sandy Champion's music students perform a musical variety concert this weekend featuring the music of Disney!

DSU Live Hosts Jami Lynn and Chris Champion

It was a great pleasure to welcome Jami Lynn and Chris Champion to DSU as a part of our ongoing concert series collaboration between DSU Live and the Madison Area Arts council. As in previous semesters, we transformed an auditorium into an intimate acoustic music venue, complete with staging and lighting. The DSU Live students did a fantastic job helping with setup, and Nolan Moser took the help as our lead live engineer.

Chris is always impressive on guitar, sharing both originals and covers, and showing off his stellar guitar chops. Jami followed with her South Dakota-inspired original tunes, sung with acoustic guitar and banjo. She was later joined by Andrew Reinartz on upright bass, and Dalton Coffey on dobro. The trio made for a gorgeous sound that perfectly filled the auditorium.

Once mixed and mastered, the recording will be submitted for broadcast on SDPB radio’s “No Cover, No Minimum”, and there also will be several videos produced from the evening. Below is the first one completed, a tune performed by the trio called “Red Fox”:

Audio Program Featured in Recent Ad

Audio Production student Derek Carlson (and a blurry Daryl Becker and Cody Welu) were featured in a recent DSU advertisement highlighting the Audio program. The pic was posed during one of our Live Sound classes in the Trojan Center Underground last year, as we practiced setting up various live audio scenarios. Check it out!

DSU's Got Talent returns!

Our annual homecoming week "DSU's Got Talent" show was another success this year, mainly featuring singers, along with a saxophone quartet performing Pharrell's "Happy".

Our judges this year were Professor Glenn Berman, Professor Michael Gaylor, and student Andy Meyer. They gave a lot of witty commentary between acts, and judged the students in order to determine three top winners at the end of the evening.

The first prize winner was Jenna Sorsen, who did a solo vocal rendition of a song that she wrote. There was a packed crowd that was hugely supportive of all the acts. It was an awesome evening of entertainment and a great way for students to share their talents!

The Fall 2014 Semester Kicks Off With a Bang!

As is often the case when the new school year kicks off, we have a ton of exciting events happening in the first couple of weeks, including karaoke, a comedian, and a DJ dance. But before all of that, the Student Activities Board welcomed the duo, "Scratch & Bang", with audio help from the DSU Live Technical Services students.

The group has a unique twist on the typical dance DJ format. One of the members is a DJ, while the other is a drummer, which adds a nice extra layer of impact to the performance. The duo performed non-stop for over 90-minutes and played every song from modern hits, nostalgic classics, and some wild cards thrown in the mix (I think I heard the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song in there at one point).

The night started with a packed crowd of over 150 students, and the most exciting part is that only the Freshman had moved in thus far. "Scratch & Bang" put on a killer show that set the tone for the rest of the events to come. Now it's back to school this week. Fall 2014 semester is here!