Although I have only been at New Hope for one semester, the wealth of information and numerous opportunities for hands-on learning have been tremendously helpful in my growth as an audio engineer both personally and professionally. The music theory classes have helped me recognize beat patterns and song structure more quickly and have inspired me to experiment with producing different genres of music as personal projects. Meanwhile, being part of the outreach team has put me alongside skilled musicians and like-minded believers and given me opportunities to sharpen my mixing skills in different environments.
New Hope Christian College’s faculty and staff have experience in their platforms of excellence. They not only provide technical and academic instruction, but they serve as mentors to the students. Under Kyle Anderson, I have learned many audio engineering principles and tactics that I am now bringing back to my church and utilizing in our mixes. Through being taught the concepts of audio engineering thoroughly, I can now confidently teach these principles to volunteers at my church to help them produce better sound and solve sonic issues both quickly and effectively. It is wonderful to be able to have reasoning for different mixing tactics and be able to apply different methods to achieve different purposes. Not only that but I now have enough of an understanding of these methods to explain them to others and help them grasp the subtle nuances of audio for themselves. I can observe and hear the differences in my mixes and the improvements that I’ve made in the last few months, and so can our congregation.
Additionally, by being surrounded by skilled tech engineers here at New Hope, I can ask questions and learn about different fields of tech that I would not otherwise be able to get much experience with. There is always an upgrade in process or a system needing to be worked on, so there are many opportunities to get hands-on with the equipment and see it function for myself while getting to learn about the operation process and learn about different industry methods outside of the industry itself. Anyone in the commercial tech industry knows that it can be a hostile or competitive environment, and it can prove hard to learn and make mistakes. But at New Hope, there is room for mistakes while learning, all while striving for excellence and working with professional equipment and professionals who know the industry. The production and performance industry can easily become a dangerously self-promoting field if one doesn’t have the proper goals in mind, but New Hope constantly works to ensure that even in a technologically advanced environment, its purpose is to glorify God and bring honor and praise to His name. This concept is the driving force for the teaching and training of its students and for the focus on striving for excellence every time we represent His love to those around us.
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:23-24, ESV)
