Marvelous Musical Mira Costa College

Let's go to Mira Costa College!

Why?! Because it's the best equipped music recording, teaching, and performance public school in California!

And nobody knows it's here!

Where is it? It's hiding right BEHIND that building I'm walking to!
C'mon for a walk with me and Christy Coobatis, head instructor of their music program!

Lets have Cristy explain the first control room, this will give you some idea of what's going on here:



And this is the OTHER mixing control room, next to the control room you were just looking at:



This performance hall was 8 years in the planning, 2 years being built, and cost 15 million bucks.  It just opened last January. That's an $18,000.00 Steinway Grand Piano sitting in the middle of the stage. All performances are shot to digital video for use by the students. Christy designed the entire building and all the fiberoptics that connect it to their mixing rooms:

From the audience side:

The theater's lighting and audio mixing room:

The practice room beside the theater:

Now just to contrast how we do things at Varsity Strings, here's how WE amplify our music. We put a mic on the end of a cord and push it into the top of a Vox amp. Then we turn the amp on and crank the treble down.

That's it. Here's the entire system:

Back to Mira Costa College! Everywhere you look there are instruments. Drums:

Acoustic baffling on all walls:

Recording Studio A, mostly used for large symphony groups:. That's a mini-grand piano and full drum set you see at the very back:

Recording Studio B, for small sessions:

More equipment sitting around in case you need it:

The keyboards and digital sampling room, I don't understand this stuff, I'm a guitar man myself:

The Protools room:

Rooftop lunchroom, Pacific Ocean in the far background:

See you later, Mira Costa! Adios but not goodbye!