Kaitlyn Hughes | news editor

Over the years, Blackbird Studio, a recording studio in Nashville, Tenn., has welcomed in music artists from Michael Bublé to Taylor Swift.

But this summer, a Duquesne student occupied their studio space.

Dino Iasella, a senior music technology major, spent the summer in Nashville interning at Blackbird, which houses state-of-the-art production facilities that have been used by multiple big name artists.  

He also spent time at other “Music City” studios, such as Gnome Recording Studios and Covered Bridge Recording.

Iasella said the collection of recording equipment at Blackbird is incomparable to that found at other studios.

“I am in the program for [sound recording at Duquesne], so it’s what I’ve been trained for, but doing something on that scale was definitely pretty insane,” he said.

Iasella’s summer was consumed by 85-hour work weeks and an average of four hours of sleep every night.

He spent his time in the studio tracking music and making coffee runs for artists.

“There were times where I was in rooms for 24 straight hours,” he said.

This is not abnormal for a sound engineer, Iasella said. Engineers who are not constantly working on a project will not be considered because there could always be someone with a better musical ear or talent.

Despite this, Iasella does not mind putting in the long work hours because he enjoys being in the studio.

“It’s worth sacrificing a lot,” he said. “Even after 19 hours of the most mind numbing, horrendous things, I want to be in these spaces.”

Iasella credited the opportunity to a networking experience he had at an Audio Engineering Society conference two years ago.

He was at a mixer when he spotted a man sitting alone with his beer in the corner of the bar. Iasella decided to talk to him, and it turned out he was an engineer at Blackbird who said he would help Iasella apply for an internship there.

Andrew Wimple, a Duquesne alumnus who graduated from the music technology program this year, said that Iasella’s networking skills are a part of the reason he will get far in the field.

“He will still have the connections to Nashville,” Wimple said. “I am sure he will be able to get the help he wants and from anyone down there.”

Wimple was able to go to Nashville for a weekend to help Iasella record.

He said it was cool to see how Iasella works in a professional setting which Wimple said is an invaluable experience for someone going into the sound engineering field.

“It forces you into the lifestyle,” Wimple said. “You don’t know how good you are until you get into the field.”

Jack Guzowski, a junior music technology major at Duquesne, has worked alongside Iasella for school projects and also went down to Nashville to play guitar on a track Iasella was recording.

After seeing him in a professional setting, Guzowski knew that his classmate was up for any challenge a sound engineering career would throw at him.

“Dino is probably one of the hardest working people I ever met,” Guzowski said. “Anything that is in his way he will figure out a way to get by it. He knows what he wants and how he wants to get it.”

Alongside long work hours, Iasella is diving head first into a changing industry with at-home recording on the rise, making it easier to find someone who can do the work for less.

“Because people love this stuff so much, they will completely devalue it,” he said.
 

But, none of the challenges matter to Iasella because he just wants to keep creating good music.

During the summer, Iasella invited Gibson Musisko, lead singer and guitarist for the Pittsburgh-based band Poster Child, to come down and record with his group. The pair talked about how indie bands are popping up throughout the Pittsburgh region and that live venues such as Haven in Oakland are allowing local music to thrive.

This is part of the reason why Iasella wants to start his own studio in Pittsburgh after he graduates from Duquesne.

“I think we could have a pretty strong independent community,” he said. “All these [artists and engineers] are going to get to do exactly what they want, and there won’t be external pressures.”

Iasella gets his love for the field from his parents, who always created a musical household for him.

He got his first taste of a recording studio in sixth grade after his band, Asicosa, won free studio time from a raffle.

At first, Iasella did not realize he wanted to be on the opposite side of the glass from the artists, but over time he was drawn to it.

When Iasella first walked onto Duquesne’s campus, he was simply just talking about producers he admired. This summer he got to spend time with some of them in person.

“I look back and I’m just like I’m still doing this somehow. You just expect it to be done at some point,” he said. “I feel really lucky to be doing it.”

Kaitlyn Hughes can be reached at khughes10@duq.edu