Contemporary Music - Facilities
Benildus Hall
The CMP wing of Benildus Hall is the hub of a vibrant music community. The upstairs classrooms have floor-to-ceiling windows affording spectacular views of the Sangre de Christo Mountains to the East.
Nearly every room in the building, including practice rooms, is wired for high-speed Internet access. Student access to most practice, studio, and rehearsal spaces is available 8 AM to 10 PM seven days a week via a secure card-key system.
The new CMP wing opened in the Fall 2005 and was built from the ground up to support music composition, performance, recording, and study.
The Atrium Sound Space is a gallery dedicated to presenting sound art installations as sonic environment in public spaces. Located in the lobby of Benildus Hall, the Atrium Sound Space runs continuously throughout the year - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Click here to visit the Atrium Sound Space site.
The World Music Studio houses a 150-year old set of bronze gamelan instruments from the Cirebon region of West Java, Indonesia. The instruments are used for student ensembles, community classes and workshops. The studio layout and acoustics make it suitable for both rehearsals and smaller-scale public performances. In addition, space is provided with full PA-system support for a wide range of other world music ensembles.
The Composition Studio is equipped with analog and digital mixers; 8-track and 2-track analog recorders; a full range of analog and digital signal processing; a voltage-controlled analog modular synthesizer; a computer-based digital synthesis and computer music composition system; an array of MIDI synthesizer modules and controllers; a Yamaha MIDI acoustic upright piano; and a 5.1 surround-sound monitor system.
The Recording Studio offers a computer-based digital multitrack environment, with ProTools and Nuendo, on a dual processor PowerMac G5; 24 tracks of analog recording; interconnected 56-channel analog and 96-channel moving-fader digital mixing consoles; high-end signal processing; and a generous assortment of high-quality microphones. The main control room is linked to two studio rooms, four smaller control pods/isolation booths, and a soundproofed equipment room.
The O’Shaughnessy Performance Space is the nexus of student, faculty, guest, and community performance activities within the CMP. With warm and supportive acoustics and an innovative door/wall system that opens one end of the space out onto an outdoor patio, the O’Shaughnessy Performance Space is an elegant and intimate space for performers and audience alike.
The Music Computer Lab houses 12 PowerMac G5 computer stations with numerous software packages and hardware for digital audio production, CD-RW recording, computer music composition, sound file processing, synthesis, sampling, scoring, and MIDI sequencing. The facility is networked via 100BaseT Ethernet providing connections to the Internet and networked printers.
Our classrooms are completely wired for network and Internet data access, opening these instructional spaces to the vast electronic world of text, audio, video, photos, etc. With high quality audio systems and available computer and projector systems, faculty can integrate electronic resources into lectures and presentations.
A variety of teaching studios and offices house the various faculty teaching and administrative activities throughout the building.
Six practice rooms, most with upright pianos and one with an electronic drum kit, provide acoustically isolated spaces for students to study and practice.
The Class Piano Lab houses a state-of-the-art networked electronic piano teaching system.
(800) 456-2673 or (505) 473-6133 * Fax: (505) 473-6127 * admissions@csf.edu