A state-of-the-art recording studio will soon open on the campus of a public school in a low-income area of Honolulu. It’s an eight-year project that’s been growing at Washington Middle School.
In a three-part series this week, HPR’s Jackie Young takes a closer look at the studio — and what it could mean for students — and their futures.
“You are in Line Studio at WMS,” says Line Studio Director Sam Fong. Why is it called Line Studio?
“Our mission is to help people achieve their potential in their journey and find their purpose, and a line doesn’t have a beginning and an endpoint. It just goes forward, so you can pick any point you want to begin.”
Eight years ago, Washington Middle School Principal Michael Harano asked Fong to transform an existing 1,600-foot classroom into a media classroom. He knew Fong had a background in music and audio engineering.
At an industry convention on the continent, Fong asked for help from a famous studio designer who’s worked with some big names.
“And John Storyk came up, and started talking about his studios — he talked about Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and all of that … This man is obviously really special. You can tell he’s really passionate about what he does, and you can tell he’s a great teacher. So I thought, ‘This is the man. I gotta ask him.’”
Storyk agreed to help.
After eight years and more than $3 million in capital improvement funds, Fong explains the significance of the finished studio.
“When you close the door, it’s a very, very special recording environment.” It includes three recording spaces and a control room.
The entire studio can be globally networked, and is set up to receive and transmit 512 channels.
It can also connect a specially built grand piano to audio studios around the world — and play music back in the exact same style as the person sitting at the instrument — wherever they are.
“Sarah McLachlan. This is her playing... So you can kinda see how the piano is moving — the pedals, you can see the hammer. You can also hear the acoustics of the room... All of the outboard gears you hear is what you will see in commercial studios.”
Fong says the studio’s value goes far beyond music. He sees applications including science, technology, engineeering and math. Other educational opportunities range from art design and language arts through writing lyrics to social studies — by recording oral histories.
Read and listen to parts two and three of this series. We’ll take a closer look at some of the other promises — and challenges — of this innovative sound studio.
