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Have you ever wondered how your favorite songs or records were made? Ever wondered what the inside of a professional recording studio looked and felt like? Curious about how recording equipment — from big consoles to microphones to computers (and everything in between) — really works?
La La Land Recording Camp is a professional studio recording camp designed specifically for teenagers, offering a full week of dynamic, hands-on experience with a world-class producer/engineer in Louisville’s coziest and coolest studio, La La Land. At La La Land Recording Camp, you will learn the nuts & bolts of recording professional audio, from hardware basics to digital audio workstations (DAWs), live instrument recording, signal processing (think reverb and echo), and multi-track mixing, as well as intangible insight in how a producer/engineer helps get the best performances (ie, takes) out of a live band playing real music in a room together.
Each day at La La Land Recording Camp you will dive head first into free-flowing conversations and hands-on tutorials focusing on how outboard gear works, which microphones work best for different instruments and voices, how compressors and effects processors change the shape, feel, and color of sound, and how to organize a mixing session to get the absolute best end result — a song you and the artists you work with are proud of and want to share with the world.
La La Land Recording Camp will culminate with an actual recording session with a guest band, where you and your fellow campers will run the show, set up the session, mic the instruments, fine-tune all the tones, help make production and engineering choices, mix a song, and celebrate your success with a celebratory playback party.
Interested in learning more? Contact us at hello@lalalandsound.com
Day 1: Gear Deep Dive – Mic to Console
Focus: Hardware Basics
- Types of microphones: dynamic, condenser, ribbon
- What they’re used for + real-world examples
- Intro to preamps: function, coloring sound (live demo)
- Compressor basics: what they do & how to hear them
- Routing audio on both big-format boards & home setups
- Hands-on mock routing challenge in small groups
Day 2: DAW & Recording Basics
Focus: Digital Foundations
- DAW tour: layout, transport, tracks, plugins
- Recording a sound: signal flow into DAW
- EQ basics: what to boost, cut, and avoid
- Gain staging: setting levels for clean recording
- Show & tell: what compression looks and sounds like in a DAW
Day 3: Instrument Recording + Sound Control
Focus: Real Instrument Recording
- Mic’ing vocals, guitar, and drums
- Phase issues: what they are & how to check for them
- Low-end management: high-pass filters, avoiding mud
- Lab: students record short instrumental takes using different mic techniques
Day 4: Mixing 101
Focus: Bringing it Together
- Mixing basics: levels, panning, EQ, space
- Basic effects
- Hands-on: students start levelling a pre-recorded session and adding effects
- Peer-to-peer listening + feedback session
Day 5: Live Band Recording Day
Focus: Full Session Execution
- Guest band arrives, students assist in full setup
- Mic’ing drums, vocals, instruments – real-time decision making
- Students help manage routing, gain staging, and recording
- Begin light mixing/editing of live session
- End-of-week celebration + playback party
Daily Schedule
| Time | Activity |
| 9:50a – 10:15a | Arrival, Daily Overview |
| 10:15a – 11:30a | Workshop Session 1 |
| 11:30a – 11:45a | Morning Snack Break |
| 11:45a – 1:00p | Workshop Session 2 |
| 1:00p – 1:45p | Lunch |
| 1:45p – 3:15p | Workshop Session 3 / Hands-on Lab |
| 3:15p – 4:00p | Recap / Q&A / Group Discussion / Demos |
Please read the La La Land Recording Camp FAQs
Camper Registration
If you are interested in La La Land Recording Camp, please complete the application below and we will be in touch.