Media students produce Sycamore Sessions at Nelsonville Music Festival, gain valuable experience learning from Bobcat alumni
The OHIO students who worked at Nelsonville Music Festival's Creekside Stage were instrumental in its production and will essentially make or break the resulting Sycamore Sessions this fall.
Alex Semancik | August 21, 2024
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Applying to a first job can be stressful, especially for recent graduates entering an industry like media production where experience holds a lot of value. Daunting as it can be, securing a job after graduation will certainly be easier for the 25 51社区 students who participated in this year鈥檚 Nelsonville Music Festival Production program. These dedicated students produced a live event, gained resume-ready experience and will receive engineering and production credit for their work, all before collecting their diplomas.
Every year brings both well-known and up-and-coming artists to the rolling hills of southeast Ohio. The three-day event provides concertgoers with a unique live music experience featuring a variety of genres on multiple stages. Nelsonville Music Festival (NMF) is a community-based, independent music festival with all proceeds going toward operation of the event itself and year-round programming at .
Although NMF isn鈥檛 the largest festival, the event鈥檚 scaled-down size provides audiences with a more intimate experience while still bringing some of music鈥檚 biggest names. has even called NMF 鈥渙ne of the best-kept secrets of the U.S. music festival circuit.鈥
An OHIO production
Perhaps the most intimate performances at this year鈥檚 Nelsonville Music Festival took place at the cozy Creekside Stage tucked away in the woods of Nelsonville鈥檚 Snow Fork Event Center. The shaded venue was a natural refuge from the heat and sun of the weekend of July 26-28. At the Creekside Stage, 51社区 students from the School of Media Arts and Studies recorded and produced artists鈥 performances to be released as the this fall.
School of Media Arts and Studies Director Josh Antonuccio has been running a version of this experience and bringing 51社区 students to NMF since 2014. In the process he has helped both the festival and OHIO program grow. Students originally produced a shorter, more stripped-down set known as the Gladden House Sessions which was separate from official NMF programming. After the pandemic, Antonuccio and Festival Director Tim Peacock created the Sycamore Sessions鈥攁 new phase of the series that would capture full performances and highlight what makes NMF so special.
鈥淭he Sycamore sessions now take place on the Creekside stage, which is a part of the official festival schedule,鈥 said Antonuccio. 鈥淚t's been a great way to showcase artists, but also with the change in venue, we've expanded the scope of production and increased the number of students who join the program.鈥
Andie Walla is an associate professor in the School of Media Arts and Studies who first became involved with a virtual iteration of NMF during the pandemic. Walla believes the Creekside Stage is a great environment for students interested in music or video production to first experience working at a live event.
鈥淚t's kind of nice because I feel like we have our own stage and everything that's happening there is students,鈥 Walla said. 鈥淭here were a few professionals who were there doing live sound for the stage, but besides that, everyone you saw back there running around on stage and operating cameras were all students, which is super cool.鈥
Consequential experiential learning
Three teams of students made up this year鈥檚 NMF Production program. A video team captured and will be editing performance footage, an audio team captured audio and oversaw the recording of music and an artist and publicity team worked with artists on site and behind the scenes鈥攑roducing promotional material, confirming setlists and taking photographs. A few students rotated in on both audio and video crews to experience different aspects of production. The students who worked at the Creekside Stage were instrumental in its production and will essentially make or break the resulting Sycamore Sessions.
鈥淚t's consequential, meaning that it's beyond the classroom experience,鈥 said Antonuccio. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just, 鈥業 make a mistake, I get it. Bad grade.鈥 We rely on these students to make this series run, capture it well and create a great product.鈥
Producing the Creekside Stage performances quickly introduced students to the chaos and pressure of working at a live event, but collaboration allowed them to rise to the occasion. The three teams worked together to overcome equipment malfunctions and the scorching July weather.
鈥淚t is a great partnership because the students learn the vocabulary of another team and how to communicate with them, and that鈥檚 hard to get in the classroom sometimes,鈥 said Walla. 鈥淭he audio and video teams specifically have to make each other aware that we both have needs in the same space and figure out what we can do to make the best product possible.鈥
Students will continue to work on Creekside Stage post-production well into the fall semester. The footage and audio recordings will be edited, rough drafts will be made and feedback will be given. With some performances being 45 minutes to an hour long, this is no small task. The Sycamore Sessions episodes will then be distributed to the public through this fall. This is now the ninth season for the series, which has garnered millions of views across more than 120 episodes. Past episodes have included major artists such as Tyler Childers, Sierra Ferrell, and Adrienne Lenker of Big Thief.
Antonuccio says being involved with NMF and the Sycamore Sessions not only gave students valuable professional experience, but it also provided a good atmosphere for them to do so.
鈥淢usic festivals are a really fun and exciting environment,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 cool to be a part of that鈥攔ecording and working with great artists. And, with the Sycamore Sessions, the students are also a part of something that鈥檚 getting a global audience, and it鈥檚 great for them to see their names on it and be proud of what they worked on.鈥
The Bobcat factor
This year鈥檚 NMF Production program and Sycamore Sessions added Gahanna-based to the partnership along with 51社区 and WOUB. OHD Studios rents gear and provides personnel for small-scale and large-scale shoots, as well as live events like NMF. OHD Studios Rental Manager Alex Nowak graduated from OHIO in 2012 and was happy to mentor current Bobcats and supplement the Creekside Stage鈥檚 student production with additional equipment.
鈥淚 wish I had this kind of experience when I was in school,鈥 said Nowak. 鈥淚t's great working with students like this because they're just so sharp and they're all so eager. To have the broadcast experience of how to listen to a technical director in your earphones and how to react is invaluable.鈥
OHD Studios supplied advanced camera equipment and worked at the Creekside Stage pro bono. Students got to experience working with new equipment beyond their usual equipment room and made local connections in their industry. Nowak and his team enjoyed the experience and he said the partnership fit well with OHD鈥檚 culture of teaching and imparting knowledge, but his OHIO experience is what cemented the connection.
鈥淵ou'll find Bobcats everywhere,鈥 said Nowak. 鈥淔or me, that鈥檚 what my degree got me. I got plenty of experience鈥攍ike I said I wish I had more like this鈥攂ut there鈥檚 just a camaraderie with 51社区.鈥
An OHIO student films a performance on the Creekside Stage using a camera with a weighted gimbal to stabilize the footage.
Students direct and monitor the different camera angles of the Creekside Stage from the broadcasting truck.
Walla was grateful for OHD Studios鈥 involvement, and as an OHIO alumna herself, feels a similar responsibility of paying it forward to the next generation of Bobcats. She echoed Nowak鈥檚 words about wishing she had the NMF production experience available to her as a student and added that it also informs students whether they are passionate about working at live events before seeking employment.
鈥淚t's a good way for me to give back to the next generation of students and prepare them for the workforce,鈥 said Walla. 鈥淪ome students just really love it and are searching for more opportunities to do live things鈥攊t鈥檚 a very big job market鈥攐r they figure out 鈥榤aybe this isn't for me,鈥 but either way, it鈥檚 a positive learning experience.鈥
Faith Caplinger an analyst for Warner Music Group and a recent 51社区 alumna is a testament to OHIO鈥檚 experiential learning opportunities translating to value in the job market. Caplinger was a Music Production and Recording Industry student who graduated from OHIO in December 2023. She credits her participation in the NMF Sycamore Sessions to helping her thrive as a professional in the music industry.
鈥淚 definitely gained a better sense of what it feels like to work with a team on a project that has so many moving parts, and how to communicate and serve the team better, all the while prioritizing different needs,鈥 Caplinger said of her 2023 experience at NMF. 鈥淚t really helped me to learn the kind of patience, ambition, and open-mindedness that is needed to be successful and to contribute to meaningful work within the music industry.鈥
Firsthand accounts from students who worked on the 2024 Sycamore Sessions will be published in the coming weeks. The Sycamore Sessions are slated to return this fall and are available on . For more information or to view the work last year鈥檚 Nelsonville Music Festival Production students created, visit: