Studying Music & Recording at Full Sail University

Published November 30th, 2023

By: Abby Stassen

Full Sail University started out as an audio recording workshop in 1979. Today, Full Sail honors those roots with several areas of study in music and recording. Undergraduate students can explore audio production, music production, recording arts, show production, and music business. (Full Sail even earned a spot on Billboard’s list of Top Music Business Schools in 2022.) Whether students are learning on campus or online, the university’s commitment to real-world skills and hands-on learning can help prepare them to become audio professionals.

In the background, three guitarists are seen in a recording booth. In the mid-ground in focus are two Full Sail artists sitting at a mixing board. In the foreground and out of focus are two more artists sitting at a laptop

Full Sail University’s Real-World Music & Recording Classes

Some of the course highlights in Full Sail’s music and recording areas of study include:

Recording Principles: An introductory class where students learn to operate a range of audio tools, like microphones and mixers.

Audio Postproduction: An overview of production sound and audio postproduction sound design for film and television.

Audio & Visual Technologies: A live production class that introduces students to basic audio, lighting, and visual technology for corporate multimedia events.

Music Copyright & Publishing: Students learn about the business mechanisms of the music publishing industry and how to protect their creative works in this course.

Full Sail’s Audio-Focused Campus Facilities

Audio Temple: Full Sail’s flagship recording studio is outfitted with industry-standard equipment, like an SSL Duality Hybrid console and a Yamaha Disklavier grand piano. Students can work on their own projects in the studio or observe professional musicians as they record live. Full Sail grad and Grammy-winning mix engineer Leslie Brathwaite has also mixed tracks for artists like Ariana Grande and Cardi B in the Audio Temple.

Music Labs: Full Sail’s music and audio labs give students the chance to work with tools they’ll encounter in the industry, including consoles from API, Audient, and Rupert Neve Designs, as well as ProTools workstations. Students can also record, engineer, and mix audio in more than two dozen vocal and post-production suites on campus.

Full Sail Live Venue: In this 22,000-square-foot venue, students get hands-on experience working on live productions. Past events include everything from concerts to professional wrestling matches. Students practice running sound, lights, and video equipment during events.

Full Sail’s Music & Recording Live Event Opportunities

Students interested in audio production for live events have plenty of opportunities to gain real-world experience at Full Sail. They can produce a small show in the Treehouse, Full Sail’s student-run performance venue; work with live bands in a range of audio production roles in Full Sail’s Live 1 venue; volunteer at local concerts and community events; and produce a large-scale concert in the Full Sail Live venue.

Project LaunchBox

Students learning about music and recording at Full Sail will have access to everything they need to complete their studies with Project LaunchBox. Some of the tools and software in music and recording LaunchBoxes include a MacBook Pro, an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, and professional-grade microphones and headphones. After a student graduates, the LaunchBox is theirs to keep.

Full Sail’s Notable Music & Recording Alumni

Full Sail honors graduates who have made exceptional contributions to their industries by inducting them into the Full Sail Hall of Fame. Some notable Hall of Fame graduates include:

Jordan “DJ Swivel” Young Producer, Songwriter, Mix Engineer): Jordan has worked with major artists like Beyoncé, The Chainsmokers, Coldplay, Jay Z, Rihanna, BTS, Lil Nas X, and Dua Lipa. He also co-founded SKIO Music, where he helps emerging artists and labels with licensing and promotions.

Tom Todia (Audio Director, Electronic Arts; Co-Founder, Engine Audio): Tom is a sound designer, field recordist, and audio engineer who has worked on video games, virtual reality, and 360 productions. Some of his credits include EA College Football, Madden NFL, and NBA Live.

Jeff “Supa Jeff” Villanueva (Sound Designer, Recording Engineer): Jeff has worked on audio for TV and film, video games, concert tours, theme parks and attractions, and the music industry. He’s worked with artists like Rihanna, DJ Khaled, and Beyoncé; he also assisted with the recording of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Disney’s Encanto.

Gary Rizzo (Sound Re-Recording Mixer): Gary has worked on more than 200 film projects including How To Train Your Dragon, Interstellar, The Dark Knight, and The Incredibles. He also won the Academy Award for Best Achievement in Sound Mixing both in 2010 for Inception and in 2018 for Dunkirk.