Before students got ready for the Grammy Awards, the group headed to EastWest Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, for a tour of the world-famous rooms and consoles.

Nikki Gorman led the tour, taking the students to the different studios within the building. The first studio’s setup was being torn down while they were there, but Gorman told the students facts about the studio and what albums and songs were created there.

“It was almost like there was noise in the silence when we were all just kind of taking it in because they were saying all the songs are recorded in there, and I’m just listening to them in my head, imagining being in the studio at that time,” Emily Eastep, an MTSU senior majoring in music business, said.

There was a studio students were unable to photograph, as it was set up for an artist’s session with specific instruments. EastWest regularly changes the instruments in its studios to match artists’ needs and preferences.

The back of the studio building held various instruments and the podium that singer Frank Sinatra used when recording “My Way.”

“I thought it was really interesting to see all the rare and the vintage recording gear that they still have in use and trying to piece together like a little bit about their workflow based on what’s wrapped up and what’s currently in use,” Chandler Furr, an MTSU graduate student for recording arts and technologies, said. “… It was really cool to get a little glimpse into that.”

The Grammys experience

After a quick trip back to the hotel to get glammed up in preparation for music’s biggest night, students loaded into the van and headed to Peacock Theatre for the pre-Grammys.

The venue allowed for open seating, so students sat wherever they could find an empty spot, including just a few rows from the front. Some sat near nominees and Grammy winners.

“They’re just normal people, and you get to see that because you’re sitting there,” Anna Shinholster, an MTSU senior majoring in commercial songwriting, said.

Between the pre-Grammys and the main event, students attended a Leadership Music party and networked with more MTSU alumni and others in the music industry. Devin Bowles, an MTSU theater alum who now plays Joe Jackson in the “MJ: The Musical” tour, attended the event and spoke with students about his touring experiences.

The group then headed to Crypto.com Arena and took their seats in the 300s section for the Grammy Awards.

Students appreciated the view and, as the show went on, pointed out the sets seen in the backstage tour and the different aspects of production gone unseen on television.

“It was still crazy to see it again, walking in again and seeing everything,” Shinholster said. “And it’s just hard to process the fact that you’re actually there and looking at the real people in the same building with you at the same time.”

For Chandler Furr, an MTSU graduate student in recording arts and technologies, watching the Grammys in person made his dreams and future goals seem much more attainable.

“I’ve had this kind of idea that there’s such an insurmountable gap between what I do and what these people do,” Furr said. “And this kind of experience really made that gap seem a lot smaller, even if I’m in the nosebleeds.”

The students’ tickets came from various people who are part of the Recording Academy associated with MTSU, so the audience members around the group were part of the music industry.

“I felt like we were a part of it,” Emily Eastep, an MTSU senior majoring in music business, said about sitting among songwriters, producers and more. “… I kept sitting there telling myself, ‘I’m at the Grammys. You’re looking at the Grammy stage. Soak it all in. You’re at the Grammys.”

After a late night from volunteering at the MusiCares Person of the Year Gala, students had an early start to their fourth day in Los Angeles on Saturday, heading to MTSU alumnus Matt Guiler’s studio to see where he edits sound for movie trailers.

Students filed into a room that looked like a combination of a small home movie theater and a recording studio, poised to hear what Guiler planned to show them. He queued up the trailer for the new “Anaconda” movie and let it play before explaining the sound edits he made and telling the story of how he was drawn to this job.

He said he failed his introduction to studio class at MTSU and had to wait a semester before attempting it again. Because he was a transfer student without room in his schedule for general education classes, he took electronics classes in the meantime.

Eventually, his career led him to Los Angeles, where he repeatedly applied to work at the same studio while taking odd jobs around the city, like painting houses. His first movie trailer he worked on was for “The Social Network,” when he was placed on the project suddenly, moving up from being an assistant.

“Just hearing how eager he is to talk about everything that he does, and he’s passionate about working with students like us was just awesome,” Gabriela Diaz, an MTSU senior majoring in audio production, said. Diaz also connected with Guiler because she is a transfer student who failed a class her first semester at MTSU, and she found Guiler’s story inspiring.

Guiler hadn’t originally planned to become someone who edits sound for movie trailers, but he came upon it naturally in his career. The other students likened Guiler’s experience to some other industry professionals they met on the trip.

“I thought it was cool, because being in the music industry, sometimes you’re too focused in a straight line of just music, and you forget that music is everywhere,” Emily Eastep, an MTSU senior majoring in music business, said.

For Friday’s day three of MTSU’s Grammy trip, the students had a bit of a lighter schedule — almost. Though events weren’t scheduled as back-to-back as previous days, students remained on their feet almost the entire day as they volunteered at MusiCares’ Person of the Year Gala honoring singer-songwriter Mariah Carey.

After a morning session of making their way onto the red carpet for photos with MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee and Beverly Keel, the Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment dean, students arrived at the Los Angeles Convention Center early for their eight-hour-long shifts.

All students worked in the dining hall section, meaning they were in charge of helping people find their seats for the event, helping seat various music industry officials and some celebrities. After about two hours of ushering, the concert portion of the Gala began, containing performances from singers like Laufey, Teddy Swims, Charlie Puth, Billy Porter and Busta Rhymes.

“It’s just amazing seeing them live because these are people that we’ve heard of our entire lives, and we’ve heard recordings, but to actually see them doing it in person and hearing it with your own ears, that’s just amazing,” Anna Shinholster, an MTSU senior majoring in commercial songwriting, said.

Before the performances and work, volunteers participated in a training, which ended up being more of a verbal rundown of how the night would go because rehearsals ran late.

“It worked out because it was relatively simple,” Colman Connolly, a senior MTSU student majoring in audio production, said about the small amount of training. “We each were assigned sections in the dining hall, and all we had to do was quickly memorize where each table and section was, and as people were walking in, usher them to their seats. So, I thought it was enjoyable. It was cool.”

Because of some available downtime before the event, students mingled with other volunteers who came from across the country and participated in various parts of the music industry and other industries; one of the team leads was a practicing psychologist in LA and had worked the MusiCares event for a few years prior.

“Everyone that we were able to meet that we worked alongside, those that have just entered the industry like us, and those have kind of been veterans within it, and it was just really cool just hearing their stories of where they’ve come from, their experience and how welcoming people were,” Emily Eastep, an MTSU senior majoring in music business, said. “… It was just a great learning opportunity for us to all experience.

On day two of MTSU’s Grammy trip on Jan. 29, the students experienced pinch-me moments through taking a backstage tour of the Grammys and receiving a semi-VIP tour of the Griffith Observatory.

After navigating through all the moving stage parts, sound rehearsals and catering workers, Corey Walthall, a public relations coordinator with Clyne Media, led the group up the tunnel from the bottom of Crypto.com Arena into the main area to view the Grammys rehearsal from the perspective of a celebrity.

“I’m speechless,” Emily Eastep, an MTSU senior majoring in music business, said. “When we walked out on the floor with the entire red carpet [on the floor] and seeing it, I was just in awe. I can’t even process how to explain the feeling.”

Before seeing set pieces for not-yet-announced acts, the group met with Joel Singer, a technical engineer for Music Mix Mobile, who explained how the live sound from the Grammys stage gets mixed for the CBS broadcast.

“The technical knowledge that you have to know in order to be at that level to do that kind of show is wild,” Holly Allen, the assistant director of the MTSU Career Development Center, who joined the students on the tour, said.

The Grammys took over Crypto.com Arena a week ago, when it was still an ice rink for the Los Angeles Kings hockey team. Rehearsals began Thursday and continue until Sunday morning, when they do the first full run-through.

Dressing rooms take over the locker rooms of the Kings and the LA Lakers for the week, decorating them with specific furniture pieces requested by different artists.

“Walking out of the tunnel like an actual Lakers player does and being able to look up and see the banners in the rafters and the retired jerseys, [like] I’m at a loss for words,” Chandler Furr, an MTSU graduate student for recording arts and technologies, said. “That was so cool. It was incredible.”

A tour of Griffith Observatory

After stopping at Pink’s Hot Dogs for lunch — and coincidentally meeting the owners, Gloria and Richard — and spending hours at the famous Amoeba Records store, the group headed up the Hollywood hills to the world-famous Griffith Observatory, where MTSU alum Rich Evirs works as one of about 10 telescope demonstrators.

Evirs graduated in 1992 with a degree in radio and television production, but he eventually moved to LA and furthered his passion for astronomy by volunteering at Griffith Observatory and soon became a staff member there.

“It’s just interesting to see [that] you think you’re going to start in one thing, and you end up doing a lot of different things,” Gabriela Diaz, an MTSU senior audio production major, said. “You don’t really know where this industry is going to take you.”

Anna Shinholster, an MTSU senior majoring in commercial songwriting, highlighted how the people met on day two followed their passions to wherever it took them.

Evirs ended the observatory tour with a viewing of the world’s most viewed telescope, which he operates.

Straight from the Los Angeles Airport, the MTSU students headed to the Disney Television Animation studio in Glendale, California, to meet with Jay Stutler, the senior vice president of music for Disney Television Animation.

Though much of the conversation involved disclosing future Disney projects — visitors were required to sign non-disclosure agreements — Stutler spoke to students about his passion for creation and authenticity.

“It was nice to hear [Stutler] be so authentically passionate about something,” Gabriela Diaz, an MTSU senior audio production major, said. “Obviously, it’s not just a job to him. He enjoys going to work every day and just putting the whole team together.”

Since Stutler joined Disney, he’s been working to restructure the hiring processes for the music side, lessening bias in the process and increasing chances for lesser-known composers and artists. This is done by having songwriters submit completed demos as #1, #2, #3 and on, with network executives making the final decision through this anonymity.

Stutler had the students involved in a fake decision-making process, choosing between four demos for a Disney Junior show to best capture the scene and emotions wanted from the episode. While the students agreed that each demo could have been its own song in its own right, they had to act as the network executives and make the decision.

“I thought the coolest thing from the Disney trip was the level of access that he gave us to the projects that he was working on,” Chandler Furr, an MTSU graduate student for recording arts and technologies, said. “Seeing some of the stuff that was kept under NDA was obviously really cool, but seeing the different iterations between what they picked versus what they didn’t pick and why they didn’t pick it was a really interesting insight into the professional level.”

Stutler explained that songs that aren’t chosen, he often hears later on in national commercials or different projects.

“Just write a great song and hope that it sticks,” Stutler said.

Anna Shinholster, an MTSU senior majoring in commercial songwriting, thought that Stutler’s message about creating art out of passion and how that passion leads to the best creations stuck with her the most.