College of the Canyons Builds New Studio

College of the Canyons’ Music Department recently turned an under-utilized classroom into a brand-new recording studio.

Santa Clarita, CA (December 2, 2025)—Aiming to prepare its students for recording workplaces and facilities available in Los Angeles, College of the Canyons’ Music Department recently turned an under-utilized classroom into a brand-new recording studio. The space allows students to learn Pro Tools, recording, mixing, and session workflows using industry-standard equipment in a professional environment.

With support from Perkins and CTE funding, instructor Bill Macpherson and his team transformed the classroom into a purpose-built recording environment. Key Code Media—already a trusted partner for the COC Media Entertainment Arts Department—was brought in to design, integrate and train faculty and students on the new systems.

Working in an existing space meant that Key Code faced a number of challenges, chief among them being the need to adapt the classroom to its new use. The site had to be acoustically isolated and rebuilt to create a classic “room within a room” studio space. That was only the beginning, however, because modern studios require modern technologies and the supporting structures that come with them; that created new wrinkles when the studio designers faced integrating with the college’s IT infrastructure, which was initially designed for high-bandwidth AVoIP and Dante audio networking.

Key Code Media ultimately created two main spaces for the college—a Music Lab Studio and Music Technology classroom.

The studio has been acoustically isolated and treated with dense wall insulation, custom-angled wall geometry and numerous ceiling baffles. Inside that space sits an Avid S6 M40 24-fader console with a variety of modules. The S6 system interfaces with dual Avid Pro Tools | HDX workstations and Avid MTRX Studio interfaces, while eight-channel Neve 1073OPX preamps provide warmth and remote-controlled gain, integrated via Dante for total recall. Monitoring is provided by a Genelec 7.1 surround system, built around Genelec 8351B coaxial monitors and 7380A subwoofers, calibrated using Genelec GLM software for precise room tuning.

Peek Inside Johnny Cash’s Home Studio

Meanwhile, across the hall sit the new Music Technology classroom— a teaching studio featuring an Avid S4 24-fader console, matching Pro Tools | HDX system and a smaller Genelec 7.1 monitoring setup. Both rooms share mirrored Mac-based systems and identical software configurations, ensuring continuity in student training and file interchange.

Discover more great stories—get a free Mix SmartBrief subscription!

Tying the two studios—and other rooms on campus—together to enable collaboration across the music facility, Key Code designed a facility-wide Dante AV-over-IP workflow, connected via Netgear PoE+ Gigabit switches. This allowed multiple studios and classrooms to share I/O, preamps and playback systems over standard Cat6 infrastructure. A single Dante link now connects the studio to the college’s upstairs rehearsal hall, letting students record full ensembles from multiple rooms.