Studio Policy Manual

Getting and keeping studio access

Studio access is granted to those who have:

• Successfully completed MTM 3110 with a passing grade on the final checkout exam.

To keep access, you are expected to:

• Follow all the guidelines in this manual.
• Volunteer a minimum of 6 hours each semester of logged studio maintenance work.

Professor Yonas grants studio access by hand. You can check whether you have it on the Your access page.

Booking a studio

This changed. All studio bookings are made here, in this app. They used to be requested by email and written onto a shared Google Calendar. Do not add sessions to the Google Calendar — a session that is not in this app is not booked, will not show on the schedule other students read, and cannot be changed or cancelled by you.

1. Think about which studio you need and why, and how long you realistically need.
2. Open the studios, find an open slot, and click it.
3. Say what the session is, and give an email and a phone number. These are required — the schedule exists so an MTM 3120 student without studio access can find your session and offer to assist. A booking nobody can respond to defeats the point.

If you have booked a session you will not use, cancel it as soon as you can so somebody else can have the room. Open the booking and tap Cancel booking. Booking time and not using it wastes student resources; do it repeatedly and you will lose studio access.

• You can book up to 2 weeks ahead. The app will tell you if you reach further than that.
• Sessions are visible to everyone, signed in or not, so people can schedule around each other.
• The studios are available 24/7.
• Do not use more than one studio at a time unless your session genuinely warrants it.

How long you can book

• Standard mixing and overdub sessions: blocks of up to 4 hours, bookable in 30-minute steps.
• Larger tracking sessions (say, a four-piece band in Studio A) need more time. Full day lockouts are allowed, and occasionally a two-day lockout — but both need approval from Professor Yonas in advance, with an overview of the session.
• In the app, anything over 4 hours becomes a request rather than an instant booking. It is not yours until he approves it.

Session logs

This changed. Session logs used to be filled in on a Google Sheet and photos emailed. They are now completed in the app, on the Session logs tab.

Every session on campus needs a session log. After your session:

1. Photograph the room, cleaned up. This is required — you cannot close out without it. Photograph every space you used: if you used the control room and the live room, photograph both. If you took anything out of the mic locker, photograph the locker too.
2. Report anything broken. Any gear that did not work properly gets reported here. Also email Professor Yonas about breakage or damage immediately — the log is a record, not an alarm.
3. Describe the session. Who played, what you worked on, what you learned, what went wrong and how you solved it.

Photos are kept for a limited period and are visible only to you and to MTM faculty. They are never public and are never analysed — they exist so the room gets left the way you found it.

If you fall behind

Your session log is due when your session ends. That is the rule — a session is not finished until the room is photographed and the log is closed out. The app shows anything you still owe at the top of the Session logs tab.

Leaving one unfinished has a consequence. If a log is still missing a week after the session, new studio bookings pause until your logs are in. Sessions you have already booked are not cancelled, and nothing else changes — you keep your door codes and your access.

It lifts the moment you are caught up. Close out the sessions you owe and you can book again straight away. Nobody has to approve it and you do not need to ask anyone.

If a log is missing because the app would not let you submit it, that is our problem and not yours — email Professor Yonas and it will be sorted out.

The studios and what they are for

Take this with a grain of salt — Bono's vocals on every U2 hit you have heard were cut on an SM58 in the control room with the monitors blasting. There is no rule against recording vocals in a control room. This is the intention for the rooms.

Studio A

Our premier facility, with enough preamps and live room access to cut a full 5–6 piece band live. Main purpose: tracking — this is our only HDX system, so latency is minimal and you can build headphone mixes directly in Pro Tools. Secondary: mixing, as it is our best sounding control room.

Please do not book Studio A just to “cook up” and start ideas.

Studio B

A private vocal booth makes this perfect for vocals and close-mic overdubs. The booth is small and the glass is not your friend — watch your mic placement to keep reflections down, unless that is what you want. Main purpose: tracking and mixing.

Studio C

Shared vocal booth, reached by walking through Studio A's control room — so it is ideally a mix room. Book Studio B for tracking before Studio C; only book C for tracking if B is already taken. Main purpose: mixing, then tracking.

Studio D

The electronic music room: keyboards, modular synths, softsynths. Main purpose: electronic production and keyboard overdubs.

Studio E

New Dolby Atmos mix room, 10th floor Standard Building. Main purpose: mixing. Open and bookable — the older policy document still lists it as under construction; that is out of date.

Studios H1 and H2

Haas-Howell Building, with a shared vocal booth between them. Main purpose: mixing and tracking. The additional security door to the street must be locked before you leave.

Room 403 — Live Sound

Live sound room.

Studio rules

1. No food or drinks in the studio complex. Water in a sealed container is fine — never set a drink on a console, desk, or near gear.
2. Do not use the studios for practising your instrument or studying. These are professional working environments for course-related work.
3. Only use the studios when you have booked them.
4. Do not use more than one studio at a time, unless you booked a multi-room session that warrants it.
5. Do not make excessive noise or behave disruptively. Other people are working.
6. Do not use excessive volume in any studio.
7. Do not bring unauthorised guests into the studio complex.
8. You are responsible for the actions of the musicians you record and any guests you bring.
9. Report all breakage, damage and malfunctions to Professor Yonas immediately by email, and in your session log.
10. Never leave unauthorised people in the studios unsupervised.
11. Never share the keypad combination or keys with anyone.
12. Never leave doors propped open or unlocked after use.
13. Always leave the studios in better condition than you found them.
14. Always pull patch cords and normal the consoles and other equipment.
15. Sessions must begin on time and end on time, as a courtesy to whoever is next.
16. Always wrap cables and return mic stands to their standard storage positions.
17. Having studio access does not give you the right to barge into someone's session. Sessions are never closed — just let people focus.

This is not a commercial studio. You cannot sell studio time or invoice for services while using these spaces.

Door codes, late nights and breaks

• Door codes are only issued to students who have paid the lab fee. Never share your door code with anyone. Failure to follow this rule has serious consequences.
• After 1 AM your Panther Card stops opening the exterior doors of the Standard and Haas-Howell buildings. If you intend to book a session starting after 1 AM, email Professor Yonas with the subject line “Late Night Standard Building Access Request”.
• Winter and summer breaks need arrangements made well in advance. Break access is for students who follow studio procedures and help maintain and improve the studios.

This is not a commercial facility

The GSU studios exist for students to do coursework, research, and their own creative projects. They are not a business, and they cannot be used as one.

• You cannot charge anyone for studio time.
• You cannot rent the studios to anyone, for any amount, for any length of time.
• You cannot bill hourly — or in any other way — for work you do in these rooms.
• You cannot invoice for services performed here, including engineering, mixing or production.

This holds whether the money comes from an outside client, another student, or a band you are working with. If you are unsure whether a project crosses the line, ask Professor Yonas before you book the session, not afterwards.

Using the studios commercially is a fast way to lose studio access, and it puts the whole program's facilities at risk.

Studio manuals

Watch these before your first session in a room. They play here — you do not need to leave the page.

Studio A

Studios B, C, D, E, H1 and H2

No walkthrough videos yet. The policy document lists an overview for each of these, but the links are empty — so rather than pretend otherwise, they are named here as missing. Send Professor Yonas a note if you would find one useful, and it can be added.

Agree to these policies