GTCC music technology students set to host release party for their first record album on April 25

“I think this has been really helpful (toward our careers),” Ally Young says. “Me and others are graduating with a true credit. We have legitimate experience in mixing, mastering, and releasing an album."

When Mark Dillon hatched the dream of a student-led record label at Guilford Technical Community College last fall, he wasn’t exactly sure what the process would entail. The professor of music technology was sure, though, that he had the students who could not only pull it off, but shine in the process.

Now, he has proof that dreams can come true as the student-led Ti-Tone Records label prepares to release its first album “Community” at a public release party on April 25.

The 13-song album was written, performed, mixed, mastered, and recorded entirely by GTCC students and faculty members, with music majors providing the background instrumentation.

“I didn’t really have a concept for the album, but in my mind, it was going to be 10 to 12 songs, and it was going to be an actual album,” said Dillon, who received a $4,500 Glady S. Sears Award to fund the project.

More than 50 GTCC students have been involved in the project to date. None have been more involved than Ally Young, who received an associate degree in fine arts and music last May and will receive two associate degrees this May, one in recording engineering and the other in live sound and lighting.

“Before I came back to school, I was in retail management,” said 32-year-old Young, who attended a four-year college out of high school, discovered it wasn’t a good fit, and entered the workforce where she stayed until a couple of years ago. “I was one of the older students who had strong organizational and management skills. Those are skills that were needed. Getting an artist to respond to emails has been one of my greatest struggles.

“I’ve kind of had my hand in every part of the album. To be successful, you have to know a little bit of everything. I’m trying to get into every aspect I can. This is not an industry you can be lazy in.”

One of the first steps in creating the album was finding content. Dillon put out the word that original songs were needed, and from the 35 submissions received, the list was trimmed to 13.

“We got a wide range of songs, from country to Americana, pop and rock,” said Dillon.

Then the songwriters had to step into the business side of the music world.

“They wrote the song. They had to copyright it and sign a contract about fair use of the song,” Dillon said.

The next step was recording the songs. With five GTCC recording studios, that are on par with any in the professional music industry, Dillon says there were plenty of resources at hand. And of course, there was plenty of talent to draw from for the recording process.

Students of the music program were called on to provide backing music for the recording sessions. They will also provide music at the release party performances.

“This process reminded us we have all these talented music students here at GTCC who can play on these albums,” said Young.

Young stepped from behind the scenes to record a song she had written. She, like the rest of the singer/songwriters on the album, will perform her song live at the release party. That’s nothing new for Young. She has performed many times, by herself and with a band.

The evening, like all other parts of the album, will be produced by the students. By night’s end, Young figures all involved will have another positive accolade to add to their resume.

“I think this has been really helpful (toward our careers),” said Young. “Me and others are graduating with a true credit. We have legitimate experience in mixing, mastering, and releasing an album. I and the other students involved will have an album we mixed, mastered, recorded, and then staged a release party in our portfolio. We know how it all is connected.”

For more information on the free, public Ti-Tones release party concert, visit https://gtcc.me/44nIfCP.