The festival life
Junior Diem Dang gains a professional opportunity be attending the Beyond Wonderland music festival.
Living and working in Los Angeles for the past two months has been challenging but rewarding. One of my most memorable experiences so far has been visiting a recording studio and making a few new songs. This opportunity would not have been possible if it wasn’t for me putting myself out there and asking the right person the right question.
While I was working on a film crew for one of my professors, we started talking about post-graduation plans. When I was asked, all I could say was that if I were to come back out to L.A. after graduation, I would want to be around the music industry.
My professor told me that if I was interested in recording some new songs, I should reach out to one of his longtime friends, Michael Carey. I did, and Michael invited me to his home in the Woodland Hills to record a couple songs.
He helped me out by charging me a lower price to make the session affordable for me. He also gave me a lot of good advice and wisdom that I could not only use while on the job at my internship, but also in everyday life. I spent about six hours at his house making music, and by the time we finished, we had produced two solid songs that we both could be proud of.
The next day, my roommates and some other students in the program gave the songs a listen, and everyone really seemed to enjoy both.
My advice to future students in this program: Give it your all, and you will be amazed at what you are capable of doing.