Insider Knowledge: Audio Arts capstone project and internship experiences Part 3
For this Insider Knowledge post, Samuel “Samu” Rast details his exciting capstone project and internship experiences with the audio arts program.
Rast’s capstone project was an EP album, where he produced in various forms five or six different songs. Three of the songs were for jam bands from Michigan. Another song was produced with a singer/songwriter, who is a Newhouse undergrad.
Rast had two internships in New York City before landing a full-time position. His first internship was at Jingle Punk, where he interned with the music supervision department. The second internship was at BMG with the creative department, where he is now employed full-time.
To acquire his internship, Rast used Syracuse connections. First he spoke with professors, who then put him in touch with alumni at Jingle Punks and BMG. Rast had a brief phone call with each employer and asked questions about internship opportunities at each company.
During a typical day at Jingle Punks Rast would work on specific client projects. The music supervision department suggested music from the Jingle Punks library that would work with what the client was working on.
At BMG Rast worked as administrative support, working on expense reports, making one-sheets for BMG artists and updating the website.
As a special project at BMG, Rast had the opportunity to see a show of a new artist that BMG was interested in. Rast got to play the role of a BMG representative and even met with the artist’s manager on BMG’s behalf.
The best part of the internship experience for Rast was that both of the internships were fantastic learning experiences. Rast found that taking tools from the classroom to the office helped him further apply knowledge, and learn beyond the classroom. Rast also thought it was great to be able to meet and network with a lot of people in the industry.
Rast wants students to know that they shouldn’t rely solely on their classes and that they should find time outside of class to work on solo projects. Additionally, Rasts thinks that students should network, and meet as many people as they can within different disciplines, because they will become great connections in the future.
LinkedIn - Delisa Morris
Delisa Morris is a current master's in PR candidate and third-year law student at Syracuse University. She studied political science and communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she received her bachelor's degree. Delisa is originally from Chicago.