Full Sail University

Music Production Students Create On-Air Material for ESPN

Students in the Advanced Music Production for Media course have the opportunity to create a long-form compositions to be considered for inclusion in ESPN's Music Library.

Music Production Students Create On-Air Material for ESPN - Hero image

For five Music Production students, an original composition that began as a regular assignment for class is now a part of ESPN’s Music Library.

It’s part of the new curriculum in the Advanced Music Production for Media course. Students create a pair of original long-form compositions that capture the feelings and emotions of dramatic moments in sporting events: one fast-paced and aggressive (usually electronic or hip-hop) and one more rock ‘n’ roll-sounding. From there, a group of Music Production Course Directors select the best compositions from a three-month period, and those tracks are sent to Kevin Wilson, ESPN’s Music Director, who makes his selections and works directly with students to get their music ready to air on ESPN.

“Students go through one round of revision in class first,” says Danny McIntyre, the Advanced Music Production for Media Course Director, “Then sometimes [Kevin] will have a revision too, like change keys at a different spot or use a different guitar line.”

The first round of submissions to ESPN was recently completed and five students – Drew Douglass, Jason Findeison, Hector Fernandez, Kevin Butts, and Christopher Owens – had their work selected for inclusion in ESPN’s Music Library. The tracks are a mix of energetic electronica, hip-hop groove, and dramatic acoustic, all of which, according to Danny, have the potential to work great with various ESPN programming.

The assignment will continue to be an ongoing one in the course (which is Month 27 of the 32-month online Bachelor’s Degree program), with the hopes that even more student-created music will make its way to ESPN.

“We simulate getting students ready for the real world in class,” says Danny, “but this [project] is really cool because [their music] goes right to the real world after us.”