"Beat Bus"

The Beat Bus brings the classroom to the kids

In 2018, the Asbury Park Music Foundation launched a state-of-the-art Mobile Recording Studio with the mission to bring music education to under-served youth across New Jersey. Our newly-renovated school bus is outfitted with industry-standard recording gear, including 10 modular workstations and a sound booth equipped to record vocals, pianos, guitars, and drums. On-board workstations are designed for personal exploration as students learn the art of songwriting, production, and engineering. Our custom sound booth brings multiple students together to collaboratively create melodies, record vocals, track drums etc. Students gain computer literacy skills using applications to record, edit, mix, and master their creations for public release.

The Mobile Recording Studio ventures to communities across New Jersey offering a combination of in-school and after school sessions. Sessions range from single day Exposure programs—where students experiment with music technology and techniques—to multi-week Explorer programs that guide students through the process of songwriting, recording and releasing full production tracks.

Exposure Programs

The goal of our Exposure Program is to introduce students to the music creation process within a single session experience. 

During School Sessions

• Sessions are set up at a given school, during school hours, to run 3 to 5 sessions of one hour each.
• Each session provides up to 20] students with hands on access to music production technology, expert instruction on the music creation process & a finished track that students produced.

After School Sessions

• Sessions offered at a given location and set up to run one day a week at 2 hours a session.
• Each session provides up to 20 students with hands-on access to music production technology, expert instruction on the music creation process and a finished track that is produced by the students. 

Explorer Program

The goal of our Explorer Program is to advance student’s knowledge and understanding of the music creation process by collectively producing market ready tracks.

During and/or After School Sessions

• Students participate in 2-hour sessions once per week for 4 to 12 weeks.
• Each session provides up to 10 students with hands-on access to music production technology, expert instruction on the music creation process, and a deeper understanding and application of roles within the music industry (musician, engineer, songwriter, marketer, etc.).
• Each project-based lesson builds upon topics such as song ideation, lyric writing, music theory, instrumentation, pre/pro/post production, distribution, marketing, business development, etc. 

Curriculum Objectives

Both educational experiences will provide students with an outlet for creative expression, self-discovery, class collaboration and career awareness opportunities. As students progress through Exposure to Exploration programming they will encounter industry standard recording hardware and software such as Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Ableton Live, Garage Band, and Apple iPads/computers. Students will leave the Mobile Recording Studio having created music, no matter what their experience level is.

This program is part of the Music Saved My Life youth music education initiative, which is a partnership between the Asbury Park Music Foundation and Lakehouse Music Academy.