Elon music production and recording arts major Shreyas Kumar ’26 wants to be a music artist after graduation. Now, he’s getting his foot in the door through an alumni-owned music studio in Los Angeles.
Shreyas Kumar ’26 has been part of the “world of music” for a long time, starting when he fell in love with music during high school marching band. Now, the Elon University music production and recording arts major is professionally entering that world with an internship at Big Bad Sound, a recording studio in Los Angeles, California.
“I really enjoy being able to create, and performing has always been something that I like to do,” said Kumar, who is from San Jose, California. “Once I got into music production, I realized it’s not just one person; you’re not just sitting in a room making beats the whole time. It’s a lot more than that.”
Kumar was connected with Big Bad Sound through co-owner Jack Ruley ’12, an Elon alum. Big Bad Sound has worked with artists such as Weezer, Rancid, and Bad Religion. The internship is also in partnership with Elon Los Angeles, one of the university’s Study USA programs. Completing an internship is one of the five Elon Experiences, and Elon students are expected to complete at least two of the experiences before graduation.
As an intern, Kumar focuses on various tasks that studio clients may need, while also wrapping cables, plugging in mics and setting up recording sessions, among other duties.
“I want to learn how to run these recording sessions by myself,” said Kumar, of what he hopes to gain from the internship. “I want to be an artist, but it’s good to have a grasp of a lot of different skills because it’s hard to make it as just one thing in the industry.”
The music production and recording arts degree, in Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, allows students to work closely with experienced faculty who are established composers, recording engineers, producers, performing musicians and music scholars. The curriculum creates a solid foundation in both musicianship and technology, and students choose from four concentrations: music production, audio engineering, songwriting and composition, and music business.
Kumar is concentrating in music production and took two courses at Elon, one focusing on post-production in film and audio, and another on studio techniques, which helped him prepare for the internship.
“I already came into the studio knowing how to set up microphones, how to work the digital audio workstation,” he said. “So instead of them having to teach me, I already knew how it worked and now it’s just getting familiar with their specific setup. So that’s definitely been a big help.”
But Kumar says watching the production process with professionals has been invaluable and exciting, only adding to his education.
“Recently, there was a producer who came with an artist to record drums, and he basically ran the session, and our lead engineer recorded his drum parts, so it was cool to watch,” said Kumar. “They did it incredibly efficiently. They also did all of these other little creative things that I would have never thought of myself. Seeing how they interact as professionals and also as friends, and being able to implement certain creative ideas was amazing to watch.”