Audio Technology PreConference Intensive

1:00 - 2:00 PM: Session 1 - Deconstructing Steely Dan: Recording Fundamentals for Your Students

Presented by Mike Lawson
A compelling examination of Roger Nichols’ revolutionary recording techniques, using original Steely Dan multitracks from Gaucho, Aja, and Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly. Mike Lawson (TI:ME’s executive director, who compiled Nichol’s posthumous work, The Roger Nichols Recording Method) demonstrates the meticulous work behind these legendary albums, unpacking engineering principles and sonic benchmarks that shaped their sound. This session provides educators and students with takeaway techniques and mindsets to pursue musical and sonic excellence, bridging iconic professional standards with classroom-ready concepts.

2:00 - 3:00 PM: Session 2 - Live Sound & Recording: More Than Just Plugs and Faders

Presented by Mark Lochstampfor
Music educators are often asked to operate the live sound equipment and record school events, but frequently lack the necessary training to do so. After all, they are music educators, not audio engineers. This session will demonstrate how to set a sound system in a performance space, with demonstrations of gain-staging, “pinking” the room, how to use compression, what the difference is between reverb and delay, what a gate is, etc. The session will also include explanations and audio examples of the recording sample rates and bit depth.

3:00 - 4:00 PM: Session 3 - Teaching Intonation with Technology

 Presented by Robby Burns
Learn how to teach your students to play in tune by taking advantage of the features of hardware and software like the Yamaha Harmony Director and the Tonal Energy tuning app. This session details a comprehensive methodology for teaching your students how to play in tune using their ears, not their eyes. The session will overview the primary features of these technologies as they relate to playing with a beautiful tone and intonation. Features include: single and polyphonic tuning drones, modeling just intonation in chords and melody, visualizing pitch, and more!

4:00 - 5:00 PM: Session 4 -Technology Petting Zoo

Clinicians

Robby Burns is a music educator, freelance percussionist, and technology specialist residing in Ellicott City, Maryland.

Robby's teaching experience ranges from elementary school through university ensembles. He is currently an employee of the Howard County Public School System where he teaches band and general music at Ellicott Mills Middle School and has directed the HCPSS Middle School GT Honor Band.

Robby maintains a thriving private percussion teaching studio out of his home with students who have gone on to pursue music degrees, perform professionally, enter varying roles in the music industry, and participate in state and district honor ensembles. He is frequently invited to serve as an adjudicator, arranger, and clinician for schools and music organizations throughout the region.

Robby is the recipient of the 2025 Mike Kovins Technology in Music Education (TI:ME) Teacher of the Year award.

Robby has presented sessions at music education conferences all over the country on the subjects of band and orchestra directing, music production tools, productivity software, and their connection to creativity in the music classroom. Robby's first book, Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers, published by Oxford University Press, is available now. He writes and speaks about music, education, and technology on his blog and podcast, Music Ed Tech Talk.

As a freelance percussionist, Robby is comfortable with all styles, specifically including orchestral, musical theater, opera, chamber, rock, and jazz. He has performed with the Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre, Opera Camerata of Washington, D.C., and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under such conductors as Marin Alsop and Lorin Maazel. Robby has also worked with a variety of local music projects including rock cello quartet, Primitivity and nine-piece funk band, The Superland Stage Band.

Robby holds a Bachelor of Music Education and Masters of Music from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he studied orchestral percussion with Tony Ames (NSO) and timpani with John Tafoya and Benjamin Ramirez (both former NSO). He has also benefited from the instruction of Steve Fidyk (Army Blues Band) and Janis Potter (solo marimba artist). During his time at UMD he also devoted attention toward orchestration, theory, conducting, and jazz arranging.

Robby is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher. He is a member of the National Association for Music Education, the Percussive Arts Society, the Maryland Music Educators Association, and TI:ME, the national organization for Technology in Music Education.

He serves as a Member-at-Large on the TI:ME Board of Directors and as Technology Chair for the Maryland Music Educators Association’s Executive Board.

Mark Lochstampfor holds a Ph.D in Music Theory from Ohio State University and is Professor Emeritus of music at Capital University, where he taught composition, music technology, Rock History, Acoustics, and founded one of the first collegiate Rock ensembles for academic credit. He has publications with McGraw-Hill, Augsburg Press, Indiana University Press, and Lochlyn Media. He is the Executive Director of the Society of Pi Kappa Lambda (the College Music Honor Society), and serves on the board of the Technology in Music Education (TI:ME) as the VP and Conference Chair.

 

 

 

 

Will Kuhn is a Cincinnati-based music technology teacher, producer and author focused on revitalizing the field of music education using the latest creative tools.