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About The Southwest Portland Post. (Portland, Oregon) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2014)
8 • The Southwest Portland Post FEATURES December 2014 Capitol Highway project back on the table By Don Snedecor The Southwest Portland Post Wilson High School sound engineers record and mix their own music. (Post photo by Janet Goetze) Sound engineering class gives Wilson HS students another outlet for music Denver where students were bused to a facility for cultural arts, McCleave said. He worked with equipment that gave him the background to become Nick Caldwell, Wilson High School’s a production manager for nationally band director, wanted to give students known entertainers. an outlet for music, whether they could “I learned a lot in a program like read notes or not. The solution he this,” McCleave said, “and I wanted to found, with the help of volunteers, is a give back, if I could.” class in sound engineering. McCleave put Caldwell in touch with He has about 40 students, evenly Guitar Center, which provided a studio divided between two classes, working package with 11 Pro Tools programs, at keyboards linked to computer the industry standard in digital audio screens that are part of the Pro Tools work stations. program, used in professional digital “They gave me a lot of equipment for audio work. a reduced price,” Caldwell said. The students, all juniors and seniors, A Seattle relative of a student have been exploring how to produce donated additional used equipment sounds and rhythms on the equipment, that Caldwell expects to use next then record and semester as the digitally mix classes progress. music. Caldwell Music director Nick Caldwell will Dave Pakula, a also is teaching Rieke Elementary lead the freshman, advanced and them music Sc ho o l p are nt jazz bands in a variety of holiday who has taught theory. “That’s so we music on traditional instruments a r e c o r d i n g can improvise in a free performance Friday, Dec. class at Portland better music,” 5 at 7 p.m. at Wilson High School. C o m m u n i t y said Kyle Sautter, College, recently a senior who gave the students plays trumpet in a tutorial Wilson’s symphonic and jazz bands. on sound waves and microphone “By the end of the year,” Caldwell placement to achieve desired effects. said, “we’ll probably have a CD out. A low note, for instance, may travel At least, that’s the goal.” 25 feet. The sound waves will bounce In addition, he wants to prepare around in a small room but will interested students for the music tech resonate differently in a larger room, program at Portland Community Pakula said. College. Some also may seek an Dynamic microphones, which internship at a local recording studio, resemble a large cigar, are hardy devices he said. that can be used in many circumstances, Some students are drawn to the Pakula said. technical aspects of the class and some A condenser microphone, usually like the computer science, Caldwell placed on a stand, has a larger head said. and is more sensitive than a dynamic Chase Jorgenson, a junior who hasn’t microphone. It gives good aural detail studied music, is taking the class to for acoustic instruments, said Pakula. learn more about it. The sound engineering class is “I thought the process of making taught in a windowless, former storage music was interesting -- how all the room off the school cafeteria which different sounds come together,” Caldwell and principal Brian Chatard Jorgensen said. transformed into a studio last summer. Senior Allen Golberg said, “I’ve never Jack Williams, a junior who plays done anything music-wise but this trumpet in the symphonic band, seemed interesting and a way to see elected to take the class to explore the how it’s done the modern way.” possibilities of electronic music. Caldwell has an entertainment He and Kyle Sautter wore headphones industry professional, Bruce McCleave, to work together at a keyboard, checking helping him develop the curriculum the computer screen to determine if and work on the equipment with they wanted to change settings to alter students. the sounds they were producing. McCleave, whose daughter is a Wilson Williams also noted that the electronic freshman, heard about Caldwell’s plans set-up enables one musician to play as from a parent at Robert Gray Middle a quartet. “One person can record four School. parts,” he said, “then play them back at He got his start at a high school in the same time.” By Janet Goetze The Southwest Portland Post A new Portland transportation income tax proposed by Mayor Charlie Hales and City Commissioner Steve Novick would generate approximately $47 million per year. Portland City Council is expected to vote on the new tax sometime in December. Half of that money would go toward street maintenance and the other half would be dedicated to safety-oriented projects. Sidewalks and bicycle lanes along major arterials, for instance. According to Mark Lear, with the Portland Bureau of Transportation, the new income tax would cover half of a revised (and revived) $10 million Capitol Highway project (Taylors Ferry Road to Garden Home Road), including sidewalks on one side only, and bike lanes along the climbing side. According to Lear, the remaining $5 million would be paid for by system development charges. For comparison, the cost of the same project with sidewalks and bike lanes on both sides was estimated at $21.9 million, for approximately one linear mile. One of the reasons for such a high cost of construction is containing stormwater. Retired city environmental engineer Al Iverson gave a fascinating PowerPoint presentation last month which included video of water streaming down the same stretch of Capitol Highway, showing a variety of directions of drainage. Iverson said he was concerned that City environmental engineers are considering only the highway itself, and not the surrounding 82 acre watershed. 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