The Commercial Music Lab is unique in that it is owned and operated by a musician and educator. It is a small, home-based lab, which allows us to give you more individualized attention at lower prices. We specialize in training musicians, educators, and musical hobbyists; however, our foundation - building curriculum provides anyone (from musicians to audio enthusiasts) with the skills to move on into any area of commercial music, audio, or post-production. Many of our students write and perform music (some traditional, some commercial), and most of our students produce, record, and mix music and post-production audio. What differentiates us from most Avid Learning Partners is that we approach the design and implementation of our courses from a musician's perspective, rather than from an audio engineering perspective. We also offer Boot Camp courses to supplement our Avid-certified courses. Our Boot Camp classes are designed to "fill in the gaps" for musicians and others who are new to audio and technology, or who are struggling with it.

We made a unique decision in designing our lab as a PC lab. The demographics in our area and our targeted student population pointed us toward choosing PC over Mac. Additionally, we wanted to teach our students that commercial music production is affordable and can be done just as well on PC as it can be done on Mac, often at a fraction of the cost. Our lab is equipped with MusicXPC computers that are specifically designed for audio production. (http://www.musicxpc.com) Our current operating system is Windows 7. If you are a Mac user, do not worry, we are just as well-versed on Mac as we are on PC, and many of our students are Mac users. Jenny has taught courses in Mac and PC labs for years, and owns and regularly uses both Macs and PCs. Jenny will spend some time familiarizing everyone with the lab's PCs, specifically familiarizing you with the computer keyboard and shortcut modifiers, and she will teach everyone the software and shortcut differences between Mac and PC. Special care will be taken with Mac-based students during class, to ensure their success. Remember, you are training anywhere from 1-3 days with us, but the real work begins when you return home and start refining your skills on your own computer. We are certain that, even if you are a Mac user, you will be able to apply everything you learn in our PC lab to your home Mac with ease - our students do it all of the time, and continue to come back for more instruction!

Our lab is in a remote location. The most important thing for you to bring with you is food. You will need to make sure that you have plenty of snacks and a nice lunch to keep you going throughout the day. We provide you with water (bottled and filtered, hot and cold), sodas, a variety of hot teas, a variety of Keurig coffees and teas, and coffee and tea condiments. We have a small refrigerator designated for your use, and a microwave is available for you as well. It is important for you to eat a good breakfast prior to your arrival. The days are long, so prepare with as many "power" foods as you can. Avoid foods that make you sleepy - you will need energy to get through the day!

Additionally, we suggest that you dress in layers, so that you can be as comfortable as possible. We try to keep the temperature fairly cool, so bring a sweater, just in case.

We are in a remote area, in an equestrian community, and we do have dogs and horses on our property. If you have allergies to animals, dust, pollens, etc., you may want to bring your allergy medication with you. (Preferably the non-drowsy kind!)

You do not need to bring your computer, headphones, or any equipment with you - all of the equipment you will need will be provided to you. You are welcome to bring your own headphones if you prefer, however they must be equipped with a 1/4" TRS connector to work with our audio interfaces.

We are not an accredited institution. Our courses are designed and taught by an actual college music professor, but they will not provide you with any college unit credit. We do not offer degrees or academic certificates, but many of our courses do lead to professional/industry - level certification. We offer important training to supplement music degree and certificate programs - training that is crucial for the musicians of today, but often overlooked at higher education institutions. If you are looking into getting a degree in music or audio, our classes will prepare you and place you ahead of your classmates. The skills you learn from us, if practiced, will allow you to test out of similar classes that might be offered within a degree program. (You will have to make up the units satisfied by any degree course that you might test out of, but that means that you will have the chance to take additional electives that many of your classmates will not be able to take!) Also, consider the quality of instruction that you will be receiving at our lab vs. at many of the higher education institutions - our instructor specializes in music technology and software! Since our lab is owned and operated by a college professor, we can also help degree-seeking students by mentoring them and guiding them into the right degree program at the proper college/university or trade school.

Many of the courses you take at The Commercial Music Lab will be official, Avid-Certified courses. What this means is that, in addition to learning music/audio software and skills, you will be offered certified exams leading to various levels of professional certification. These courses are the most well-designed industry-level courses available for Pro Tools and Sibelius, and they are taught by Avid Certified Instructors - some of the top industry teaching professionals. The courses are well-known and highly regarded within the music and audio industries. There are multiple perks to taking official certified classes, including the ability to include your certification on your resume or CV. And, if you are an educator, you should be able to receive professional development funds for attending certified classes. You can learn more about Avid's certification program by visiting http://www.avid.com/US/support/training/certification.

Jenny Amaya, owner and operator of The Commercial Music Lab, is an Avid Certified Instructor (ACI). What this means is that Jenny has taken a wide variety of Avid-certified courses from Avid Master Instructors, and has been specially-approved by Avid to teach certified courses for them. Jenny's official certification titles are: Pro Tools Expert - Music; Pro Tools Operator - Post Production; Certified Operator - Worksurfaces; Avid Pro Tools Certified Instructor; Avid Sibelius Expert and Master Trainer.

Absolutely! Students in Avid Certified courses are enrolled in Avid's database so that they may continue to take-courses and receive credit for those courses and examinations at any Avid Learning Partner location. In other words, you can take all of the 100-level Pro Tools courses and exams at our location, and when/if you are ready to move on to the 200-level Operator Certification courses, we can help direct you to an operator-level Learning Partner in your area, where you can continue your certification without having to repeat any of the 100-level courses. The same applies to Sibelius; however, we are a premier location for Sibelius certification, and plan on offering courses leading all the way to Expert Certification in Sibelius.