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About Summer Sessions at the Animal Farm
SUMMER SESSIONS at THE ANIMAL FARM provides a safe and supportive environment for young musicians to gain critical, valuable experience performing with peers and working in a professional studio environment. The typical options for gaining studio experience is either via an internship, which is often limited in scope and only available to students either during or after graduating college, at a critical time when they have to juggle career growth with paying expensive rent in a city; or during their time in a private music school. Gaining this kind of experience at a formative age is quite rare, even though this kind of an intensive boot camp will put them leagues beyond their peers.
Students will gain experience rehearsing and having intensive lesson work on their primary instrument. With intensive, hands-on ensemble instruction with an insructor, they will focus on how to bring their talent to an ensemble setting, working with musicians to perfect their skill.
They will also learn what it takes to sculpt their performance to the needs of the studio. They will also learn how to capture their best performance and get the best sound from their equipment they have available. Students will have access to industry-standard recording equipment to produce professional-quality tracks with recording engineers.
Over the five-day intensive, students will be divided into two groups, each group learning one song in two days. Those two days will be spent learning and workshopping the piece, modifying the arrangement to make it unique. Days three through five will then be spent learning the art of multitrack recording; everything from placing microphones and signal flow, to the physics behind sound, transduction and sound waves, phase, leveling and panning, equalization, distortion, compression, and time-based effects like delay and reverb to add depth and dimension. Effectively, they will leave with a finished, polished studio recording, and know exactly what went into the process of making it.
On the last day of the session, families and close friends are invited to attend a short “concert” in the live room, where the students will play through their songs. Additionally, we’ll host a listening party downstairs in the lounge area and control room, where we’ll rotate through the finished mixes, lettings families hear the week’s worth of hard work and commitment to recording a song!
At the end of the week, students will leave with:
* Multitrack sessions provided as raw, unmixed stems (for their own independent mixing)
* Multitrack stems with processing added (so that they can hear how it sounded in the session—right out of the box!) †
* Final .WAV files of each mix, with and without a master.
* A ton of free resources, and the skills and confidence to continue mixing!
* A super cool tee shirt that they can wear to show their participation!
* A group of friends both new and possibly old!
* Memories that will last a lifetime!
* A 50% discount for an eight-hour session at the studio, to mix a future project, record vocals, record an instrument, prepare a college/university demo tape, etc.
LEARN MORE
About John Forrestal, Director
Ph.D, Ethnomusicology
Boston University, 2026
M.M., Musicology
Boston University, 2014
Dual B.M., Composition, Contemporary Writing and Production
Berklee College of Music, 2012
Dr. John Forrestal is an accomplished guitarist, mix and recording engineer, videographer, and state-certified educator in the state of New Jersey. He has guest lectured about music at Bowdoin College, Amherst University, Berklee College of Music, Northern Illinois University, Salem State University, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Chulalongkorn University (TH). He has performed at, among other places, Lincoln Center, Kresge Auditorium (MIT), and Harvard University, as well as toured nationally in several acts and as a session guitarist.
He received his Ph.D in Ethnomusicology from Boston University, focusing on the musical traditions of the pii klaung [ปี่กลอง] ensemble from Thailand that accompany Thai martial arts. He holds a dual B.M. from the Berklee College of Music in Composition and Audio Engineering; and an M.M. in Musicology from Boston University.
Currently, John is a high school music production teacher at Somerset County Educational Services Commission, an alternative/behavioral school that provides out-of-district educational services for students across New Jersey. He owns and operates The Animal Farm, a recording studio in Flemington, NJ, as well as Forrestal Creative, a video production and editing company with his wife, Lina.
About James Applegate, Assistant Director
B.M., Professional Music
Berklee College of Music, 2014
James Applegate is a drummer, performer, and music educator based in New Jersey. With years of experience performing in rock, metal, pop, and contemporary music settings, he is passionate about helping musicians develop both their technical skills and stage presence.
James has worked with students of all ages through private instruction, music schools, and performance-based programs, focusing on building confidence, creativity, and musicianship through real-world musical experiences. Whether behind the drum kit, in the rehearsal room, or on stage, he believes the best way to learn music is by making it, performing it, and having fun in the process.
James has management experience, formerly managing a highly successful School of Rock franchise. He has toured nationally in countless metal bands, and is a seasoned recording artist. He currently is a music teacher at Somerset County Educational Services Commission, an alternative/behavioral school that provides out-of-district educational services for students across New Jersey.