Academics
Casey Gallas '09
Internships help students get experience and make contacts in their chosen profession, often leading to jobs after graduation. Casey Gallas '09, however, didn't wait for his diploma, turning his summer 2007 internship with Liquid 5th Productions into a full-time job during the school year.
Liquid 5th is a music production company that works primarily with collegiate a cappella groups. "We're here to make our clients sound good," Casey explained. "A lot of other producers have a hegemonic setup—they're very elite with their clients and they charge a lot more than we do. We wanted to cater to the kids."
The company, based in Holly Springs, NC, deals with all aspects of music production, from recording, to editing and arranging, to running live sound for shows. It is unique because its mobile recording capabilities allow clients to record anywhere, and because of the collaboration among members of the production team.
Casey became involved when he met co-owner Nick Lyons, and although he's younger than the others, he quickly became part of the Liquid 5th family.
"We have pretty much equal input," Casey said. "They listen to me. I have a business background and I've learned some things, especially about the marketing aspect, from school and from my father, who's a pretty successful businessman."
A business management major, Casey learned about the musical aspect through years of performance, beginning in high school. He attended Georgia Tech for two years, where he founded a coed a cappella group and performed with a male vocal group that performed close to 65 gigs each semester and enjoyed corporate sponsorship.
Casey still performs—Liquid 5th recently recorded its own album, out January 2008, and he hopes to perform professionally after graduation—but he's branched out as well.
"I'm a producer and a sound engineer. I can track recordings, manipulate the sound board during recording and line up tracks afterwards," Casey said.
Armed with his laptop and professional editing and sound software, Casey can do most of the work from his dorm room. He also represents the company at festivals and networks via online forums, and recently traveled to North Carolina to record tracks for Liquid 5th's upcoming album, Ripple Effect.
"We're not technically a performing group," Casey admitted. "We have something we're trying to say, and I'm just really excited for it."
Casey plans to use the experience he's gained from working at Liquid 5th, as well as his musical talent, for his senior thesis: starting a studio band.
"We'll record for albums and stuff, no live performing. I have one guy in Singapore signed up for it, and another guy in New York. They can record wherever they are and send it to me digitally," Casey said.
And while the project will be the "capstone" on his college career, it will be just another step in what Casey hopes will be a long career with Liquid 5th Productions.
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