Electronic Music Recording Arts

How Do You Hear the World? Electronic Music Recording Arts at MacPhail

Offering electronic music options for all ages, beginner to advanced…

EMRA’s approach is to provide students with the tools and techniques to help them create, produce and realize their own musical ambitions.

COVID-19 and Fall 2020 Instruction: Currently, all MacPhail individual instruction is delivered live online from the comfort and safety of your own home.
EMRA offers one-on-one instruction online for all platforms, Mac to PC, and for desktop, laptop, and mobile devices.

We will work within your technological means and customize a learning experience specific to you.

Complete our online placement form to begin the placement process!

Studio 209
Creative musicians need creative spaces. EMRA’s state-of-the-art studio along with world class instructors assist beginners to seasoned professionals in developing and expanding their music technology skills and creativity. Students are taught to use industry standard software, along with a host of other applications and technologies, to gain the knowledge and know-how to create their own music and better understand the practices that form the foundation of electronic music production.

Studio 209 features a Steinway L Grand Piano, Yamaha SY90 Keyboard, Allen & Heath Digital Mixer, and includes instruction in ProTools, Ableton Live, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Traktor Pro, and more.

Teaching Artists and Industry Professionals

Michael Cain, program director

Pianist
Composer
Producer
Musical Director
Educator

After moving to New York in 1990, Cain became a first call pianist, working with drum legend Jack DeJohnette for nine years, as well as Dave Holland, Steps Ahead, Ravi Coltrane, Bobby McFerrin, Stanley Turrentine, Lauren Hill, Joshua Redman, Pat Metheny, Charles Neville, Christian McBride, John Scofield, Robin Eubanks, and Meshell N’degeocello, among others.

His numerous awards include a 2006 Grammy nomination for Dance of the Infidel, Meshell N’degeocello’s release on which Michael is pianist and co-arranger. He has recorded several records as a leader including Circa, a 1996 ECM release which featured Ralph Alessi and Peter Epstein, and served as producer for several recordings including Ron Blake’s Shariya, and Brian Landrus’ Traverse and Capsule.

Other Notable projects include serving as musical director for the Jose Limon Dance Company, scoring the films Maybe and Real With Me, by director Carl Ford for Black Nexxus Films, and composing the music for the Broadway play View from 151^st Street, which ran at the George Papp Public Theater in New York in the fall of 2007. Most recent, Michael produced the Western Canadian recording “Rebirth of the Cool” for Cellar Live Records. During the summer of 2018 Michael toured with legendary trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard.

As an educator Michael has been a Professor at the Eastman School of Music, the New England Conservatory of Music, the University of Minnesota, and Brandon University in Brandon, MB, Canada.

Michael’s latest release is entitled Hoo Doo and is available on iTunes and other platforms.

Krysta “K.Raydio” Rayford

Vocalist
Producer
Performing & Teaching Artist
Program Host
Voiceover Talent

Krysta “K. Raydio” Rayford (she/her/hers) is a vocalist, producer and teaching artist based in Minneapolis. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Krysta is an accomplished singer/songwriter who incorporates topics regarding social justice into her art and her workshops.

Her music has been featured internationally on platforms such as VH1, BBC Radio and Okayplayer. Krysta was a featured performing artist at Soundset Music Festival in 2014, one of the largest hip-hop music festivals in the United States.

She has taught and led workshops for Minneapolis Public Schools, Kulture Klub Collaborative, Twin Cities Mobile Jazz, She Rock She Rock and many other schools and organizations in Minnesota. Krysta is currently an Ableton software instructor for Beats By Girlz MN, an organization that empowers women in sound production. Her introductory class was one of the only Ableton courses geared towards women and non-binary adults in the United States.

She recently released her collaborative album …And The World Weeps with producer Shrimpnose, in addition to a series of self-produced EPs (The Sync Series) in 2019. Krysta is also a Digital Media Producer and Program Host for iPondr, a national digital media publisher.

Krysta has years of experience as Voiceover Talent with a unique background in Audio Description narration. Her credits include Empire (FOX), Independent Lens (PBS), Barbie’s Dreamhouse Adventures (Netflix), and Around The Way (Hulu) among others.

Isaac Rohr, studio manager

Performer
Teaching Artist
Beatmaker
Composer
Mixing & Mastering Engineer

Isaac Rohr (he/they) is an artist, beatmaker, and mixing and mastering engineer that has spent his life studying, performing and creating: electronic music, jazz, classical new music, ‘world’ music, audiovisual art, installations, 3D art, games and beats. Isaac takes a critical and dialectical approach to music making and performance emphasizing a unique, hyper-contemporary process with a focus on electronics, anti-racism, decolonization and auto-didactic practices. By studying and participating in as broad a variety of topics as possible, Isaac aims to provide students a learning environment and guidance with no limits.

As a teacher, Isaac places an emphasis on teaching using a discussion based approach in order to draw conclusions about the direction to take in lessons by the needs and pacing of the student; rather than treating the student as a project by providing a strict and dated plan.

As an artist, Isaac uses his fractured identity, neurodivergence, and ‘anti-post-de’-colonial theory to create hypnotic dissertations on the state of the human race and himself within it.

Isaac Rohr holds a Bachelor of Music – Music Composition from Brandon University as well as a Master of Fine Arts – Music Composition and Experimental Sound Practices from The California Institute of The Arts.