David Lee Montgomery has always wanted to be a music producer.
Even though he plays multiple instruments, he has always been drawn to the business side of the music industry.
“I’ve been wanting to pursue music since the third grade,” Montgomery, who is the founder of Big Korey Productions and is currently a student in Mississippi Delta Community College’s new Entertainment Industries Studies program. “I always wanted to be a music producer. When they gave us the career test in third grade, and it asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up, that’s what I put. I think I was the only person in my class who actually said that.”
The Indianola native is more than just a student in MDCC’s startup major. He has become a full partner with instructor Ben Folk in developing the infrastructure they hope will lure those interested in recording music to the college.
“David has been on the very front end of really getting this thing rolling,” Folk said. “When I arrived here in the fall of 2017, they kind of had an idea that they wanted to start an Entertainment Industry Studies program, but we didn’t have any gear, and David literally helped me take up the floor, put the paint on the walls and things like that.”
The recording studio, which is located between the band hall and the choir room in the college’s Fine Arts building, is still a work in progress, but thanks to financial support, the school has been able to invest in state-of-the-art equipment.
Folk said that the program is geared toward being a feeder program into Delta State’s four-year Delta Music Institute programs.
“A big piece of what we do in here is learning how to use the technology,”Folk said. “This gear has become more accessible and affordable, but people still need to know how to use these tools. So, we’re learning the art of recording and using recording technology.”
Folk, a native of Leland left the Delta after completing high school, and lived in Philadelphia, Penn. for about a decade, where he studied at the Classical Music Conservatory.
While in the City of Brotherly Love, he became interested in the recording side of the industry as well.
For Montgomery and Folk, MDCC’s Entertainment Industry Studies program has been a dream come true.
Montgomery’s first time to come to MDCC was in 2008, and he was studying general music at the time.
“When I first came here, they didn’t have the program,” he said. “I was using the program on my laptop…At the time, I was going to school with Cordero Ross, the guy who did the Double Quick jingle. I talked to Double Quick in October 2014. I asked to talk to the marketing manager about doing the jingle.”
Montgomery said the jingle he pitched to Double Quick had originally been written for a potential AT&T ad, but it did not pan out.
It did with Double Quick, however, and it became popular locally.
“Either way it goes, It was still a good situation, because it’s still out there on the radio, to this day, playing,” Montgomery said.
Montgomery, a fan of Pop and R&B, said that he is hoping to recruit more students to come to MDCC to study music production through the new program, which is wrapping up it’s third semester.
For Folk, coming to MDCC was a homecoming, but it also has provided him the opportunity to explore the side of the music industry that has fascinated him for years, and he is excited to help Delta talent get onto the airwaves, whether through the radio or over the Internet.
“It was kind of a dream come true for me,” Folk said. “Not only that, but to think about the talent that is in the Mississippi Delta, it’s been amazing and inspiring. I really want this program, not only to teach them the skills, but also to showcase the talent of students like David and singers and vocalists that are here.”
Montgomery said that he has learned a lot through the program, even with his background in music.
“A music producer has a lot of things in mind when it comes to music,” he said. “When it comes to music, you have the singers, the musicians and you have the audio engineer. So, the producer is the one who combines everything together in order to make a track or a song you can put out there on the radio and get everything settled.”
Folk said that MDCC’s new technology is on par with just about any program out there.
“Our touchscreen system integrates with just about any studio software program,” he said.
The program also includes a songwriting course, as well as traditional music classes.
Being positioned between the band hall and the choir room gives Montgomery and Folk hope that one day they will be able to record large and small groups, using the equipment.
They are hoping this studio will eventually be utilized by aspiring recording artists in the local communities in the Delta.
“Our real goal here is to make it accessible to the community,” Folk said. “We still have a little bit more groundwork to do to get going here. This is really finishing the third semester of our official classes with the program. I’m really hoping to get it opened up for the community in the fall.”
For Montgomery and Folk, this program has been a fulfillment of dreams that date back years, but they hope that it fulfills the dreams of many artists in the Delta.
“I truly believe when people hear and see the talent of these students, it can be exposed beyond the Delta,” Folk said. “I’m excited to really get it going to really see the possibilities with that.”
