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Lyons Township High School TV students to host electronic music fest
Lizzie Thomson of Western Springs, a senior at Lyons Township High School, works on a video promo for Dubstock. | Ryan Pagelow~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: January 7, 2013 6:15AM
WESTERN SPRINGS — The beat will go on and on at a heart-pounding pace, and you’ll feel it in your chest.
That’s the plan for Dubstock, Lyons Township High School’s first electronic music festival, sponsored by the TV Club and LTTV, a school and community cable station.
Student organizers have lined up 10 artists for six hours of continuous music, videos and a light show from 5 to 11 p.m. Dec. 7 at The Corral next to the south campus, 4900 S. Willow Springs Road in Western Springs.
Admission is $5 in advance and $7 at the door, and proceeds go toward new equipment for the club and station.
“Electronic music is like the new craze,” said LTTV music director Mac Koziarz, a senior from Western Springs. “Almost half the music at Lollapalooza was electronic this year.”
The event was named in the spirit of Brownstock, LT’s annual showcase of talent on a smaller scale than Woodstock, and dubstep, a style of electronic music.
Dubstep refers to music with 140 beats per minute with heavy synthesizer and bass lines and a “wobble” bass sound, explained LaGrange Park senior Matt Reynolds, a DJ for the fest who also produces his own electronic music with a computer program. Reynolds volunteers for both LTTV and WLTL-FM 88.1, the school’s radio station.
“I played piano, guitar and trombone, but never got too into it, until I discovered electronic music sophomore year,” Reynolds said. “This is what I want to do.”
Koziarz said the process of creating electronic music with a laptop, drum machine and audio files involves creating layers of beats and music.
“It all gets mixed live on the spot,” he said. “It’s a lot more involved than playing a recording.”
The 10 artists selected for Dubstock auditioned online through SoundCloud.com, where new artists can upload their music for others to hear or download. All are current or former LT students.
In addition to featuring original electronic music, the festival affords students the chance to use skills learned in television production classes and by being a crew member of LTTV, said Bill Allan, supervisor of television services at LT.
A dozen students will be running lights, sound and video equipment for two stages and assisting the artists. Another eight students will be on LTTV’s production truck to produce the event live on Comcast Channel 99 and AT&T U-Verse Channel 99.
Six more students will be shooting a behind-the-scenes documentary, Allan said. The festival also will be streamed live on www.lttvonline.com.
Others students have been involved in making promotional videos and arrangements with Windy City Music in Countryside, making a major donation of equipment for the fest.
“Everything is student-run and managed,” Allan said. “I love this genre and see it as an art form, but it wouldn’t be happening if the students weren’t as serious as they are.”
