Muscle Shoals, AL (September 28, 2026)—The town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama isn’t the largest in the state, but its musical legacy might be. It’s home to both FAME Recording Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, both of which have hosted countless top music acts as they’ve recorded often legendary tracks. It’s a legacy that many have heard of, but few have experienced first-hand—but now you can include 15 students from the Sound Recording and Music Technology program of Montgomery County Community College among them.
In mid-August, the MCCC students traveled from their campus in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania to the storied studios for the inaugural Muscle Shoals Recording Residency, an immersive experience that placed them inside the studios as they recorded two original songs written by their group. Helping bring the tracks to life were veteran Muscle Shoals musicians Spooner Oldham, Will McFarlane, Clayton Ivey and Justin Holder.
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SRT Director David Ivory, a Grammy-nominated producer and engineer, organized the Residency, arranging that students would work with studio professionals to record music and sound, set up equipment, develop arrangements and evaluate performances. Ivory said students learned that making a great record requires more than technical knowledge. “It requires listening, communication, musicianship, collaboration,” he said, “and creative decision-making.”
As part of the process, the students watched as the team of seasoned session pros encountered the students’ new songs for the first time and began building arrangements in real time. “The moment I will remember most is watching Spooner Oldham play the Wurlitzer for my good friend Shaun’s original song,” said student Zach Wheitsel. “I was so honored to be in the room for this, and to say that I am beyond happy for my friend to have had this experience would be selling my feelings short.”
The inaugural Muscle Shoals Recording Residency was designed as the beginning of an ongoing experiential-learning opportunity for MCCC students, and planning is already underway for the next Residency and working to expand experiential-learning opportunities for students in the SRT program.
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“This first Residency showed us what’s possible,” Ivory said. “Now we want to build on it and give another group of students this opportunity. This wasn’t just about learning how records were made in Muscle Shoals. It was about giving our students the chance to discover what they’re capable of making themselves.”
As it stands, MCCC’s Sound Recording and Music Technology program has a considerable resources for students at its Blue Bell and Pottstown, PA campuses, working with pro-level equipment. The Blue Bell campus sports a mixing suite, outfitted with a Solid State Logic SSL 9000K 56-input console, that can tackle immersive Dolby Atmos mixes with its Genelec-based 7.1.4 system.
