Spec Labs Returns with New Classes This August 2023!

Get excited: Spectrum Laboratory has relaunched its website with a fresh batch of classes for this upcoming Fall 2023! Classes across the Spec Labs’ departments will start this August with a wide variety of offerings in music, voiceover, acting, and film. Keep reading to get a glimpse of the Spec Lab opportunities that are coming soon and explore which ones are the right fit for you!

Music

If music is your jam, Spec Labs’ music department has a Fall roster built to give you hands-on experience playing and producing music. Join us at The Anything Box recording studio, owned by Spec Labs’ co-founder Garth Herberg, to learn the ins and outs of making and performing music. Get in behind the scenes with studio engineering and music scoring classes or put yourself in the spotlight with classes like vocal coaching and Spec Band. You can even bring your songs to life with your own music video and flex your filmmaking skills!

Classes include:

• Songwriting & Music Production

• Singing Studio

• Spec Band

• Music Scoring

• Studio Engineering

• DIY Music Marketing

• Create Your Own Music Video!

Film & Acting

The Fall slate for Spec Labs’ film & acting department is full of great opportunities for experience in front of and behind the camera. Prepare yourself for the silver screen in Spec Labs’ on-camera acting classes or learn to perform live on stage in an improv and sketch comedy class. Explore the art of filmmaking in the short film production class and work with your peers to create your own scripts and bring original characters to life on-screen. If you want to learn more about film but work best in one-on-one environments, Spec Labs’ film & acting department also offers private lessons and mentorships in a variety of areas, including acting, scriptwriting, and editing.

Classes include:

• On-Camera Acting

• Short Film Production

• Sketch Comedy & Improv Acting

• Acting Audition & Apprenticeship Program

• Private Lessons & Mentorships

• Create Your Acting Demo Reel!

Voiceover

Whether you’re just starting your voiceover journey or are well on your way to becoming a pro, Spec Labs’ Voiceover department has the perfect classes for you this Fall! Practice your skills in all genres of voiceover, including commercial, animation, and promo narration. Voice actor extraordinaire and Spec Labs’ mentor, Cathy McAuley, will help students of all abilities find their unique voice and prepare them for a potential future in the voiceover world!

Classes include:

• Beginning to Intermediate Voiceover

• Advanced Voiceover

• Master Voiceover Apprenticeship Program

• Create Your Voiceover Demo Reel!

Performance Workshop: A Specmas Carol

This Fall, Spec Labs’ is doing something extra special with a spin-off performance workshop course. We’re seeking voice actors, singers, and instrumentalists to put on a brand-new Holiday production: A Specmas Carol! This exciting production will teach Spec Labs’ artists how to act with hand puppets and perform in a musical with a live band. Be a part of this original show and put your voice acting and musical skills to good use with the help of Spec Labs’ mentors. It’ll be a Holiday show unlike any other!

There’s no shortage of great classes being offered by the Spec Labs team this Fall, and we can’t wait to get them all started! Visit the Spectrum Laboratory website at Spectrum Laboratory | Neurodiversity in the Arts (speclabs.org) to learn more about Spec Labs’ Fall sessions and find the best classes for you and your entertainment interests. We’re so excited to be back and to make some amazing art with you all!

Spectrum Laboratory Live at the Knitting Factory!

This May 21st, come celebrate neurodivergent musicians and songwriters at Spectrum Laboratory’s music showcase! Spec Lab Records Presents will be live at North Hollywood’s famous Knitting Factory where The Spec Bands and songwriting students will take to the stage with some good vibes and even greater music. The night will feature original songs, accompanied by the Neurotribe band, as well as classic covers performed by the Spec Band students of Spec Labs’ music department.

The showcase is fast approaching and the students have been hard at work perfecting their performances for the event. I had the pleasure of attending some rehearsal sessions to get an inside look at the students’ preparation for their big show.

I headed over to the Spec Labs’ recording studio for the Advanced Songwriting Class where I was greeted by six friendly faces, plus one on Zoom. The studio is a small, cozy room with an adjoining recording booth. It was just enough space for the seven of us, but not much more, which lent itself to an intimate collaborative atmosphere. I came in halfway through class, right in the thick of a workshopping session for student Max Tuber’s song, “Stuck in a Cellphone Crisis.” The focus at this moment was on the chorus. Garth Herberg, Spec Labs’ co-founder and songwriting class instructor, suggested adding a higher-pitched harmony on the repeated line, “I just wanted to go home,” to add more dimension to the chorus. The class concurred, and it wasn’t long before each of the students was hopping into the booth to back up Tuber’s vocals on the track.

In this moment, I was exposed to the camaraderie of the group, and the respect they had for one another as fellow artists. This collaborative vibe continued throughout the rest of the session, as each student shared their nearly completed demos with the class. The students weren’t shy to provide input on each other’s songs or to step into the booth for a feature or back-up vocal.

With every passing demo, I got to see the completely unique voice of each student, both in their lyrics and vocals. From synth heavy electro-pop, to bouncy hip-hop, to an angsty ballad, each original song covered a different base of the musical catalog. A week later and everyone’s catchy songs are still stuck in my head!

I also made a visit to a rehearsal session for both of The Spec Bands. When I stepped into the practice space, the first band was rehearsing. It was a completely different vibe from the chill, intimate songwriting session. My ears were blasted with sound coming from all corners of the room. The speakers were turned on and amped up, capturing every hit of the drums and pull of guitar strings to bring to life The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction.” The room was bigger and the sound was louder, but that same level of fun and collaboration was present through both bands' rehearsals.

The bands’ setlists consist of classic rock and soul covers–the kind of familiar music that makes you want to sing and dance along with the musicians. The Spec Bands make the songs their own with their energetic spunk and flair. The members of the Spec Bands invite you in with their warm smiles and carefree dancing. Their energy is infectious; they make it easy for the audience to have as much fun watching from the crowd as the band is having on stage. And this was only a rehearsal!

The showcase at the Knitting Factory is sure to be a night to remember thanks to the talent and hard work of Spec Labs’ music students. Both individually and collectively, whether through an original song or an unforgettable cover, the Spec Lab artists are prepared to share the joy of music and put on performances that will make the audience wish they were rocking out alongside them.

Doors open at 6 pm and the show kicks into high gear at 7 pm. It’s going to be a night of music and fun you’ll never forget, so make sure to buy your tickets now and come support Spec Labs' artists! Head over to noho.knittingfactory.com now or click on the flier at the top of the page to buy your tickets for this amazing night of music. We can’t wait to see you there!

-Michael Ware, Spectrum Laboratory

Spectrum Laboratory’s Digital Storytelling Workshop Returns!

This summer, Spec Labs is bringing back its Digital Storytelling Workshop to help you create your own spectacular world! Team up online with Spec Labs’ mentors to bring original characters and stories to life in a fantasy world of your own design.

This hands-on program consists of five 60-minute sessions working one-on-one with Spec Labs’ instructors to make your story a reality. Each session will cover an important step in the storytelling process, from outline to final product.

Session One: Formulating Your Plot

The workshop’s first session will help you hone in on the original story for your short film. You’ll work with a writing instructor to pin down the details of your story’s plot. Together, you’ll brainstorm the people and places you want to exist within your world, and what that world might look like to viewers. From there, you’ll outline a script and be well on your way to sharing your story!

Session Two: Storyboarding Your Ideas

In session two, you’ll use the outline you created in the first session and build on it with the help of an art instructor. This session will help you determine how your story will translate visually to audiences. You’ll draft up illustrations and storyboard your ideas to plan out the different scenes and shots of your film.

Session Three: Scoring Your Film

Now that you’ve outlined the written and visual aspects of your story, it’s time to think about the musical tone you’d like to set for your film. In this session, you’ll work with a music instructor to create the score and underscore that will define your world. You might want a score that is upbeat and bouncy, or maybe your world is better suited to a calm, serene melody. This session is where these ideas will come to life!

Session Four: Crafting Your Voice

This session will give you the chance to breathe life into your characters with voiceover and narration techniques. You’ll get to practice voice acting and pick out the narrative style best suited for each of your characters.

Session Five: Your Story On-Screen

For the final session, you’ll use all of the progress you’ve made so far to bring your story off of the page and onto the screen. You’ll get the chance to select imagery to include throughout your film and even film original scenes that will be edited into your magical universe.

At the end of these five incredible sessions, your creative ideas will be passed onto our team of editors and compiled into a pride-worthy finished product. To celebrate the successful completion of your film, you’ll get to present your original story alongside other student creators at a viewing party and share your world for the first time in all its glory. Your short film will also be featured on our Spec Labs Youtube page for all to see!

Watch some of the work previously made in the program below and see how your world could come to life with the Spec Labs team. Visit Spec Labs’ Digital Storytelling Workshop page on Youtube to see more examples of the incredible student work made through this program.

This is Spec Labs’ third year of the Digital Storytelling program, and we hope, with your help, it will be our best yet! Follow this link or click on the banner below to find out how to enroll in this June’s Digital Storytelling Workshop and schedule the best session times for you. We can’t wait for you to be a part of the magic and help create your world!