Kristen Long is a vocal coach and regularly-gigging performer (both solo and as one half of the Minx & the Maestro), and if that doesn\u2019t keep her busy enough, her \u201cday job\u201d is as a music director for Royal Caribbean Productions. With a schedule that rarely slows down, stepping away from work to earn a graduate degree was never going to be an option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnce the Berklee Online program offered the master\u2019s degree in Music Production<\/a>, I felt it was something that I would like to do,\u201d she says, \u201cbecause I didn\u2019t want to just stop working for a year or two while I get my master\u2019s.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n As a 2001 Vocal Performance graduate of Berklee College of Music, Long says she found the Online program both familiar and new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI did love my experience in Boston,\u201d she says. \u201cHowever, the Berklee Online experience, I just felt I got so much out of it, especially for production. I needed the equipment to do the work on, so I had to invest in my studio, and with this program, you learn how to build that studio from somebody like John Storyk<\/a>, which is massive! Had I been on campus, I would have used the on-campus facilities, which would have been fantastic, but I wouldn\u2019t have gotten to know my gear.\u201dThat hands-on component of learning on her own setup was central to what Long says she was looking for: building skills she could immediately integrate into her career. One of the impetuses for learning how to produce her own music was that she conceived of an animated children\u2019s series based on music. Producing the music herself meant saving time and money. The series will be called Mandy and the Jam Fam<\/em>. The main character\u2019s name: Amanda Lynn Jam (say it out loud, you\u2019ll get the pun!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n