Les Paul Foundation Bestows Grant on Ramapo College

Ramapo College of New Jersey will build a state-of-the-art music studio that will educate the musical luminaries of the future in a hybrid facility that bridges the worlds of analog and digital sound.

The generous financial gift was announced today by the Les Paul Foundation and the Foundation of Ramapo College of New Jersey. Paul, who pushed boundaries as a performer and technologist, lived in Mahwah. Michael Braunstein, executive director of the Les Paul Foundation and Rusty Paul, Les’ son, made the presentation to Dr. Peter Phillip Mercer, president of Ramapo College, represented by a customized Ramapo and Les Paul Foundation Gibson Les Paul guitar along with a presentation check.

“Les Paul would be honored to see how his life will now influence so many students of tomorrow,” said Michael Braunstein. “He was always inventing, creating and looking to the future in everything he did. We know that this grant from the Les Paul Foundation will foster Les Paul’s legacy through the advancement of technology at Ramapo.”

“This generous gift from the Les Paul Foundation will provide our students with a broad historical foundation of industry standard analog technologies while taking advantage of tremendous developments in digital technology,” said Peter P. Mercer. “It presents the best of both worlds.”

The College’s current studio was built more than 30 years ago; it already attracts a blend of students who are pushing aside limitations to create new visions of what music can be. 

“We concentrate, in the tradition of Les Paul, on the whole musician,” said assistant professor of Music Seth Cluett. “We teach audio engineering, live sound engineering and music production to people who are themselves singer songwriters, pop musicians, hip hop producers and DJs.”

The centerpiece of the new studio will be a hybrid digital/analog SSL AWS924 console that will allow the teaching of classic, historical, and foundational mixing techniques in an environment that takes advantage of contemporary computer control and recording practices. Directly in line with the Les Paul Foundation mission, the studio will emphasize Les Paul’s innovation by including modern state-of-the-art facilities and equipment. In order to make the program a national destination, the studio will offer exposure to microphone types and technologies common to all recording studios and production facilities.

The College’s music curriculum emphasizes Paul as a guitarist, innovator and entrepreneur.

Photo: Rusty Paul, Michael Braunstein and president Mercer.