This year’s Grammy Awards showcased multiple top songs, including some engineered by Chico State alumni. A total of four alumni were engineers and assistant engineers on some of the biggest songs of the year.
The four Chico State alumni were awarded across nine different categories all together.
“Cowboy Carter” by Beyoncé which won Album of the Year and Best Country Album was created with assistant engineer Conner McFarland. McFarland graduated in 2021 with a degree in music.
Five-time Grammy winner “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar was engineered by Brendan Duffey, who graduated in 2003 with a degree in music. The song won Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song and Best Music Video.
SZA with “Saturn” won Best R&B Song, which also featured assistant engineer Hayden Duncan, who graduated in 2019 with a degree in music.
Ryan Freeland graduated in 1994 with a degree in music. He worked as a mixing engineer on “No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin” by Meshell Ndegeiocello, which won Best Alternative Album.
Dann Sargent is an assistant professor and recording arts program coordinator who worked with each of our alumni whose work won Grammys. Sargent says Chico alumni have been nominated and won awards like Grammys and others in the past, but what makes this year special is three different generations of winners.
“Having a good career in the music business is one part pure talent, three parts work ethic and one part being in the right place; they all had those things,” Sargent said.
Sargent also highlights what it means for the university as well as other students in the recording arts program.
“It makes it feel real and it reflects back because our students now are really stoked, knowing that the room they are sitting in can lead to that,” Sargent said.
The Chico Recording Arts Program is filled with dedicated students who are working to be in similar fields. Sargent says the program is a community that works together to make their art both technical and creative.
Chico State has produced a diverse array of distinguished alumni, and it seems likely the university will continue to do so in the future.
Cecilia Gonzalez can be reached at orioneditingmanager@gmail.com
