Los Angeles, California – December 3, 2024 – Carnegie Mellon University’s (CMU) Master of Entertainment Industry Management (MEIM) program launched a first-of-its-kind course with the Les Paul Foundation at the MEIM-Los Angeles campus. With the combined creative power of CMU’s College of Fine Arts, the management and quantitative expertise of CMU’s Heinz College, and the inspiration of the innovative and creative thinking of Les Paul, the course will explore Paul’s transformative contributions, his inventions, and artistic achievements in the music industry.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with the Les Paul Foundation to offer our students the opportunity to gain valuable insight into the life and accomplishments of Les Paul and experience Les Paul’s original mixing console,” said Dan Green, Ph.D., Distinguished Service Professor and director of Entertainment Industry Management at Carnegie Mellon University.
The course “Les Paul: A Journey Through Music and Innovation” was developed through a partnership between CMU’s MEIM program and the Les Paul Foundation. It will explore Paul’s vast contributions to the music industry, including his invention of the modern recording studio, and his artistic achievements with musical pioneer and partner, Mary Ford, and more than 33 top 20 hits across multiple genres.
The course will include lectures at the MEIM Los Angeles campus and hands-on sessions at the newly established Les Paul Studio, where students will experience Les Paul’s original mixing board and engage with top studio producers.
“Les was an inventor, an award-winning musician, an innovator and a creative genius who changed the world of music and we’re so pleased to share his gifts with the students of the MEIM program. We are honored to be part of such an exciting opportunity at MEIM Los Angeles” said Michael Braunstein, Executive Director, Les Paul Foundation.
Steve Rosenthal and Kevin Stein will co-teach the course. Rosenthal owned and operated The Magic Shop recording studio in New York City for three decades. The studio was home to hundreds of recording artists like David Bowie, Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Ramones, Blondie, Coldplay, Arcade Fire, and many more. Steve is a four-time Grammy winner (seven-time nominee) having produced, mixed and restored archival projects for Woody Guthrie, Alan Lomax, Jelly Roll Morton, Blondie, Harry Nilsson, Sam Cooke, Frank Sinatra, Bob Fosse, The Rolling Stones and Erroll Garner. Rosenthal adds “Like Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs and other irreplaceable Icons of the 20th Century, Les Paul remade the world of music. As an inventor, a producer and with the help of Mary Ford, as a pop star, Les created a new form of expression.”
Stein, an adjunct professor in the MEIM program, brings decades of executive experience from HBO, CBS, King World, and VH1, along with an impressive background in music documentary production for industry giants like Warner Bros., MTV, and the Jimi Hendrix Foundation. As co-author of “The Book of Rock Lists” for Rolling Stone and producer of landmark music documentaries, including The Who’s “The Kids Are Alright” and “Jimi Plays Monterey,” Stein and Rosenthal are embracing how Les Paul turned technological limitations into creative breakthroughs. As Stein explains, “His innovations laid the foundation for modern recording technology, giving today’s students nearly limitless music-making options. Our in-studio assignments intentionally recreate the constraints Les faced, challenging students to develop the same decisive creativity that made him legendary.”