Maestro of the soundboard: Montana State student helps produce award-winning Montana PBS series

BOZEMAN - A hushed silence filled a television studio on Montana State University's campus at 1 p.m. Only spotlight beams touched the abandoned guitars and drums on stage.

But the quiet didn't last long as musicians, camera operators and makeup artists filed into the Visual Communication Building from their lunch break. The trilling of a folk duo's vocal warmups wafted over the speakers. Sunset-colored lights flooded the stage. Jib operators adjusted their cameras mounted on moving arms.

Watching it all from behind a glass window was Lars Knudson, audio intern and MSU junior studying music technology and computer science. He sat patiently in the audio booth, his glasses lit by a rainbow of soundboard buttons and three monitors that tracked sound levels and recordings.

The opportunity to occupy Knudson's seat arises once every two years for Montana PBS' "11th and Grant with Eric Funk" series, filmed in the Montana PBS studio at the corner of South 11th Avenue and Grant Street on MSU's campus. Each episode features a different Montana musician's personal story and set list, ranging from classical saxophone to Afrobeat tunes. The series has won 12 Emmy® Awards, four of which were for audio, during its 15 seasons.

In the audio room, Knudson and audio director Jeremiah Slovarp adjusted the volume of instruments and vocals filling each musician's earpiece to help them stay in sync while performing. It's not an insignificant detail - each take costs thousands of dollars.

"We're cruisin'. Speed," Knudson said after pressing a button to begin audio recording.

"Here we go," said stage manager Paul Heitt-Rennie.

"11th and Grant" staff heard Heitt-Rennie's three words dozens of times throughout filming, which took place in July. From the recorded material, six episodes will be released over the course of a year. Montana PBS will air its first episode at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, to kick off the series' 16th season.

"It was worth it, working with so many people who do different things but are all connected by the same love for music," Knudson said. "It's amazing that, for one, '11th and Grant' exists, but also that I got to be there for it."

Growing up in Spearfish, South Dakota, Knudson fell in love with the world of music through video games. He listened to the soundtracks of "The Legend of Zelda" and "Hollow Knight" on repeat while driving and doing trigonometry homework at the kitchen table. They inspired him to compose music that connects players to different worlds, which he realized he could pursue at MSU.

More than 70 students are enrolled in MSU's music technology program, which combines the technical side of audio production with creative skills like music composition and performance. Classes range from the physics of sound and entertainment business to music theory and one-on-one instrument lessons. The program prepares students for careers in concert production, studio recording, broadcast sound, film, corporate audiovisuals and more.

"Every day, we go into a new environment and build a show from scratch," said Slovarp, who is also a lecturer in the School of Music. "We're not in an office doing the same thing every day. We're floating from location to location, reinventing everything around us."

Slovarp said the "11th and Grant" audio internship is a coveted position for top music technology students. Over the course of a week, Interns adjust musicians' earpieces, monitor live recordings and manage microphones and cables on set. Knudson and Slovarp often remained in the studio until 10 p.m. to conduct a sound check for the next day's band.

Knudson said the late nights were worth it to learn from some of the best in the field, from full-time Hollywood jib operators to Slovarp himself, who has won 12 Emmy®Awards and owns Jereco, a recording studio and event production company in Bozeman. It was a testament to Slovarp's instruction that Knudson ran the audio room for hours by himself during the last day of filming, blending in so seamlessly that no one realized Slovarp had stepped out.

"It's a huge confidence booster to know you've worked alongside a professional and hung in there," said Linda Antas, associate professor and program coordinator for music technology. "Maybe you didn't know everything the first day, but you worked with a good mentor who saw your potential and were able to reflect on all the things you learned."

Antas said Knudson's creative and technical skillset lends itself well to his music technology and computer science projects. This fall, for example, he manages video game production for a club he founded at MSU in 2024.

In September, the club released Gekl, a 2D game where players join a quest to defeat an ancient evil, playing as a chameleon character. They hope to release another, GadgR, on Oct. 13 through the platform itch.io. Knudson and a few of his team members will also continue a side project named Until Winter. In the game, players will grow crops on their farm to survive winter, which lasts longer and longer as the game progresses.

Next year, Montana PBS will also air five new "11th and Grant" episodes that Knudson helped film in July.

"I can't wait to see it happen; it's going to be totally worth it," he said. "It already is worth it at this point. My goal is to affect someone with my music and games the same way that I have been affected by them since I was a little kid."