A couple of City College students sit with their instruments in a professionally equipped studio, jamming and rehearsing their songs. The atmosphere is relaxed and more students keep flowing in, chatting with each other and practicing their material in the softly lit room while the music keeps playing.

City College students will be performing in the upcoming Music Now! concert directed by Dominic Camardella.

As the owner of Santa Barbara Sound Design, Camardella runs the largest recording studio in the area. He has toured the world as a pianist, earned two Grammy nominations and worked with world famous artists such as Depeche Mode and Joe Cocker. Now he teaches the sound recording classes at City College and conducts Music Now! every semester.

“The class has been around for over twenty years and taken different forms. It’s a showcase of the projects in the class,” Camardella said. “’Music Now!’ stands for what is going on in music right now.”

The show starts at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 9 at the Garvin Theatre on West Campus. Tickets cost $15 for general admission and $10 for students and seniors.

“In my show, I focus on student created works. The majority is original material, but we also have at least a couple of covers,” he said. “This is a really great music concert.”

Previous shows have included rock bands, pop singers, live DJs and jazz artists among others. Visual shows by media artists projecting images throughout the concert are included some semesters, depending on the competence in the class.

Students take part in everything from preparation and performance to mixing and recording the show. Most of them are music students with various backgrounds and some have been involved in the concert previously, which makes it possible to set the bar higher.

“Each semester is different stylistically,” Camardella said. “There is no preconceived plan. I’m open for the talent in the students. Some aren’t developed enough while some are early in their writing.

“We have every kind of student. We have some older people that have been musicians their whole lives who want to get the skills. We have lots of international students, particularly Scandinavians,” he said. “The interest is solid.”

Students often tell him afterward how useful the experience has been to them and how it has prepared them for the industry.

“This is an opportunity for students to expose their talents. Out there, if you mess up, you might not get hired again. Here, it’s a safe, educational setting with a professional level for the best benefits,” he said. “They have to learn how to be like a pole jumper, to strive not to be just so-so. I set the bar high.”

Students often come back to participate in the show the next semester.

“The second time they’re in the show, they’re more excited, more confident, it gets easier,” Camardella said.

“As the show comes together, a real team, a family emerges,” he said.

It’s not unusual that bands form during the process, such as Brothers Of Mars, a City College band consisting of students who played in the spring show. The band is gaining popularity and is about to tour the United States.

“This is the beginning of many students’ careers,” he says.

The show is important for the campus as City College has many venues for classical and jazz but not for contemporary music; the primary two being the songwriting classes and this show, Camardella explained.

“There are many talented kids in class who are just starting out and they get the confidence they need here.”

He says the word hasn’t quite gotten out in the Santa Barbara community yet and that it’s “still mostly friends and family in the audience.”

The spring performance did not attract enough people to fill the Garvin Theatre, but Camardella believes this will change soon.

“Little by little, the word is getting out and we’ll start to fill the theatre,” he said.