theLAKER | 13 Joi enrolled that fall and began the transition from performing – vocals and drums – to audio engineering. She recalls a pivotal assignment in Jon Belec’s class to recreate an existing song. She chose “Teachme” by Musiq Soulchild. “I was able to bring musicians in and re-record it as I thought I heard it, and then Jon said, ‘Well this sounds great, but you missed a few parts and there’s a few instruments that you missed,’” she said. “I thought I nailed it, but it just taught me that I gotta listen a little bit harder. When I was able to do that, I began to see music as an engineer, breaking music down into its component parts.” From FLCC, Joi transferred to Columbia College in Chicago, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in audio arts and acoustics, with a concentration in audio design and production. She stayed in the city, working for various artists as a writer, producer and engineer. She returned to Rochester to freelance in 2015, then decided to take her chances in Los Angeles. “I went to where I felt the access was,” Joi said. Taking risks It wasn’t easy. Paying work was sporadic. At one point, she slept in her car. “This is one of those times where my faith was being really challenged because I’m like, ‘God I know you didn’t bring me all the way to California to have me sleeping in my car.’ There were things that I’ve heard in church all my life. Things like trouble doesn’t last and joy will come in the morning, and that reminded me this isn’t gonna last forever.” Joi persevered, building on her experience and building her network. Today, she operates an artist development company, dopeXdefault. She has achieved a Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) Gold Certification, meaning she has worked on albums or singles that have sold 500,000 units. Her engineering credits include Yonni, Chris Brown, H.E.R., Dreezy, Destinee Sade, Coco Jones, Mali Music, Bradley Banks, Chi TheRealist, King Los, Desz, Derrick Milano, Brooke Valentine, and Danileigh. She has also worked on shows such as Peacock’s “Bel-Air” and Netflix’s “First Kill.” When Grammy nominations were announced in November 2022, Joi learned that an album she had worked on, Chris Brown’s “Breezy” (Deluxe), was up for Best R&B Album. Full circle Still, Joi admitted she was nervous when her classmate, Kari Ripley ’08 invited her to talk to current students in March of this year. Kari works at FLCC as a technical specialist for music recording. “My hands were shaking, I was sweating, and I thought: I have no idea what to do or what to say, but I’m just going to go with the flow and pray that God gives me the words to inspire and to share the experiences that would encourage somebody.” After sharing her story, she answered questions for an hour in the same studio that set the direction for her life 17 years earlier. Among her top advice: “Networking is important. You should know everyone in this room. You should know what they do. There is power in the people you know and the people who know what you do.” The experience of coming full circle helped Joi realize the importance of being, as she put it, “visible as a woman engineer and a black engineer. I can be what Missy was to me for some other little girl or boy.” – Lenore Friend Joi Wynn’s FLCC memories On Craig Snyder, guitarist and adjunct instructor: “I remember being afraid to ask him if he would play guitar on one of my songs, but he did and it set a standard for what a guitarist needs to sound like.” On being a resident advisor (RA) in the Suites: “I think that being an RA opened me up as far as working with people because I have a tendency to be just a little bit shy.” Joi’s nickname, “Stewdiopheen,” is a mashup of the words studio and fiend. “If I’m going to be addicted to anything, I want it to be something that I love. Being in the studio is home to me,” she said.
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