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Welcome to the Delta Music Institute! Allow me to share with you some of the opportunities ahead for our recording arts and music industries program.

The DMI offers a concentration of music and entertainment industry courses leading to a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies degree or a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree with an emphasis in Music Production. The DMI is an independent center under the College of Arts & Sciences.  

Our new DMI Recording Studios officially opened in the spring of 2009. Studio A, which features a Neve V3 analog console, is designed to accomodate large scale recordings such as symphony orchestras, wind ensembles and mass choirs. Studio B, which features a Digi ICON controller and Pro Tools system, will accomodate multiple types of recording and is set up to mix in surround sound.  Studio C serves as a small project studio, and our transfer room provides opportunity to digitize older forms of media.  In addition, the Delta Music Institute also houses a 15 station, state of the art digital audio lab, featuring Apple computers, audio interfaces and multiple software platforms.

Our instructors are veterans of the music business who continue to be active in their respective areas. They have over 60 years combined experience in audio engineering, songwriting, production, publishing and performance.  

The DMI encourages students to think “outside the box” in an entrepreneurial way as they plan for the future after graduation.  

I invite you to take this time to browse our website for an overview of our courses, our faculty, and opportunities for careers in the music industry.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact our offices at (662) 846-4579 or dmi@deltastate.edu.

Tricia Walker
B.M.Ed., M.M.
Director, DMI 

As a part of Delta State University’s Delta Music Institute grand opening weekend, an official ribbon cutting ceremony was held Sunday, March 9, at the front of the Whitfield Building on the campus.

Pictured are, from left, Malcolm White, executive director of the Mississippi Arts Commission, Hartley Peavey, founder and CEO of Meridian-based Peavey Electronics Corporation, Fred Carl, founder and CEO of Viking Range Corp., Tricia Walker, director of Delta Music Institute, Mary Peavey, Dr. John Hilpert, president of Delta State University; Eddie Willis (background) campus minister of Wesley Foundation; Bill Luckett of Rock River Foundation; Dr. L. Stacy Davidson, Jr., Board Member, Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning; and Judson Thigpen, executive director of Cleveland-Bolivar County Chamber of Commerce and president of DSU Foundation Board. Not pictured: Marsha Bryan, who with husband George are major donors to the Delta Music Institute.

The Delta Music Institute began with a generous donation by Fred Carl of the Viking Range Corporation in 2003. The focus of the DMI is to provide students with a broad and thorough education in the technological, business, and creative areas of the music industry.

Students in the DMI program pursue career aspirations through an innovative Interdisciplinary Studies degree, allowing them to combine two or three concentrations of study. The result is a broad entrepreneurial approach to the music and entertainment industries.

Mississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola

Ol’ Skool Revue, a group of students and faculty from the Delta Music Institute of Delta State University, is quickly becoming an area favorite to music lovers of the ol’ skool sound.

Ol’ Skool Revue, which was reformatted from the former DSU Blues band, has extended their repertoire to include hits from not only the blues, but also from the genres of R&B, Soul, and Funk. Band members have become students of the history of the songs, and the session musicians that made the songs hits, such as the Funk Brothers from Motown, the Stax session players from Memphis and the Muscle Shoals rhythm section from north Alabama.

The DMI is an independent center under the College of Arts & Sciences at DSU. Our mission is to provide our students with a broad and thorough education in the technological, creative, and business areas of the music and entertainment industries.

Delta Music Institute began with a generous donation by Fred Carl of the Viking Range Corporation in 2003. The DMI offers a concentration of music and entertainment industry courses leading to a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies degree or a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree with an emphasis in Music Production. Whether producing their own art or the art of others, our alumni will be well prepared for the technical, business, and legal issues that confront the practicing artist today and in the future.

The Whitfield Building on campus now houses two world class recording facilities on the same par as the famed Abbey Road studios in London. Studio A, the larger of the two recording spaces, features a Neve V3 large format console and will be able to record an orchestra or choir with as many as 100 musicians. Studio B features a Digi ICON console and is a more contemporary space, able to record smaller ensembles of various styles and genres. The DMI studios will also contain a small project studio in addition to housing a state of the art, 15 station digital audio computer lab, featuring Apple computers with audio interfaces, where students will learn to create, edit, and mix audio in the digital realm.

"Classes at the DMI will remind our students of the rich musical heritage of the Mississippi Delta. Our graduates will be encouraged to take bits and pieces of that history, combine it with their own personal talents, and hopefully, create the next great chapter of Mississippi music.”