The Rainbox: Live on KMHD2

 

Andrew Schaffer and a Rainbox Blak Baxter get ready for the most recent episode of Rainbox.

Andrew Schaffer (left) and a Blake Baxter (right) get ready for the most recent episode of Rainbox.

In what began as a passion project in the summer of 2014, Andrew Schaffer, an MHCC Integrated Media student has produced three episodes of a live music program called “Rainbox” on the college campus.

“My goal was to create a platform that bands can launch themselves from and I want this to be a place where people come (to hear them),” said Shaffer.

The genesis of the idea, said Shaffer, was called “Bands in a Van,” a YouTube.com project that was supported mostly by himself and volunteers. After a failed Kickstarter campaign and after producing only a few segments, that project fell apart, but the idea stayed together.

“Eventually we got down to something I could actually do, which was the Rainbox,” said Schaffer.

Rainbox has generated three episodes, starring as many bands. Schaffer has another episode in the works and has volunteers to help him produce episodes throughout the summer.

While he can’t pinpoint exactly why he chose live music, he said that live performance has always been a part of his life.

“I just gravitate towards it. I’ve been in a band before, I’ve played live music, I know how hard it can be to get yourself out there,” said Schaffer. “I tend to gravitate towards it. I come from a live theater background, and I guess that’s part of it.”

He said his personal motivation for creating Rainbox was to gain more experience in live broadcasting.

“In a live situation you hear the band for what they are and there’s no getting around it, and so we go live on YouTube and live on KMHD2 (the campus-produced radio station). It’s not delayed, it’s live,” said Schaffer, who aspires to work on “Saturday Night Live” one day.

Going live isn’t without its pitfalls. The second Rainbox episode lacks a vocal track for the lead singer, and some of the transitions are jumpy, but Schaffer said that is all part of the process.

Jack Schommer, director of the Integrated Media program at Mt. Hood and Schaffer’s adviser for the project, said what’s unique about Rainbox is that it’s music and live streaming television.

“Every year, students do music related videos … frequently,” said Schommer. “Five or six years ago, we used to do sports regularly.” Those efforts were limited in their scope, he said.

“(Rainbox) is on YouTube and simulcast on the radio station. Those two things are a nice approach,” said Schommer. He noted that the college was recently able to upgrade some of its video equipment to support live-streaming.

Schaffer will graduate from Mt. Hood this year, and has already moved into a position that fits his talents.

“I’m a producer at a stock video production company in Oregon City called Uber Stock. I’m organizing every shoot,” he said. He started at the company in April 2014 as an intern, then made his way up to the producer role in March this year.

Rainbox_lockup_rainbow copy

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*