Luca Fano-Caroti, KLN ’25, once spent hours in his Temple University dorm room making beats and sending them to recording engineers. Today, he works in New York recording studios with artists including A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and Cash Cobain.

One of the first students to declare Klein College of Media and Communication’s Audio and Live Entertainment (ALE) major, Fano-Caroti credits the program with helping him build a foundation for his career as a music engineer.

The New York native arrived at Temple in 2021 as a Music Technology major in the Boyer College of Music and Dance. During his second year, he transferred to Klein College, drawn to the new ALE program’s combination of hands-on experience and music business education. “This new major was more aligned with the work I was doing at the time,” said Fano-Caroti.

The program offered what he was looking for: opportunities to develop his technical skills while learning how the industry operates. His professors’ professional experience also helped bring those lessons to life.

Alex Sasdi, a third-year ALE student, echoed that appreciation. 

“A lot of the professors have been in the industry, so they give us real-life examples and stories,” said Sasdi. “It’s helpful to know what jobs in the industry are really like.”  

During his senior year, Fano-Caroti took the Bell Tower Music practicum, working with Temple’s student-run commercial record label. Students create songs and manage their releases, gaining  experience finding musicians, setting up equipment, mixing tracks and meeting deadlines. 

“It felt like a real-world version of how a release comes together in the music industry, just on a smaller scale,” said Fano-Caroti.

Associate Professor Jack Klotz, who teaches the practicum and directs the ALE program, said Fano-Caroti made an impression beyond their time in the classroom. 

“In my memory, I feel like he had more classes with me, which means that he spent time with me beyond class,” said Klotz. “And that’s a good thing.”

For Fano-Caroti, the program also broadened his understanding of what it takes to release music.

“My time at Temple helped me become a more well-rounded musician and entertainer, along with a more well-rounded person,” he said. “As a musician, it is easy to forget about all the other aspects of the industry—such as the business, marketing, and promotion sides of it. Klein College really breaks down what is needed for releasing tracks in the industry.”

Now working across multiple New York studios, Fano-Caroti focuses on producing and engineering music.

“I’ve been mainly producing and engineering; recording vocals and mixing them,” he said. “Creating and collaborating with artists that I grew up listening to is very rewarding.” 

Those collaborations grew out of connections he began making while at Temple. 

“I was sending beats to recording engineers that I connected with on Instagram,” he said. “During my time at Temple, I would just sit in my dorm, make beats, and send them out.”

Klotz encourages students to take that same initiative in sharing their work. 

“Put what you do out there as much as you can,” he said. “When you get an opportunity to get ears or eyes on what you do, take it.”

For students hoping to enter the music industry, Fano-Caroti emphasizes patience, persistence and finding what makes them stand out. 

“There are tons of people doing the same thing as you, and there has to be something that makes you unique,” he said.