The Backdoor Studio FAQs

All current SDSU students.

No.  It is open to every student at SDSU and you don’t even have to use for school projects! Record your garage band, produce some YouTube content, record a podcast etc.

Yes. Reservations must be made 3 business days in advance to use the studio. Walk-ins are only allowed to use the editing bays though reservations are encouraged. Please see The Backdoor Studio Reservations to see how to reserve the Studio or an Editing Bay

Follow The Backdoor Studio Reservations link. You will need your RedID number.

The studio can be reserved for a maximum of 3 hours at a time. One student can only have 3 reservations scheduled at a time. Reservations can be made back to back to extend usage time.

Sunday-Thursday 10am-10pm
Friday-Saturday 10am-11pm

The studio is in the Aztec Student Union on the first floor behind the Information Center.

Food and drinks are not allowed in either the studio or editing bay room. Water can be brought in using a sealable water bottles.

Yes, someone from the media room will be available to help get the project going and offer limited assistance, thereafter. However, the person using the studio should have a basic knowledge of equipment and software and be prepared to produce their own project.

In the ’14-’15 academic year, Associated Students was approached by Aztec Music Group (AMG), a student organization, about the possibility of creating a Media Studio that was open to all students, not academically-based. Former A.S. President, J. Cole, as a member of AMG, created the idea of a student sound studio in the Aztec Student Union. After research at other universities, the Aztec Student Union Board (ASUB) and A.S. Board of Directors voted to move forward with a plan to create a sound and video studio for students. Student focus groups were formed in order to ensure that the services available in the media studio would meet the diverse needs of the students. More research was done and it was determined that the Aztec Student Union could be one of the first, if not the first, student union in the nation to house a non-academic focused Media Studio, run by students for students.

This odd location is one of the inspirations behind the proposed naming of the space “The Backdoor Studio”, in honor of an important part of SDSU’s history.

The Backdoor was located in the former Aztec Center (which was torn down and replaced by the current Aztec Student Union). The space was originally intended to house two lanes of the Aztec Center bowling alley when it opened in 1968. Instead, the students used their voices and asked for a space for coffee and music instead. Although the coffee part did not stick, the music aspect grew strong. Those that remember The Backdoor, remember its atmosphere- “a small, underdog vibe, representative of the heart of the students”.

The small venue began to house big names like Linda Ronstadt, Patti Smith, Tom Petty, REM, Guns N’ Roses, the Ramones, and Green Day. Anthropologist Jaime Lennox, Assistant Coordinator at SDSU’s South Coastal Information Center, said “There places really contributed to the local music scene. The San Diego Folk Festivals were held here from the ‘60s into the ‘80s. We had reggae festivals and Lollapalooza, and Aztec Center was really important in the punk scene.” Over its 30 year life, The Backdoor flourished and became much more than it was ever intended to be.

The Backdoor hosted over 3,000 concerts featuring more than 5,500 bands and musicians. Its popularity quickly outgrew its capacity, but students continued to cram themselves into the tight space. The school combatted this with the construction of the Cal Coast Open Air Theater and the Viejas Arena. With the construction of the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union in 2014, The Backdoor space was gone and became remembered by ticket stubs, setlists, sweat drenched photos, and the word of mouth from concert goers.

As we head into a new period of SDSU’s history, the students would like to pay homage to our fondly remembered past. The Media Studio was created with much of the same spirit that The Backdoor was and by naming the studio after our former venue, we would be coming full circle. The Media Studio will provide students from all majors and backgrounds with an opportunity for creative expression. It will give many the opportunity to utilize high quality equipment that they would otherwise never have access to. This studio will produce music, video, and audio that will forever be a representation of the opportunities offered by our campus.

Yes. You can record video using our green screen. We can also provide a black or white backdrop. Other backdrops and props can be brought in by the user.

The Backdoor Studio Equipment

You can bring your own computer or other external recording device.

Yes. We can help you get setup to record any type of instrument or vocal you would like.

The Backdoor Studio Equipment

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You can bring your own computer or other external recording device.

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For both in the studio and in the editing bays we have 2018 iMacs and one iMac Pro to help render video faster.

Yes. You can bring in any equipment you would like to. However, we cannot guarantee your equipment will seamlessly integrate into the native environment of the room.

You can bring your own computer or other external recording device.

The Backdoor Studio Equipment

The Backdoor Studio Equipment

An external drive or cloud storage service is recommended. You cannot save to our computers. Any saved projects will be deleted each night.

No, a user's project should never be saved to the studio computers. The user should always save his/her project to a USB drive or a cloud service.

You can head the the information center located on the first floor across from Aztec Lanes and Oggi's. Be sure to bring your RedID!

Your reservation time includes your setup and teardown time. You may need to arrive early to unload and move your vehicle (see: "Where can I unload equipment") if you have a lot of items. Anything of ours that you are using will already be setup.

You can use the loading dock in the basement of the Aztec Student Union if you have a lot of equipment. You access the loading dock from Aztec Circle Drive coming off of College Avenue. Once unloaded you must move and park elsewhere. Vehicles left unattended may be cited or towed. There are flatbeds and hand trucks to help you move your items.

Most likely there is a reservation ahead of yours so getting into the studio early may not be possible. You can always get to the Student Union early to unload and be ready to enter the space at your reserved time.

To make it easier and not confuse our users your reservation time includes all of your setup and all of your teardown. For example, if your time is from 3:00pm-6:00pm, you can enter the room at 3:00pm to get setup and at 6:00pm you should be walking out of the space leaving it exactly how you found it when you first walked in.