Tuff Sound Apprenticeship Program (TSAP)

Applications are closed for our 2023 cohort. We’ll open applications for our next cohort in December.

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TSAP is a nonprofit educational program teaching Pittsburgh's young adults (ages 16-21) the art of audio engineering, mixing, and production. Through a 10 week intensive training course, participants develop expertise in audio engineering. They then practice these skills hands-on recording and mixing audio projects for local musicians, students, and community groups.

We partner with leading youth-arts and media education programs to find a wide variety of talented young people. While all apprentices learn technical skills in audio engineering, our program is flexible to fit each participant’s areas of interest. Through hands-on instruction from Herman Pearl and Amos Levy—two professionals with extensive experience in the field—apprentices learn how to work in an industry-quality recording studio.

TSAP is made possible through our partnership with the Homewood-Brushton YMCA and their Lighthouse Program. Our classes take place at the Lighthouse Studio, a large professional level recording studio with top of the line equipment and a skilled, knowledgeable staff.

TSAP is currently supported by the Mac Miller Fund. In 2016, we received catalytic funding from the Hive Fund for Connected Learning at The Sprout Fund. Our work has also been funded by Partner4Work and the Heinz Endowments Youth Philanthropy program.