Students and community members joined together to listen to and record a cover of Carlos Santana’s “Black Magic Woman” at San Diego City College during an event held by the Music Program.

Community Recording Studio Night is a monthly event that invites the community and students on campus to come and cover a song from artists like Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder.

It runs 5-8 p.m. and people may enter and go at any time. Recording is done in layers, where they first play instruments and then move on to another instrumental track, and around 7 p.m. vocals are introduced.

Professor Mike Espar manages the event to make sure people know what to do, where to go and encourages them to come and play the instruments.

“It’s going great. What’s fun about these things is you never know who’s going to show up, what instruments they’re going to play, how familiar they are with the song,” Espar said.

Another person involved with the event is Jackson Taylor, who manages the soundboard, mixing, recording and helps everyone set up equipment. Taylor also checks that instruments and equipment are working before the event begins.

Some community members also brought their children, who got involved with the cover song and played instruments.

One of the community members that came out to the event was Julio Valdes, who is also a professor at San Diego State University.

“It’s great. It’s very nice that people can simply come in here and see how recording is done in a professional studio and participate,” Valdes said.

Some of the instruments that were used included popular instruments such as guitars, drums, and a piano, but also less common instruments such as a cowbell, bongos and a ukulele.

”I like it. This is my first time getting out to one of these … so just seeing that family atmosphere, but (also) the community atmosphere, it’s really, really nice, man. I love it,” said Carlos Cervantes Jr., a City College student.

Community Recording Studio Night is free for anyone who wants to come and jam with the Music Program.