It’s not very typical that a school project will require you to go to a recording studio and recreate Van Halen’s 1978 classic hit Runnin’ With The Devill. Well, that’s exactly what the students from Los Rios Rock School in San Juan Capistrano, California were required to do. Seven students went to to Sunset Sound studios in Hollywood, the studio where Van Halen originally recorded their debut album in 1977.

This school project had the students recreate the songs from Van Halen’s original album using the original tracking sheets,  original equipment and techniques the band itself used over 40 years ago! They even replicated the original positioning of both musicians and microphones the way they did it back in the day.

The Los Rios Rock School students recorded their recreation of Van Halen’s self-titled debut album in just a single day while Van Halen recorded it in October 1977 over a three week period!

Check out their near-perfect recreation below: