Visit to Leeds College of Music

This is a blog-post from a visit to Leeds College of Music (LCoM) in 2012. LCoM was in 2012 in the process of transforming its programmes. They were cutting down on the number of degrees and made the degrees they provided more flexible. They also opened for more studio-time for everyone and much longer opening-hours. Mac-labs, studios and rehearsal rooms are now also open till 3am! Level 1 and 2 HE students now had access to facilities only level 3 students and above had access to before. Music students also had access to more of the technical facilities that only technology and production students used to have. You may think this makes everyone fight more for studio-time, but I won’t believe it. Last time I checked LCoM had about 60 teaching and practice rooms, seven recording studios, three mixing studios, a large in-house venue and a small recital-hall. The college is not lacking in facilities. The library is well-provided in literature for practical skills and academic knowledge. There is also a substantial collection of printed and recorded music—especially the latter category was important for us production students. (Although, today most music can be streamed if you risk the lower resolution for critical listening.) In 2012 Leeds College of Music also got its ‘all Steinway status,’ which means that close to all pianos are made by Steinway.

My 2012 visit to the college was part of a private study-trip in the UK for a prospective student. At LCoM we had an appointment with lecturer Brian Morell to talk about admissions and student life, and we met with a number of other staff. I am not going to present the current line-up of degrees here, but I’ll rather provide a few highlights from my own experience as a Leeds College of Music student (I graduated autumn 2009):

- The college is a dedicated music conservatory and it is strong in both jazz, pop, classical and production studies. This meant that I always had access to top-of-the-range musicians for collaborations. LCoM’s old slogan ‘where music happens’ described our student-days spot on.

- Leeds is a great city for music, and the legendary venue ‘the Wardrobe’ is just across the street.

- LCoM always had great facilities. Significant upgrades have been undertaken in recent years. If I have any critique on the current state of the studios, may I suggest that they are so well-equipped that no studios now represent the lower end of the industry? Though that luxury is hardly a problem!

- During my post-graduate studies in Music Production our little class had four doctorate-holders overseeing us. That gave us a density of PhDs to Masters-students of almost 3 to 1. That’s even before counting visiting lecturers.

- Several of my friends from LCoM have gone on to great places in both music and academia. For me, being linked to the LCoM-community today means I’m linked to a living organism of musicians and producers. And it means being linked to a college that is big enough to conquer new ground and increase my CV-prestige as a degree-holder, but small enough to receive us alumni back in a family-like fashion.

…but then again, I’m the wrong guy to ask for an objective outside-perspective! Cause I loved it too much!

Big thanks to Senior Studio Technician Keith Smith and all the other staff who spent the day with us!

Norwegian Singer/Songwriter, up-and-coming Producer

and future LCoM Student Oda Kveinå Tonstad

in the G-series SSL studio.

Film meets music and sound. This suite has quite a big canvas

and a Genelec surround-system built into the walls

Studio 113 used to have a TOFT ATB when I was a student.

Now it has an Audient 8024 and the college uses Audient

consoles in several studios.
Read more about the relation to FunkyJunk here.

Here’s an updated picture from Studio 422.

From the musical scores section of the library. On the far wall you
can see parts of the extensive record collection.

The library's wall of magazines and journals

Read more about the College's facilities on this link.

Visit to Leeds Beckett University

(For pictures, scroll to the end of this post)

Leeds Beckett University changed name in 2014 and was still Leeds Metropolitan University when I visited in 2012. With its Headingly Campus set in the charming old Beckett Park area, the name-change makes good sense in connecting with the local history.

Leeds Beckett is a large modern University with a wide range of courses on offer. The challenge for music students at a large university is often that music takes a minor role after business, law, medicine and other high-profile programmes. Leeds Beckett has no music stream as such and music production and technology is a part of the performing arts department. It also sports a number of other creative programmes, including dance, film, animation and various media technologies. This indicates what kind of collaborations you can make. For example, at a dedicated music college you will have plenty of musicians to collaborate with. But if you are more inclined to work with filmmakers, dancers, animators and media students, Leeds Beckett provides a community for you. And after having lived in Leeds for many years myself, one thing I can say that the city does not lack is musicians!

On my tour of the performing arts department, the staff was keen to promote the quality of the university library. The academic focus of the performing arts courses thus seems central (this will suit some performing arts-students well (such as myself) but others less well). At any rate, the library has staff who is prepared to assist students in their literature-searches, which is absolutely a good thing. Another thing they were keen to promote was the fact that two of the Kaiser Chiefs were alumni. Successful Alumni is always good, but perhaps there were a few other non-study-related criteria behind the Kaiser Chiefs’ success? Though hear-hear, every university should be proud of its alumni indeed!

Leeds Beckett University provides four undergrad degrees central to my blogging (and several related ones).

BA (Hons) ‘MusicProduction’

BA (Hons) ‘MusicProduction and Performance’

BSc (Hons) ‘MusicTechnology’

[BSc(Hons ) ‘Audio Engineering’ was added after my visit in 2012]

-plus four post-graduate courses along the same paths (I won’t cover these here as applicants will be more aware of what they are looking for). All courses are accredited by ‘JointAudio Media Education Services’ (JAMES). The performing arts sector has little tradition in industry-accreditation and some institutes rather have their own strong industry-links. Thus, performing arts accreditation won’t weigh in as heavy on your CV as industry-accreditation on an MBA. But the JAMES-accreditation is a confirmation to prospectus students that industry-relevant knowledge is being taught in audio-courses. It confirms that the university maintains a dialogue with a respected organisation about the industry’s development.

BA Music Production and Performance: There is no traditional main-study instrument-tutoring on this programme. This means the degree will fit best for performers who already have some ideas of where they are headed. The degree aims at establishing a wide production-toolbox (arranging, recording, industry knowledge, etc.), while letting you develop your current level of performance more independently. The degree is less flexible than the others with regards to optional modules, but the real flexibility is found in your personal choice of performance-style.

The Bachelor of Science in Music Technology will suit students wanting to work with music and sound in the media sector, or students who go on to study other branches of engineering and technical research. A Bachelor of Science (BSc) is preferable in some lines of work and for some types of post-graduate studies. If you think this might apply to your intended post-graduate studies or for your professional aims, you should investigate this further. With the introduction of the BSc in Audio Engineering there is now also the option of focusing solely on the engineering and science of sound, without studying music-topics. As a general rule of thumb, I would recommend the BA courses to students who actually want to create music, and the BSc courses to students who want to work with technology for manipulating or distributing sound and music. The exception to the rule is often production of music for computer games and new media. Music technology courses can here be a better choice since both sound, music and complete product is entirely technology based.

TheBachelor of Arts in Music Production explains itself best of the three, and I’ll leave it up to the university’s web-page to describe the current course content. If you enrol on this course and you’re not primarily a musician, your task number one should be to create connections with good performers around the city. As mentioned, Leeds is a great place to make such connections.

Here are my condensed impressions of Leeds Becket’s music production and technology courses:

-       - The university has invested in very good studio-facilities (in fact, it was this rumour that first made me want to visit).

-       - It has a number of (non-music) programmes well suited for collaboration (I do not know to what extend such collaborations happen, and it is often up to you as a student to initiate your own collaborations).

-       - Established community for music producers and technologists (three undergrad and four post grad programmes) with external accreditation.

While not having a dedicated music-programme, Leeds Beckett has well-established courses and above average facilities for both music production and technology. It is a university worth a visit.

The main building at the Headingly Campus in the beautiful area of
Beckett Park

A 19th Century courtyard surrounds a central lawn

 Studios

Several mid-sized studios are set up with small Allen & Heath consoles.
They don't have the analogue in-line architecture usually associated with studio
consoles, but they provide an intuitive front-end to the recording-chain. The
R16 depicted has digital functionality similar to that of an in-line console.
Dynaudio BM15s provide full-range listening, and a simple collection of
outboards provide training in traditional work-flow. In spite of their simple
set-up and relatively compact size these studios are well equipped to
provide basic training.

The larger studios are equipped with Audient ASP8024 consoles. The
Audient consoles have traditional in-line architecture and provide a
natural progression from the smaller A&H Zed-based studios. The
Audient-equipped studios are also set up with more backline and
outboard than the smaller studios.

The largest of the Audient-consoles is a 32-channel frame. That is,
32 lines of recording and 32 tape-inputs for mixing, plus returns.

Always nice to see analogue tape being available

Hammond & Leslie

Computer Labs

Work-stations

All workstations in this lab had both extra USB and analogue connectivity
below the interface for better ease of use. All stations were set up
with headphones.

Years ago I went to FE college in Norway studying electronics,
a background that has often come in handy while working with
sound. Computer labs like this one provides a tangible proof that
Leeds Beckett takes the link between sound and electronics seriously.

Breakdown of work-stations:
Oscilloscope, signal generator and multimeter...

...midi keyboard, mixer and headphones in the same set-up.

List of Mac Labs and available software

Binaural recording facility. If I'm not much mistaken there's
an ultrasound speaker hanging on the wall behind.

Big thanks to all academic and library staff that made the day at Leeds Beckett University interesting!

The Music Production Show, Leeds, UK

The Music Production Show took place in Leeds on May 13 and 14. The show boasted a number of essential distributors in the music production industry, along with academic institutions and a good range of seminars. It’s a first time event in Leeds, organized by UK Music Shows Ltd and sponsored by The Production Room, KMR Audio and MusicTech Magazine. The next show will be in London in November.

An updated list over exhibitors associated with the show at any give time can be found here.



Propellerheads ‘Record’ seminar.



Not really having had a chance to try out Propellerheads' critically acclaimed ‘Record’ software yet, we got an up-close look at some of its features in this seminar. The interface is familiar to anyone who has used a traditional mixing console and the wiring of the different units within the software builds on the same idea as in ‘Reason,’ also from Propellerheads.

The analogue SSL-looking interface should appeal to anyone who likes working on a traditional desk. For traditional mix down the Harrison Mixbus Console software is also a good solution, but Record is a much more complete DAW. Record seemed annoyingly good for a devoted ProTools user and I suspect I will end up owning a copy some time in the future.



(DJ and producer Stephen Lynch taking interest in the PreSonus’ Studio Live console.)

Having only seen the PreSonus Studio Live consoles in reviews and in videos I had found them a bit untidy. The signal path that is usually placed vertically or accessed through a menu is laid out horizontally across the desk. This is making one channel cross all other channels at the same time, but all my worries were in vain! It is a very simple console to get into and if it sounds anything as good as the reviews say, it is a bargain! On the wish list, a screen with better resolution would be in order and so would fully automated faders. But then the price wouldn’t be such a steal anymore and it’s original appeal partly lost. However, it would be great to see a new top of the range in the future with the functions mentioned, thunderbolt plug, 32 lines and some extra pro-functions. Especially in a time when rack mounted converters with PCI cards are starting to see competition from various expansion cards and FireWire solutions. Such an upgrade could buy the Studio Live range a place in more professional environments than at current. It would also be a great semi-professional and affordable console for the education sector. Anyway, it’s worth the dream and the current consoles are fab!

Another desirable piece of kit at the Source Distribution stand was the Universal Audio 4-710d. With four Twin-Finity preamps, digital outputs and 1176-style compression it is a versatile workhorse for people who need more lines than the average stereo pre-amp can provide. For anyone recording drums, live strings or bands through Digi 003s and Focusrite Liquid Saphires and the likes, this is one of the best next investment stages for their recording chains currently on the marked.



(Neuman KH 120 A)

With one of the strongest brand names in music production gear for close to a hundred years, German microphone manufacturer Neuman has recently moved into the monitor marked.



(New old classics.)





The Neumann Solution-D system encompasses digital microphone interfaces that uses the AES/EBU format and a range of microphones with digital outputs. Solution-D microphones can be distinguished by their blue label, as opposed to the regular red label of Neumann microphones, and they have a ‘D’ added to their model number.



Since the first news of its arrival over a year ago I have wanted to get my hands on the new FireWire mixer from Allen & Heath. The GS-R24 builds on the success of the Zed R-16, which has been praised both for its great sound and functionality. When Sound On Sound Magazine tested the R-16 a couple of years ago they suggested that the preamps might actually sound better than the old Digidesign Control 24. The Control 24’s Focusrite preamps were never known for being the best, but they were of a very respectable quality non-the less. That a little pad with a computer-cable running to a laptop could possibly do better sounding recordings at a fraction of the cost was indeed interesting news back then. But now there is a big brother! It’s got more tracks, midi-functions, two tube channels and a meter-bridge. Of you also include the optional FireWire card and fader-automation, the price is roughly around six and a half thousand Pounds in the UK. This is the same prise-bracket as the old Control 24 and the newer C24, now from AVID. But in the C24’s case you might have double the amount to include a converter system with the same track count. And then off course, you’ll need a big computer where you can fit the PCI cards. With the top-spec GS-R24 you’ll need a cable and a laptop and you’re ready to go.

I’m a big fan of AVID’s hardware and in many ways there’s nothing just like their complete systems for the professional studio. But if you’re looking for a cost-effective tracking system or enjoy working on analogue consoles and maybe even once used DA-88s and ADATs; Allen & Heath potentially just cut your new investment costs in half for a 24 channel multi-track system. And that, while maintaining a high sound quality.

The user-manual for Mackie’s once very successful 8-bus series said that no other console had ever produced so many hit-records. The Mackie was affordable and good enough. The new GS-R is affordable and better sounding. For smaller studios and colleges I believe expensive solutions based on PCI-systems are about to be substituted with new FireWire systems (and possibly RJ-45) and Thunderbolt in the future. This mixer helps to define that emerging bracket.

An exciting feature with the GS-R24 is the two valve channels that you can mix through. We loaded up a Bob Marley master-tape in a Logic session and had a play with the channels. At low drive the valve-channels sounded nice and clean, but when we pushed the drive to the max it really brought the sound out in the mix. There was no real sense of distortion (though louder sounds may react differently), but a real sense that the instrument came out of the speakers and into the room. Playing an electric guitar through the valves at high drive made our small PA speakers sound like there was an additional valve-combo hidden behind the mixer.

For further information on this mixer, Sound On Sound Magazine has just done a comprehensive test. For link, click here. For more information on the Zed R-16, click here for the 2008 test of this mixer by the same magazine.



SSL Nucleus is a great DAW controller that includes two SSL preamps. It comes bundled with SSL Duende Native plug-ins. But the most interesting feature is possibly that it can juggle between several different DAWs at the same time.

Though it would increase the cost I would love to see this machine with 8 or more preamps in the future. Just think of the possibilities if it could track a whole drum kit and had an additional 8 lines in and 8 lines out, and a FireWire connector.

Audio-Technica

Audio-Technica had a stand with a great selection of microphones and headphones. Being a brand that have made their mark with high quality at competitive prices, microphones like their AT-2020 has received a lot of positive talk in the industry press.

I was keen to test out the ATH-M50 headphones, which is the only studio-headphone they make that I had no experience with. The exhibitors had set up a MacBook Pro with an Apogee Duet interface so we could try out the headphones we wanted. I found a familiar track in their iTunes and plugged the headphones in. What struck me at first was how ‘open’ the M50s sound. Compared to the harder sounding M40s there is an extended bass range and they are less mid-heavy. Going from M40s to M50s is really a bit like switching from small near-field monitoring to big main or mid-field monitoring. The only thing I would like differently with the M50s would be a little more definition in the mid-range. A little touch of Adam’s well defined midrange monitor-sound would be a great help when working with vocals.

At loud volumes I find that the M40s have a tendency to distort quite a bit. I pushed the M50s slowly up as loud as my ears could stand. There were no tendencies to distortion and they gave me a big smile on my face! I tried to do the same with the M40s and quite swiftly found their faults.

M50s will be great tools as studio fold-back, and for editing and listening. When mixing, you might have to pay attention to the seemingly soft mid-range. This is not a big issue and the headphones are more than good. If you’re a student who’s mixing on cans by night and speakers by day to not get evicted from your house, this is a perfect tool! The listening experience, volume-tolerance and dynamics are fantastic and the applications it can be used for are diverse. I own several pairs of Audio-Techinca headphones, and I have been much fond of the M40s. –but I have never thought the time for an upgrade was as ready as now!

(M-Audio makes surprisingly good monitors nowadays, even for picky ears.)

New M-Boxes

AVID’s new M-Boxes have grown up for real! There’s only one line of preamps in the new models and they are the same as the ones in AVID’s top consoles. The M-Box Pro (3rd gen.) has hence truly become a piece of pro-equipment for serious songwriters, producers with space limitations and small production suites. Its connectivity makes it ideal for anyone with a few pieces of well-chosen kit, the new studio matrix makes it ideal for a double speaker set-up, and its pre-amps are the same as you’ll find in big studios with AVID hardware. Not to mention, the new improved casing seems to be bombproof! The M-Box pro-model just went from semi-pro to pro!



(We all fell in love with the Euphonix control surfaces once again. Music producer and creative entrepreneur Philip Edwards and Stephen Lynch at the AVID stand.)

Academic Institutions

My own college, Leeds College of Music was naturally present at the show. It was also great to get to meet representatives from Hull College. With a broad range of courses at Hull School of Performing Arts, they offer a versatile platform for educating creatives. They also offer evening courses and summer school in ‘Electronic Music Production’ and ‘Music Recording.’

Final Remarks

The Music Production Show in Leeds was clearly a big hit! Leeds is a city with a well-developed music scene. Both thanks to the community itself and Leeds College of Music, this city is literally bursting with musicians from all over the world. Still, the international music-scene output from Leeds is comparatively small besides London and the likes. With some top class suppliers of equipment in town, a music industry in global change and a local music community in growth, there could only be a question of time before an initiative like this hit Leeds. Moreover, it shows that there is a growing recognition for the potential in Leeds amongst suppliers, creative academia and other important players. With a well-educated and well-equipped musician’s community, the next big step for Leeds is to communicate to the world what it is up to.

If I wanted to start a UK-based production house with top-notch access to musicians and suppliers, but avoid the competition in London, this would be the place. It is great to see the production-industry thinking the same, and I’m looking forward to future Music Production Shows up North!

Snowdrift News 2 – Professional News

Professional and academic events at the tail-end of 2010:

1. ‘From File to Feature’ Industry Workshop, London:
In mid-November Tyrell CCT arranged a showcase for several new media products at Soho Theatre in London. Amongst the products were: Avid's Media Composer 5 and ISIS 5000, Object Matrix's disk-based repository, Parking from Marquis' archiving solution and more. The event was especially interesting for former Digidesign customers who wanted to see what systems now will be in family with Pro Tools music production software. A personal favourite was Object Matrix who presented a very versatile data-safety system that would work excellently as a shared central storage for smaller studios with multiple suites.


‘From File to Feature’ event at Soho Theatre Bar

2. Pro Tools 9 presentation by AVID:
With a brand new generation of Pro Tools just hitting the marked, AVID invited their customers to showcases around the UK. In early December 2010 they were at Production Room in Leeds to introduce us to the new features of their software and hardware.



Pro Tools 9 demo at 'Production Room' in Leeds. Shout to James Ivey who ran the demo.

3. Paper presentation by Arild Berg, London:
Former Norwegian Radio journalist Arild Berg presented his research-findings on the correlation (and the lack thereof) between public funding of ethnic music-projects and social integration. My friend Dr. Shzr Ee Tan of the Royal Academy of Music was one of the hosts.

Ha&Ha Exhibition at The Clock Cafe (LS6) in Leeds

"Beauty Explored and the Journey from Eco-friendly to Eco-fatigue."

"Ha&Ha," aka. Harjinder & Harald now has a photo exhibition on in Leeds. It displays pictures from the Norwegian Mountains, places where the urban meets nature and familiar sites from Leeds with a new twist. Keywords are beauty, familiarity and new thinking about how city and nature interacts. The exhibition is on from July 28th to August 10th 2010.

For further explanation to the concept, please see bottom of this post. For captions, please scroll down to the next post.

Click here for Feacebook Event.

View of the Gallery:





"Nature Series" (On canvas, Harald Haltvik):


Morning in Rondane National Park, Norway


Snowy mountains in Jotunheimen National Park, Norway


Lake in Northern Norway


Cabin in the middle of the mountains, Jotunheimen National Park, Norway

"Urban Series" (Harald Haltvik):


Bodø Harbour, Norway


Lake in Rondane National Park, Norway


Winter in Trondheim, Norway


Panorama of Trondheim city, Norway


The Leiv Eriksson Centre, Trondheim, Norway


Church Street Røros, Norway

View of the Gallery:



Pictures from Leeds (Harjinder Nangla):


Wearing The Crown


PolicePorsche


Hyde Park


UR!


WAIT


Dr


Striking The Deal




The Concepts:


Beauty Explored and the Journey from Eco-friendly to Eco-fatigue.

Over-focus on anything will spur counter-reactions. No one doubts that eco-friendliness and conservation of fragile environments are good developments. But if we loose touch with what we are protecting we will easily go from “eco-friendly” to “eco-fatigue.”

From Adam stood in the garden for the first time till today, humanity has constantly had to interact with and modify its surroundings. A modern urban challenge is to increasingly develop society while decreasingly impact the environment. Seen with the goggles of the city it is a matter of cutting, reversing and decreasing. Seen with the goggles of untouched nature it is a matter of embracing, exploring and expanding centuries of knowledge of interaction between humanity and nature.

The pictures are created with a strong desire to communicate that our time here is short and that beauty, challenge and fulfilment happens now! Not in a hundred years, then most of us will be somewhere else.

(All the works from Norway come with a note from the artist attached at the back. Notes contain information, memories and reflections of the location where the pictures were taken.)


The Nature Series (On Canvas):

Depicts the beauty of natural environments and seeks to evoke a desire for exploration.

Here there is no direct eco-friendliness, nor eco-unfriendliness. When we grasp the thought that this was once our nearest neighbourhood we gain a new light on what in our urban lives has lasting value and what has not. And if even that thought should send anyone into fatigue, then at least enjoy the beauty and you will have understood almost the entire point.


The Urban Series (Framed):

Early city environments could span from a collection of rough shelters to street systems with markets for trade.

“The Urban Series” seeks to play a few tricks on the modern mind and looks at any modification we have made to nature. It depicts the boundaries of where the city meets nature, where nature is visited by human inventions and at new and old building traditions.

It is the hope that the viewer sees that:
* The divide between the city and nature is not as black and white as we sometimes portray it.
* There is no society or freedom without commerce, progress and organisation.
* Commerce and nature are not opposite enemies. If they become enemies it is because we have chosen to make them so by our actions.
* There is a lot of hope for sustainable progress when one stands in the grey-zones between nature and human invention.

Set in brushed aluminium frames for a more industrial look.

Harjinder’s series of impressions from Leeds:

-picks up where Harald’s “Urban Series” lets go, and Harald’s “Urban Series” picks up where Harjinder’s series lets go. It explores familiar sites and things that draw attention on a walk through the city and presents them through a modern interpretation. They could be impressions from anyone’s life but also show how we have the power to interpret and choose how we see things.