(The following is excerpted from the U.S. Department of State publication, American Popular Music.)
There is no way to provide the final word on the rapidly shifting landscape of music technology. The fact that digital technology allows the content of a recording to be liberated from its…
So, if your wondering what some of our tutors and staff get up to in their spare time then have a look at the newly relaunched website primarosa.net. This is a record label and online music community, run by dBs Music tutor Ben Philcox, which is home to the artists Ben is currently working with.
If you haven’t heard of Dawn Chorus Ignites or Ben Solo then you need to head to this site to find out more. Dawn Chorus Ignites are a Devon based Post-rock/Shoegaze instrumental band who have just released their third studio record ‘Take Me With You’. Ben plays guitar with these guys. Ben Solo is… yea, you guest it… Ben’s solo project which is more on the chilled out shoetronica tip… bit like Boards of Canada/Ulrich Schnauss… stuff like that.
Ben says “its great fun releasing your own material and its a real buzz when someone from Japan or Mexico buys your music and says how much they like it… we may not be knocking Rihanna off the top spot with CD sales but we do get really positive feedback on the music and that’s what it’s all about I reckon”
Apparently there are lots of exciting new releases on the way on Prima Rosa too so you’d be well advised to keep in touch with this one!
www.primarosa.net
ben@primarosa.net
When dBs Music opened a new centre in partnership with Cornwall College, we approached the lovely folks at Allen & Heath and our friends at Clockwork Audio Systems to help us kit it out with the best gear possible.
We chose GS-R24M recording mixers for our four production suites and several ZED-10FX. All four GS-R24 mixers have been installed into bespoke furniture, connected to 27” iMacs with Pro Tools and Logic. The ZED-10FX mixers installed in the custom built live and performance spaces.
The Allen and Heath GS-R24M mixers provide our learners with high quality functionality just as you would expect in a commercial recording facility. We love the pre-amps and the overall tonal warmth that these mixers provide. Analogue meets digital beautifully and seamlessly combined with control surface functionality for Pro-tools and Logic. With this mixers we can deliver traditional studio craft alongside cutting edge automation and control techniques all from one unit and the icing of the cake is our studios look awesome!
By Mark Trewin (Development Director)
What did I know about Ben Howard in September 2011? Answer, not a lot, I had vaguely heard the name and knew he was a West Country artist. So when we were asked to host some rehearsals at dBs Live at the end of the month for one night it did not sound like a big deal. Put up 3 vocal mics and lock up at the end of the rehearsal! However following discussions with Tour Manager Oli James the booking was expanded considerably to four days with full production and an album launch on the final day. Oh, and record it all for a possible live album!
To make the project work Live Sound technicians Olly and Matt organised the venue and resources to fit the specification from the bands’ touring engineer and we recruited one of our Third Year Degree students along with two second year Live Sound learners to set-up the equipment. Meanwhile dBs commercial studio manager Jay and Olly between them organised the Pro Tools HD rig and the active splits needed to record the show, the show was recorded on the night by a Year 2 Music Production degree student.
Monday night was full with invited audience and fan-club members and the band played a great show which ran technically smoothly. Following the show the band and management professed themselves very pleased and promised to come back for another show and thanked our technicians and student crew.
Not bad for a casual rehearsal enquiry!
By Jim Parsons (Live Sound Course Leader)
