A 24-channel SSL Duality δelta console is part of a programme to upgrade the recording and mixing facilities at the Birmingham Conservatoire. The SuperAnalogue hybrid console will have several roles at the Conservatoire – as a core teaching tool for the school’s Music Technology courses and to support general music recording, research, and other production activities.
Dr Simon Hall, Head of Music Technology at the Conservatoire, sees it as a natural fit in a facility that has already invested heavily in instruments and equipment: ‘It comes down to quality all the time,’ he explains. ‘We’ve got a very good mic collection – lots of DPA, Neumann, Soundfield. We’ve got ATC monitoring, and on the other side of the glass we’ve got a Steinway Model B Grand Piano. The missing component was a serious high-end board – that’s what Duality is for us.
Duality δelta combines a traditional analogue path and signal processing with DAW control. New δelta-Control plug-in allows automation of the analogue signal path within the console using standard DAW automation recording and editing tools.
Outside the main Music Technology courses, the Conservatoire’s new console will have roles to play in producing student portfolios and audition recordings, and in course components aimed at getting musicians familiar with the recording studio: ‘We have lots of cross-discipline modules for performers,’ Hall says. ‘These can involve becoming au fait with studio etiquette and how to get something successful out of a studio session.’
The Conservatoire’s new Principal, cellist and conductor, Julian Lloyd Webber, also believes in bringing technology into the realm of traditional musicianship: ‘He believes quite passionately that musicians should have an idea of what it is that is being put in front of them. They can take ownership of the microphone. Quite often engineers don’t necessarily know as much about the instrument and the way the instrument projects as the musician does – especially when instruments can be very individual things.’
The Birmingham Conservatoire was founded (as the Birmingham School of Music) in 1859 and became a Conservatoire in 1989. Music Technology was introduced to the Conservatoire in 2001 and now the department offers BMus (Bachelor of Music), BSc (Bachelor of Science) degrees as well as postgraduate courses. In September 2017, it will relocate to a new purpose-built £46m building designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. This will house a 400-seat auditorium, two additional performance spaces, and a range of teaching facilities that will include an experimental surround sound project space and a studioplex that, according to Dr Hall, will be unsurpassed in the sector.
‘It’s been branded the digital conservatoire,’ he explains. ‘We’re looking at a big audio network infrastructure for it. We’re getting John Flynn (Acoustic Design Group) as a consultant to do the studios. We’re aiming have the best studio facility outside of London.’
‘We are delighted that Birmingham Conservatoire maintains its reputation for state-of-the-art facilities with the acquisition of the SSL Duality to be introduced at any UK music college,’ Lloyd-Webber adds. ‘This confirms our status as the UK’s premier digital conservatoire.’
