It’s never too late to use the studios.

One of the best things about studying at Spirit is the access to our state-of-the-art facilities. We take pride in offering such a variety of top quality equipment in meticulously designed rooms that are perfect for sound and music work.

We want to make sure all of our students are making use of the facilities and putting their newly learnt skills and creative ideas into practice. This article has information on some easy ways to get started in the studios for those that need a refresh. It’s never to late to get in the studio… there’s no time like the present!

Happy to help

The studios can be daunting, with so much complex equipment even the tutors get confused sometimes. There are a number of ways that you can get support with using the studios outside of your classes.

Studio assistants

There are always studio assistants on-hand at reception that are happy to come and help with any issues you may have, or can help answer any question. Whether this is how to use a piece of new equipment or if you need a refresh on how to get something working. Asking questions is the best way to learn, so ask away! There’s no such thing as a silly question and we encourage any and all questions you have.

The studio assistants are there to help students get the most out of the studios, so make the most of them!

Manuals

In every facility there are comprehensive guides that walk you through everything from powering up the desk, using different functions, patching in and using equipment.

These guides also include images and diagrams of the equipment to show you exactly which buttons do what and how to get things working.

They’re very easy to follow and cover (mostly) everything in the studio so if your ever stuck try and refer to the manuals. If you’re still struggling just ask reception!

If there’s something you feel is missing from the manual and could be included you can now request this by opening a ticket via the Technical Support Centre and select option ’05. Studio user guides’ to request any additions/changes to these guides.

Resources to get you started

If you’re not sure where to start, or having got any specific projects to work on, there are numerous practice sessions available on edit share that you can load up to quickly get you started in the studios.

Once you are logged in find the mountable drive called Practice Sessions, find the project you’d like to use and open in the respective programme/DAW.

For sound engineering students, if your’e working in the venue, head to Cambridge Audio or Telefunken there are some free multi-track sessions you can use for mixing practice.

Get booked in!

Remember you can book out studios through Stingray. Simply click on the bookings tab and find the facility you want, then head to reception ahead of your booking to collect the keys (there is an instructional video on how to book facilities on the stingray log in page). You will need to present your student ID when collecting the keys so make sure you have your ID with you! Read more on the new policy here.