Choose Music at Herts

Our new music teaching space is designed with live performance in mind. This area is perfect for learning about all aspects of performing and live events, from the perspective of the performer all the way to the technical roles behind the scenes.

The space includes a stage, PA system, holdback monitors, stage lighting rig and projector, making the space feel more like a professional venue than a lecture theatre. This is exactly what we had in mind when we created this space, as we want our students to practice in an authentic, professional space that’s very close to what they could walk into after graduation.

Behind all of this is a dedicated control room, housing a Soundcraft VI series mixing desk, Zero 88 lighting desk, iMac, studio monitors and software including DAWs and VJing software. This space also has access to the Focusrite RedNet dedicated audio network to send and receive high-quality, real-time audio streams to editing and control rooms across the Film, Music & Media Building, meaning that live music can be edited and enhanced as it’s recorded.

A second performance space houses our Javanese gamelan orchestra, steel pans and a selection of other interesting instruments used for the teaching of ensemble performances.

Studio 1, the flagship recording space, features a Solid State Logic AWS 900+ mixing desk with Quested and JBL 5.1 surround sound monitoring. This space also has a wide selection of hardware outboard gear including Drawmer, Toft Audio, and Lexicon to name a few, as well as a range of software plug-ins from Waves, to Vienna Instruments, Native Instruments and more. Studio 1 also has a very large live room with moveable panels, enabling students to change the acoustic properties of the room to fit their performance and sound.

Studio 2 is our digital, Pro Tools-centric music recording space. Featuring an Avid/Digidesign C24 desk, Pro Tools HD and 5.1 Neumann monitoring, it is a fantastic space for smaller recording projects. It is also a great space for getting to grips with the more advanced features of Pro Tools in a comfortable environment, and honing skills on a range of DAWs such as Logic, Reason, and Ableton, with professional support from our technicians if you need it.

We have a fully featured music computer suite with 20 seats for students, used both for practical teaching and independent study. Each seat has 21" iMac, secondary display, 49 key Novation MIDI keyboard/control surface, and Avid Mbox mini audio interface. Software available includes Logic Pro X, Reason, Ableton Live Suite w/ Max for Live, Sibelius, Adobe CC and a whole range of other music and digital media programs.

We have a flexible editing and monitoring space with the option to be used as a control room via RedNet for one of the two live rooms in the Film, Music and Media Building (or anywhere else that a RedNet port is available). This room has 27" iMac, Slate Raven MTI 27" touchscreen DAW controller, EVE monitoring and a range of music software including Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Ableton Live, Reason, and Waves etc. Critical listening spaces are rare, and we are proud to provide our students with this valuable space to progress and develop their work.

We also have two Esmono acoustically isolated booths that can be used as rehearsal or recording spaces. Each booth has a flight case containing Focusrite RedNet preamps for use with the Film, Music and Media Building’s RedNet network. From here, your audio signals can be picked up by any computer connected to the RedNet network.