Over the years Mediaspec has built up many excellent relationships with some of the UK’s leading educational establishments, having supplied everything from single microphones to full studio installations. As the cost of professional recording equipment has fallen within the budgets of these establishments over that time, the need for a higher level of support, guidance and expertise has fast become a real necessity.

One of the biggest and boldest installations that Mediaspec has been involved in to date, is the twelve studio complex at James Watt College in Greenock. One of the largest of its kind in the UK, it has set a new standard for the teaching of music production and audio engineering, combating the issue of class size versus quality of learning for the individual. The head of the college’s Music & Performing Arts School, Chris Bradley, knew as early as the concept stage that student participation was key to the design of the complex.

“Studio engineering is about hands on training and educational establishments are constantly fighting student numbers versus individual learning,” Chris affirms. “During a session there can only be one operator so the higher ratio of consoles to students the better. There were two options at the design stage, more control rooms or smaller class sizes. Our design allows unparalleled hands on training with the additional benefit of being able to deliver to a larger class size. The tutor can demonstrate and discuss with a full class in the main control room and then students break out to satellite rooms for their engineering. Once recordings/mixes are done, we can get back together and audition an individual’s mix together as all files are stored on central servers. The flexibility is astonishing.”

“The brief given was very simplistic in its detail but very complex in its implementation. I knew what I wanted but had no idea how it could happen, as there were no examples to draw upon. The final concept was completely cutting edge and pioneering. Mediaspec developed an install that not only fulfilled the brief but also did it in a way that would be very cost effective. Two years down the line it is still seen as a benchmark and although it has its problems, we feel that we received not only the most effective solution but also the most affordable.”

The studio facility consists of an audio network allowing multiple control rooms to record simultaneously from a single live room, successfully increasing the direct student participation in the engineering of multi-track recordings. An Ethernet distribution network was used to facilitate this, sending 16 channels of audio to each room using Aviom’s “AN16i” interface system, providing the interfacing and digitization of the 16 audio signals. These were then outputted through cat5 cabling and microphone signals from the live room wall box and were then routed to a central machine room. “Primarily the main aspect of the design was to allow signals in live rooms to be able to be recorded to any control room and still allow individual operator control of gain, routing etc,” added Chris. “The whole build rested on this concept and during the install my biggest fear was that it would not be effective. The Aviom system that Mediaspec recommended and supplied for us has worked perfectly!”

During the two years the installation has been up and running, it has become something of a blueprint for other educational facilities with aspirations similar to those at James Watt. So much so that it was made subject of a paper presented at the prestigious Audio Engineering Society (AES) convention, which took place in Paris in May 2006. Although a great success, Bradley feels that it is important to reiterate that such a complicated build does not come without its problems, although Mediaspec were always at hand to offer support. “It’s good to know that the installation is not only working for our needs, but seen as a model for others to use,” insists Chris. “Sound Production training provides different requirements than a recording studio install, and it was definitely felt that this new design was a major step forward in its delivery. Centres from around the world expressed interest in adopting the concept.”

“We have also been visited by many different representatives from other educational establishments who are working on new builds,” Chris added. “Feedback has been unanimously positive. During their audit of the college last year, HMI (Her Majesty’s Inspectorate) awarded the design an example of best practice in teaching facilities.”

“With such a large install there inevitably have been some teething problems, most notably USB devices being too far from the computers in the machine room and the KVM boxes we installed were also problematic, which meant that Mediaspec had to undergo a lot of extra grief and expense to create a stable system.

I have dealt with Mediaspec since they began, first and foremost due to the level of expertise in such a fast changing and complex market and their commitment to the customer. Software and hi-tech hardware continually requires troubleshooting, upgrading, configuring, fault finding and Mediaspec are unrivalled for the aftercare support that they provide. Not only were the team from Mediaspec camped out at our college for months setting the whole thing up, but when any issues crop up they have come back again and again to fix the situation.”

“Our School of Music, the largest in the country, gets the majority of its applicants by word of mouth so I fully understand the importance of doing a good service, which will reap subsequent dividends. Mediaspec obviously share this philosophy.”