Music Technology’s Week of Master Classes
Mon, 03 Apr 2017 15:42:00 BST
Last week the university welcomed industry experts Tony Platt, Tom Waterman and Florian Camerer to the campus to share their technical music knowledge with our current students.
First up was renowned music producer Tony Platt, who has worked with artists including AC/DC and Bob Marley. Tony delivered two lectures and discussed some of his favourite memories including recording the famous ‘Back in Black’ album as well as Buddy Guy’s Grammy-winning album, ‘Damn Right I Got The Blues’.
Tony began his career in music production in the early 1970s where he started work at Trident Studios, which became the legendary Island Records. He has gained decades of experience in the industry and continues to share his knowledge with students whilst working closely with the Joint Audio Media Education Support (JAMES) organisation, to which many of our Music Technology courses are accredited. This accreditation is regarded highly in industry, and was designed to answer the call by industry professionals for an industry benchmark. Since then, Tony says it “has developed into a supportive process which works in collaboration with industry professionals from various areas to exist for the students, and to ensure that they are getting the best tools and knowledge to allow them to work in the industry. It’s important for the industry that the courses strike the right balance between technology and creativity”.
Our aspiring music producers and engineers were told by Tony that “enthusiasm is most important, there is no golden key or shortcuts to instant success in the industry, it is vital to have passion and commitment to the job in order to succeed”. When asked what key skills are most necessary for working in the industry, Tony said the skills required now are different to when he first started work; “now you require negotiation and organisational skills as well as technical skills. It’s about having the depth of knowledge to work in the industry, the aim of the work is to facilitate the artists to have the most productive experience.”
Tony’s visit to the university cements the university’s close links with JAMES and was a brilliant success.
Also to visit the department was Tom Waterman, a UK Product Specialist at Universal Audio, who joined the university for a day of lectures and master classes. Tom covered the legacy of Universal Audio’s Bill Putnam Sr. & Jr. and the technology found within their equipment, such as the Classic Analog 1176LN and LA2A Compressor/Limiters, Apollo Interfaces and UAD-2 Powered-Plugins.
Universal Audio, founded in 1958 by Bill Putnam Sr., has been responsible for some of the largest innovations in the recording industry. Before joining Universal Audio, Tom was Technical Director and an equipment designer for a UK audio manufacturer, having previously spent 7 years working as a University Lecturer teaching Recording, Production and Audio Systems. He also remains active as a freelance engineer.
The informative lecture was followed by two master class studio sessions, where Tom demonstrated the dynamic UAD-2 platform, DSP plug-ins and UnisonTM technology.
To round off the week, the university welcomed Florian Camerer to campus to give a tutorial session on objective loudness metering. Florian works at ORF (Austrian national broadcasting company) and leads the European Broadcasting Union's PLOUD group on loudness normalisation. Florian led the EBU R128 recommendation on loudness normalisation and metering and has given numerous lectures on loudness at Audio Engineering society conventions. Loudness metering is an important topic for those wishing to work in film, TV or radio.
The week was a great success with both staff and students finding the guest lectures and master classes a brilliant insight into many areas of music technology. Thank you to Tony, Tom and Florian.
