
Our next Open Day
Saturday 20 January 12PM-4PM
Open Days are a great opportunity to find out more about our courses, meet our expert tutors and see our facilities in action. They're the perfect introduction to student life.
Book your placeWith recording, editing, mixing and mastering at the core, this evening-based course will give you the opportunity to further develop your critical ear. You’ll learn how to produce work to the highest commercial standards and achieve your goals as a professional mixing or mastering engineer.
Building on your knowledge of spatial sound, our the course explores psychoacoustics and the way sound navigates, interacts and responds in different enclosed spaces and environments.
Moving beyond digital recording and processes, you’ll have the opportunity to learn the process of live recording and transferring digital recordings to tape. Working with our Studer tape machine, you’ll develop the confidence to work with audio paths and levels, as well as striping tape and syncing to Pro Tools.
To help you develop your skills even further, you’ll gain a thorough understanding of how to build your brand and business as a freelance engineer. You’ll receive in-depth sessions on licensing, sync, distribution and more.
If you have any questions about this course, your application or if you'd like to arrange a tour of Spirit Studios, please get in touch on:
0161 276 2100 OR Contact usEach tutor has significant, real-world experience working within the industry and remain active within their respective fields.
The programme is structured to follow the same workflow as a modern commercial project. You’ll cover everything from initial recording through to mixing, revisions, editing, mastering and any stage in between; giving you an authentic exposure to what a career in music production will look like.
We’ll throw you in at the deep end. From day one you’ll benefit from hands-on, tactile experience in our professional recording studios – no matter your experience level. The course is built to give you time in every studio and edit suite, progressing to the iconic Spirit Studio where you’ll work with an impressive 48 channel Neve VR mixing console.
Working with a number of tutors, you’ll be exposed to a truly diverse range of workflows. These workflows will encourage your own creativity and push you to flourish in as many ways as possible, allowing you to meet the challenges of any production project with confidence and versatility.
All of our courses are constantly evolving to ensure teaching and learning remain relevant and up to date. Here is the latest example of the curriculum for Studio Production and Mastering:
This topic takes you beyond the basics of EQ. You will learn the importance of considering a sound’s role in the mix before making any creative decisions and how all EQ adjustments need to be made in the context of the mix. You will also examine how the genre of a track should be taken into account when it comes to treatment of individual components of the whole mix.
Here you will explore the different approaches to applying dynamic control. Practices such as New York Compression, Frequency Conscious Compression and Ducking will be explored. You will also consider when limiting might be preferable to compression and why. Not to mention the various effects you can achieve by triggering dynamic controllers externally.
Far from being an outdated technology, analogue tape is still very much in demand when it comes to producing music. You will get first hand experience using our Studer A800 MKIII 24-track tape machine, learning how to use it to its full potential as well as basic maintenance.
Taking your finished stereo mixes to the final production master, this course will develop your skills in a wide range of current mastering techniques, and explore the creativity and sonic qualities achieved through both digital and analogue workflows. You’ll develop confidence in using EQ for tonal balance adjustments and corrections, applying compression and limiting techniques to achieve loudness and impact without compromising the dynamics of the mix. Finally, you will learn how to compile a complete production master to professional standards for current listening platforms.
Teaching takes place in a variety of formats including lectures, workshops, demonstrations, peer reviews and one-to-one tutorial support. Our aim throughout is to encourage your creative exploration and hone your technical skills, all so you’ll leave us as a confident, independent professional.
To begin your studies at this level you’ll need prior experience working on both analogue and digital desks or control surfaces. You’ll also need to have a clear understanding of digital audio and microphone theory, and dynamic controllers. You’ll also need to have basic literacy and IT skills. Non-native English speakers require IELTS: 6.0 with no component lower than 5.5.
If paid in full, you will receive a 10% discount on the total cost of the course.
If you have any questions about this course, your application or if you'd like to arrange a tour of Spirit Studios, please get in touch on: