Tag: recording studio

Mull’s An Tobar launch film studio to record music for broadcast

AS a result of the current pandemic, a film studio for recording music performances has been set up in An Tobar, with the cameras being remotely controlled, recorded, and edited by operators in Perth and Linlithgow, without having to step foot in the venue.

Over the winter, Music For Winter Solitude, a series of music performances are being created with the first release by Whyte going out live on An Tobar’s Facebook page, Vimeo, and YouTube channels, on Thursday 3 December at 8pm.

A media preview of the first gig by Whyte can be found here:
https://vimeo.com/481413814/b0e0a78483.

For nearly 25 years, An Tobar has welcomed many great musicians to its tiny venue in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull.

With music from all genres, it has enjoyed concerts by Laura Marling with the singer saying that ‘An Tobar was her favourite venue’, John Renbourn, Amy MacDonald, Frightened Rabbit, The Scottish Ensemble, Tommy Smith, Dougie MacLean, Idlewild, Phil Cunningham & Aly Bain, Karen Matheson, British Sea Power and many more.

2020 was looking to be a good year for the venue, having won the ‘Venue of the Year’ award at the Scottish Traditional Music Awards and a great programme had been lined up to celebrate this accolade. Then Covid-19 hit, and everything stopped. After a month, it became clear it was going to be some time before gigs were possible in the way they had been before.

Gordon Maclean, director of Music, had an initial plan to aim for a period of documentation with musicians still being allowed to work in isolation at An Tobar.

The venue has a long history of producing remarkable records and the studio has always worked alongside the performance season. He thought, maybe it could film musicians working in the studio and sought advice from Gary Ebdy, a lighting designer for concerts and live events and Dr Tom Spink, a senior researcher in Computing Systems Architecture at the University of Edinburgh.

Gordon Maclean, director of Music at An Tobar said: “Having worked with Gary Ebdy from Lunas Live in the past, I was looking for some advice about setting things up and our conversation took a creative path until we arrived at the current set up where we use five remote-controlled cameras to record an in-studio performance.

“I’m upstairs in the studio control room and the band is in the live room so our interaction is minimal. Gary, Tom, and I complete most of the setup before the musicians arrive.

“The musicians live in local holiday houses in isolation and contact between them and local people is virtually non-existent. We all felt it was vital that musicians should feel safe working here and that the Mull population would feel safe having them on the island.”

He added: “This production facility has been made possible through generous support from Creative Scotland who have invested in their portfolio organisations to allow them to rethink how they produce work in a world with no audience.

“With the arts in a precarious situation, we are so grateful that it has allowed us to create opportunities for self-employed artists and crews.”

The design needed to be a robust system that worked within the constraints of the available broadband connection at the venue.

This involved developing an architecture that allowed access to the cameras and recording equipment remotely, and reliably – should they encounter connection issues. The system communicates with a cloud server down in London, which then relays information back to its operating locations in Perth and Linlithgow.

From there, they can watch live camera feeds, and adjust camera positions by sending commands back to Mull (again, via London). Effectively, when a keyboard button is pressed, the signal travels down to London, back up to Mull, and into their operating equipment – all in the blink of an eye!

The communication needs to be super-low latency so that they can effectively operate the camera equipment, and observe what’s going on. They’ve had to build on several technologies – from camera hardware, through to low-latency networking protocols to bring this together.

This new digital format will result in the following performances:

Thursday 3 December, 8pm: Whyte (FREE)

Thursday 17 December, 8pm: Duncan Chisholm (PAY WHAT YOU CAN)

Thursday 7 January, 8pm: Rachel Jack with her band (PAY WHAT YOU CAN)

Thursday 21 January, 8pm: Pete Harvey and the Pumpkinseeds String Quartet performing a new piece commissioned by An Tobar (PAY WHAT YOU CAN)

Thursday 4 February, 8pm: Roddy Woomble (PAY WHAT YOU CAN)

Viewing Platforms
Facebook: @AnTobarArts
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZYNNhZF7qbV0g6fqBL_FA
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/antobarandmulltheatre

My ears are alight: College recording studio revamped

Former students helps shine some starlight on Edinburgh College recording studio

Musicians

Edinburgh College’s newly star-spangled recording studio is giving up-and-coming local bands and musicians the chance to use their rehearsal space to unleash the power of music free of charge.

The studio at the college’s Milton Road Campus has been given a sparkling revamp thanks to the generosity of a generous former student and local musicians, and is ready to continue to support students, graduates and musicians from the community to create high quality music videos and recordings to rival the output of professional studios. Bands who have used the studio have gone on to get national radio airplay and perform at major music festivals.

Former HND Sound Production student Gerry Callahan presented course tutor Richie Harrison and the college’s sound department with a starlight curtain to use as a background to music videos. This adjustable stage backdrop of black cloth is peppered with LED lights ‘stars’ and is a welcome addition to the already state of the art studios. The curtain will act as an improved setting for the music videos filmed in the studio.

Gerry raised the funds for the curtain through sales of an album he recorded as part of his graded unit for his course. Gerry brought eight singer songwriters together to record his album to help raise the profile of the Listening Room, the second longest running open music night in Edinburgh. Listening Room organisers James Igoe and James Whyte also held a launch event to help raise more funds, and the album is still available to buy through the Listening Room website.

a look inside the recording studio with the musicians and students

Local musicians Norman Lamont (above), Fiona Thom, John Farrell and Jason Pillay came into the studio on Friday to help launch the newly revamped studio and celebrate Gerry’s donation by recording music videos in the new space. These were filmed by another former sound production student, Darren Knox, who now helps run Edinburgh Undersound, an independent music organisation.  Current students from Richie’s course were also on hand to handle the sound production.

Gerry said: “I wanted to make this donation as an expression of gratitude for everything that Richie and the sound department did for me while I studied here. I’m a bit above the usual student age bracket, but they were really good to me and made me feel extremely welcome on the course. I knew that Richie always wanted to decorate the space to make it a better location for filming music videos and I was happy to help.”

Richie Harrison said: “Gerry’s donation will allow us to continue improve upon the quality of the music videos we produce in the studio to show off the emerging talent from the college and surrounding communities. The recording studios already have cutting edge equipment, with consoles made by Solid State Logic and Toft, the same as is used in the world’s top recording studios including Abbey Road and New York’s Electric Lady Studios. Local musicians are very welcome to get involved and can contact me via my college Richard.harrison@edinburghcollege.ac.uk email address.”

The college offers the studios at its Milton Road Campus for free as a place for local bands and young musicians to develop their skills, make recordings and film music videos. The studios are home to Feast, the college record label. Set up as a sustainable business giving past and present students invaluable experience for future employment, Feast brings managers, musicians, bands, engineers and filming students together to create original music and videos.

Bands who have used the studio have gone on to national radio play on BBC radio stations, including Radio 1, Radio 6 Extra, and Radio Scotland, and some have played T in the Park’s Introducing Stage. Fatherson, Ded Rabbit, Vukovi, Tijuana Bibles and Man of Moon have all used the studio for videos and recordings. These bands are well on their way to breaking through in the music scene. The Scottish Alternative Music Awards have also shot videos with artists in the studios.

Pictured (top): Listening Room organisers James Igoe, James Whyte; musicians Jason Pillay, John Farrell, Fiona Thom, Norman Lamont; former student Gerry Callahan and Edinburgh College Sound Production lecturer Richie Harrison.