dBs Pro Creative Director Jay Auborn reflects on the projects our in-house creative studio worked on in the final quarter of 2024 and the professional opportunities made available for our students.
Since October 2024, dBs Pro has involved 19 students from across all dBs campuses in eight real-world productions including cutting-edge AI projects, albums and podcasts. Some of the things we are most proud of from the last three months of 2024 are that we:
Read on for more details on the productions and projects we worked on and to learn more about dBs Pro Internships, which are available exclusively to dBs Institute students across our campuses.
Want to study at a higher education institute where cutting-edge education and real-life industry opportunities combine? Learn more about dBs Institute and dBs Pro today!
dBs Pro has collaborated with the Charismatic consortium; a group of organisations including Charisma.ai, Channel 4 and Aardman, which are investigating AI systems to support under-represented content creators and established producers to enhance storytelling in film and television.
A team of 12 dBs Institute students worked on the project with dBs Pro in roles such as Composer Assistants, Music Producers, Sound Designers and AI Data Set Developers.
As a result of this work, the Charismatic consortium's audio systems team employed BA (Hons) Sound Design student Jamie Gibney as a programmer on the project.
The music system developed as a result of this work is being heralded as a composer-friendly tool, allowing musicians to work in AI media easily and ethically.
The Charismatic platform will launch for public testing and use in the coming months.
dBs Pro was hired to mix and master audio for a new medication app, working closely with the composer to fine-tune mix details and ensure the audio was effective for the app's users. The students involved in the project got hands-on with the mastering process and explored considerations for implementing audio into game engines.
Voices From The Courts, our interactive heritage experience for the Creative Youth Network Bristol Old Magistrates Court renovation, launched with a special event, trailer and BBC coverage on the local radio and their website. You can learn more about this exciting project, which we covered in our dBs Pro summer 2024 round-up.
dBs Pro and a team of five students have been working alongside dBs Pro intern Samson Timmer and Jay Auborn to mix a new album by Bristol-based folk group Goldfinches. Recorded in a 16th-century manor house in Devon, the album has a unique sonic character. Back in the studio using an impulse response of the recording location, we blended new overdubs with the recordings made in the manor house. Samson, last year's intern, has been commissioned to mix the album's 15 tracks alongside Jay Auborn and the student team.
Our regular podcast productions continue to roll on, offering students monthly opportunities to get hands-on and paid experience producing professional podcasts. “Getting real-world experience has really helped me decide where to go post-uni," said Oliver Hughes, a dBs Manchester student who worked on the project.
The search for new interns began in November, with 30 applicants applying for three intern roles with dBs Pro over the next year. The internship is a unique development program run by dBs Pro for students at dBs Institute. They receive professional mentorship and help run our in-house studio dBs Pro, gaining hands-on and in-depth experience working on real-world briefs that must remain on schedule and budget.
"dBs Pro, the commercial studio run by Jay, has been insanely helpful for the real-world application of what we’re learning," says Montel Brown, a dBs Institute student and dBs Pro intern who worked on the Voices From The Courts project, "Students can get involved with different projects; there’s an email that goes out every month and you get to intern on real professional projects and develop so many different skills that can go straight onto your portfolio while you’re here, studying at dBs. I haven’t really heard of any other university doing that; where you’re able to work with clients while you study."
The intern application process was refined this year to showcase what inclusively and transparency can look like during an application process. The final selection of candidates was awarded by random selection, a system increasingly used to filter out best-fit candidates.
Previous interns have gone on to become award-winning engineers, audio company owners and renewed mastering engineers.
We would like to congratulate and welcome Acacia Martin, Manuel Fitolopez and Mile Holder on becoming this year's dBs Pro interns. Watch this space!
Join the increasing number of dBs Pro interns who have gone onto work in the industry by joining dBs Institute as a student. Learn more about our courses online or at our next open day.