Discover how the dBs community we have nurtured for over 25 years helps our students improve their skills and find their path in the creative industries.
At dBs Institute, cultivating a rich, diverse and supportive community has been one of our biggest priorities during the 25 years we’ve delivered industry-focused diploma and degree-level training for the creative industries. We like to think of ourselves as a family, and the close-knit sense of community bleeds into everything we do.
Across our Bristol, Manchester and Plymouth campuses, our incredible teaching staff have always created a sense of community at the heart of the curriculum and the learning environment. This ethos has improved collaboration between students on the same course, across different courses and between students and staff, who sometimes work together on projects.
Here, we take a look back at some of the Student Stories that typify the dBs community. If you like what you watch and read, there’s still plenty of time to apply through Clearing and join the dBs community this September!
The Eurorack partnership fused at dBs Institute Plymouth
dBs Plymouth is where our story started and, as such, the lecturers, course leaders and module leaders are some of our longest-standing staff; many of them have been with us right from the start. Phin Head, who’s infinitely popular with our students, is one of those people and he has helped one of our graduates, Dan Legg, both inside and outside of the classroom.
Dan, who studied with us from Access to HE level through to his MA Innovation in Sound degree, found his niche at the tail end of his Bachelor’s and through to his Master’s. Inspired by Phin, who co-owns Eurorack company Stochastic Instruments, Dan embarked on designing and fabricating his own Eurorack modules and founded Fully Wired Electronics during his MA.
Now, he works side-by-side with Phin by fabricating Stochastic Instruments’ products, helping with the design process and helping our current crop of students with their own Eurorack companies.
It’s been such a pleasure to see one of our students go through all of the stages of study at dBs, but not only that, continue being a lively and valued part of the dBs community post-graduation. You can find out more about Dan, Phin and their partnership here!
HANAH celebrates a million streams and goes on tour
Hannah Roberts - aka HANAH - is a recent graduate from dBs Bristol who studied BA (Hons) Music Production & Sound Engineering, has amassed over one million streams for her track ‘Solo’ and recently returned from her first UK tour.
‘Solo’, which was part of her Colours of Now & Then EP via Saffron, hit a million streams a couple of years after it was initially released, and to celebrate, Hannah performed a ‘Live Session’ back where she studied here at dBs! Working with Hannah, Saffron and Saffron’s film team, we provided the space for the performance as well as technical support to help recognise such a great achievement from one of our brilliant students.
“I feel so happy when I'm creating music and then I got into dBs and from then, something clicked,” said Hannah when talking to us recently, “I've never looked back. The best decision I've ever made was to come here and change my career path in that way. Something clicked. I can't explain what but there was definitely a moment where things started coming back to me; positive things and more opportunities. That was when I was like, ‘Okay, I’m tapping into something here.’”
Watch the full Student Story with Hannah here!
The Modular Research Group at dBs Plymouth
Back to Plymouth and the subject of Eurorack, we have some of the finest Eurorack minds and modular synthesis equipment at our Plymouth campus compared to any educational institution in the UK. Phin Head and Matt Ward, who have both been lecturing and leading courses at dBs Plymouth for years, are mad about modular and both run companies with modular at their core.
They’ve brought all of that knowledge and expertise into the classroom through the Modular Research Group, a regular meet-up of students, staff and local industry figures who share ideas, solve problems and test each others’ products. This community-driven initiative has resulted in several graduates from dBs Plymouth moving into the Eurorack business as well as an annual trip to SuperBooth in Berlin; Europe’s largest trade fair for electronic instruments and Eurorack modules.
You can find out what makes the Modular Research group so special and successful from our students and staff here!
Breaking out of the box with Lily Mumby
Originally studying at our sister college Access Creative College, Lily Mumby is one of the best, brightest and most creative students from our first cohort at dBs Manchester. Known as Lapalace, Lily has been busy working on new music since joining dBs and it’s resulted in a lush, atmospheric EP Ephemera.
While mixing the project in one of the studios at our Manchester campus, Timothy Clerkin - one of our module leaders and owner of the record label Insult to Injury - walked past and Lily asked him to listen to their work. “He asked what my plans were for releasing it,” she said, “At the time I’d not thought about releasing on a label, and that’s when he suggested putting it out on Insult to Injury.”
The proximity students have to staff who have their own labels, events businesses, music tech businesses or industry connections that can help them get ahead is ubiquitous across dBs and Lily’s work with Tim is a perfect example of it. As well as that, she has really noticed and benefited from the sense of community we’ve tried to instil throughout our institute.
“Having more students here makes everybody feel a bit more like part of a community,” says Lily, “I've made friends with people in the first year, like Liv [Ramsden, KillShotBunny]. She's really lovely, and she's constantly asking, ‘Have you done this? Have you tried this?’, so we often go to the studios together.”
Meet The Team
Want to find out what your lecturers will be like when you join? We have been catching up with the various teams across dBs to dig into their industry experience and memories from working here to learn what makes them tick. In this first instalment, Stu, Jen, Matt and Pete from Plymouth re-tell some of the stories from their music industry days, how proud they feel when they see our students succeed and why the community feels so tight-knit and special.
You can watch this Meet The Team video with Stu, Jen, Matt and Pete here and keep your eyes peeled for more roundtables with staff from our other campuses coming up soon!
Hear from the dBs Community
Still not convinced about the community spirit we’ve built at dBs? Hear from more members of the dBs community from the past and the present.
Aiden Morgan [DNMO]: The working environment is great and the staff are all amazing, they’ll end up feeling more like family than your teachers. It’s very one-on-one and if you go in with an open mind and ready to learn, you’ll have the time of your life.
Lulu Thompson: dBs is a really supportive community. It feels very personal with your tutors; you know them and they know you very well. It feels amazing coming to a uni where we all started out in the same place and we’ve all watched each other build and grow as composers and really flourish. It’s been amazing.
Gabor Sarlos: My favourite thing about dBs is the atmosphere and vibe of the place. It feels like family. You can be yourself. You can be at ease at all times.
Jamie Gibney: dBs is very accommodating. I think the tutors are absolutely fantastic. They’re easy to get along with and you can tell that they really care about the course. The sense of community is pretty vibrant. There are lots of cool people working on cool stuff all of the time.
Skye Walters: My favourite thing about being a dBs student was the sense of community. My journey, like many students, wasn't always easy. But there has always been a community of fellow students and staff there to work through things together.
Manuel Fitolopez: The community here feels like a family. This building feels like home. Bumping into people and just having chats about what we love; not only my colleagues but the technicians and the teachers as well. It’s a great environment. I truly love it.
Stefan Goodwin: One of my favourite things about dBs as a whole and a place to study is the community. It’s very professional, it’s very geared towards learning and it’s very student-focused in terms of the advice and support that’s offered. I feel very supported and for me, that’s very valuable.
Want to join the dBs Community this September? There’s still time to join us this September through Clearing!