My time working as an assistant engineer with dBs Pro Plymouth

dBs Plymouth student Paul Mortley pens today's guest blog, which focuses on his time working for dBs Pro Plymouth. 

Since dBs Institute's founding in 1998, we have always had a commercial arm alongside our educational one. In 2017, we made the decision to relocate the commercial studio to our Bristol campus and it was here that dBs Pro was born. In those 8 years we've given hundreds of students the opportunity to work on an exciting array of projects, with some of our most varied projects wrapping up recently in 2024. 

For first year BA (Hons) Music Production & Sound Engineering student Paul Mortley, the launch of a second dBs Pro studio in Plymouth - back where it all began - presented an opportunity that he wasn't going to miss. This is his retelling of his first set of projects with dBs Pro. 

A little about me

Hi! My name's Paul Mortley. Before returning to education, I had a 35-year career in railway signalling in a range of engineering and management roles.

Music and sound engineering have always been a passion of mine and they have always been in the background somewhere. The course offers me the opportunity to immerse myself fully into music production and sound engineering, with it being my number one priority for the very first time.

The chance to learn industry practices using professional-grade equipment, and perhaps most importantly, to learn from experts who have been there and seen it all in some of the most well-known studios in the business is very exciting and a dream come true. 

My strategy since starting the degree has been to say “yes” to everything dBs offers and fully immerse myself in everything and anything related to sound engineering. Having the opportunity to collaborate with artists, experienced engineers and fellow students to record and produce great music is exactly what I hoped for when I started the course.  

The projects

I applied for all dBs Pro sessions offered during my first year to increase my experience working in a professional studio with knowledgeable engineers and to record a range of different artists. I was fortunate to have been accepted in the role of assistant engineer on three recording sessions:

• Daisy Mae (Singer/Songwriter) - Saturday 8th Feb
• This is Floyd (Tribute Band) - Saturday 15th Feb        
• The Ragdolls (Indie Band) - Saturday, 10th May
  
  

The lectures and workshops in the BA (Hons) Music Production & Sound Engineering (MPSE) course are already very practical with plenty of exposure to the studio, equipment and working with recording artists. I felt pretty confident and prepared to tackle all the tasks and challenges that were thrown my way during the studio sessions.

The sessions were exactly what I was looking for: a mixture of serious work, mixed with fun and learning, all within a professional working environment. I settled in quickly with the excellent support provided by the dBs technicians (Dan Wack and Tony MacLeod) who led the session.

I found myself getting quickly drawn into the determination of the artists to perform to the very best of their ability, the need for everything to be set up perfectly and for the artist to be truly comfortable. I felt a really positive pressure to perform to the very best of my ability during the session to help everyone get the best result on the day. It felt great to be part of the studio team and to contribute to the success of the session.    

When I applied for the assistant engineer role, I was not exactly sure what would be expected of me on the day, and in fact, every session was a little different. Since I did three sessions, Dan and Tony gradually increased the level of responsibility and workload.      

I was also pleased to get the chance to talk to the artists during the session and build some new connections. I managed to gain agreement from some of the artists to work on mixing the recordings and to offer some production ideas. I also attended their shows and got free tickets as a direct result of working on the sessions. I’m looking forward to hearing the final released production later this year. 

The application process

During the year, students are invited to apply for dBs Pro to work in a variety of roles across the many projects brought in that year. The application process is pretty straightforward, requiring applicants to commit to the date and to have a professional approach to everything that is required on the day.

I was excited to receive an email confirming I had been successful a couple of weeks before each recording session. I was encouraged to perform some basic preparations in advance to make the session go smoothly and ensure I got the best out of the opportunity.

In advance of the session, I researched each of the artists, ensuring I was familiar with who they were, their music style and the instruments we would most likely be recording on the day. By the time the sessions came around, I felt confident, prepared and ready for action!

Working on the sessions

On the day of the recordings, I arrived about an hour before the artists and worked with Dan and Tony to prepare the studio as much as possible. Based on our research, we prepared the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) in the control room with the tracks and routings and the live room with the Direct Input (DI) and microphone selection we felt were most likely to be used.

We were also ready for these to be changed depending upon the preferences of the artists and any curveballs. I quickly learned the importance of trying to do as much as possible to make the session run as seamlessly as we could for the artist, but also to be prepared to make quick changes.

I recall on one of the band sessions we had set up the foldback monitoring in advance so that all artists would be able to hear each other using a common mix in the live room. But just before the recording, the bass player requested less guitar in his headphones, the guitarist wanted his mix in mono and the drummer wanted to hear a pre-recorded click and cue track to ensure his timing was good, which he had on a laptop.

As you can imagine, this required the files to be imported into the DAW, new foldback routings to be managed, and everyone's headphone mixes to be adjusted to their individual preferences. I was amazed how quickly Dan and Tony started to work on everything, and I was assigned to work on the foldback routing in Pro Tools. I think everything was ready within 15 minutes and we were ready to go with the recording! 

I was given a range of responsibilities across the three sessions, it is all a bit of a blur since things happen pretty fast on the day, but here is what I remember:

• Microphone and DI box selection and set-up for all instruments
• Cable running and wallbox connections
• Preparing the tracking board (mixer channel map)
• DAW Pro Tools (adding tracks and routings)
• Meet and greet artist in the studio
• Assist in moving equipment in the studio
• Setting and monitoring mixer input gain levels
• Talkback feedback to the artist in the live room
• Patchbay and outboard effect set-up
• Breakdown of equipment

      
On average, the recording sessions lasted about 7 hours with some short breaks in between. It was pretty intense at the start and end of each session with a lot of activities ongoing, but once you are into the recording phase, there was a little more time available to listen, enjoy the music and ask questions. I learned so much in such a short time from Dan and Tony and they were very encouraging and willing to share their knowledge.

Follow-on activities

During the recordings, I got the chance to have a chat with the artists and all were interested to know about me and what my ambitions were for the future. I have been amazed by how open and supportive the music community is and how they are keen to help in any way they can.

I was given the chance by The Ragdolls to have a go at mixing and adding to the recording with my production ideas. Dan invited me to witness his work on the dBs Pro mix in parallel which which gave me a deeper understanding of analogue mixing. I was given free tickets to a This is Floyd Show and I have watched Daisy Mae play local gigs with my friends and bored them to tears about how I was involved in recording her latest release. 

Reflections on the experience

Firstly, it was great to see how the MPSE course lectures and workshops really translate directly into a professional recording session. I felt confident, ready and familiar with the equipment and I knew what was going on and why at all times.

The sessions were intense, fast-paced and required good preparation, anticipation and adaptability to deal with everything going on. I have to say that I was supported throughout by Dan and Tony, who would discreetly provide guidance when I requested help or wanted to confirm that what I had done was indeed correct.

The chance to do follow-on activities was a real bonus and demonstrated to me the importance of taking as many opportunities as I can out of the time I have at dBs. The more you immerse yourself, the greater the chance there is for additional opportunities and the local music community seems very open and supportive, especially when you contribute a little to their success. 

I really hope to continue to build on these experiences next year. I realise that the more time you spend in the studio gaining different experience and the more you network and collaborate, the better chance you have of becoming a good studio engineer with all of the soft and technical skills required. It has been a great first year and I would strongly recommend the course and dBs to anyone who wants hands-on experience and teaching from experts in the field.  

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