At dBs Institue, we wholeheartedly believe that experimentation and breaking out of your comfort zone can breed new ideas and innovation. Find out how our students have done just that through their studies here.
Whatever your creative practice is, whether that’s game art, game development or electronic music production, experimentation and trial and error are incredible tools for developing new ideas. Although it can feel daunting at first, breaking out of your comfort zone can open your mind to new possibilities in your work and your life.
We try and instill a sense of experimentation in our students as much as possible and it’s led to some incredible results. Read what our students, staff and other artists have to say about how the power of experimentation can improve your creative skills.
Experimentation can broaden your artistry
Joel Morgan - BA (Hons) Electronic Music Production graduate
“It’s given me a chance to express myself in a way that I didn’t think I’d be able to. It’s been a way to explore what makes me tick, how my brain works, what I want to say and how I want to make an imprint on the world with my sound.”
Anna Ksiazek - BA (Hons) Electronic Music Production graduate
“It [Innovation in Sound module] has really opened my mind to many things. I’m not stuck in one genre anymore. There are so many things to explore.”
Kayla Painter - Producer, sound artist and lecturer
“I think the expression, what I love most is being able to artistically express ideas that I wouldn’t be able to express in any other way… For me, being more experimental allows me to be totally abstract. Whereas, when I have written with pop musicians it’s more about processing more recognisable ideas, feelings and thoughts. As a sound artist, you can be as abstract as you want and it’s not only fine but it’s celebrated and encouraged.”
Sam Gordon - BA (Hons) Electronic Music Production graduate
“I’d say what I’ve taken away from it [Innovation in Sound module], is that I’m not strictly a producer anymore. I’ve dived into this realm of cathartic noise music and I find it really interesting working with sound in multiple different ways rather than strictly ‘music’ as such.”
Experimentation can improve your skills
Heather Hughes - BA (Hons) Music & Sound for Film & TV graduate
“Learning to push my boundaries, work outside my comfort zone and experiment with new mediums… I’ve definitely grown and developed my skills by using those methods.”
Experimentation is inspiring
Jamie Gibney - BA (Hons) Sound Design student
“Before embarking on this project I made a little reverb plugin. I was showing it to one of my tutors, Alex Wilkins, and he was fantastic at encouraging me and just pushing me to keep going with it and to keep exploring it. I do generally get that feeling from the tutors at dBs. They do want to push you where they can and that was a big motivator for sure that carried over into this project.”
Lucas Banks - BA (Hons) Music Production & Sound Engineering student
“There’s a mindset on this degree that we’re hoping to soak up everything we can and never sneer at a new idea when it’s put to us, and because we’re all mates, we want to support one another with what we’re each making. You’re constantly taking inspiration and courage from each other, which is fantastic.
“I’m so glad I started it now and I’ve learned a lot from it. I’ve grown as a writer as well. I’m not being too cautious anymore and I’m just throwing myself in the deep end and going for it. A lot of that’s come from my peers as well. They’re a great set of lads, and they’ve really helped me come out of my shell.”
Emmanuel Spinelli - Innovation in Sound Module Leader
"The opportunity to never do the same thing two days in a row, every day is a different day trying something different and the opportunity to meet new people from all kinds of backgrounds and places."
Max Trivitt directly - MA Innovation in Sound student
“A lot of what I’ve created this year was down to learning from Emmanuel. He’s very good at pushing you out of your comfort zone, which I have loved. I was already on the diving board, he just shook it [laughs]. I’ve loved all the experimental stuff he introduced us to, and you can really tell how much he cares about each student’s journey. It’s about how you get there rather than the end product, that you took some risks and explored something new; it doesn’t quite matter if the end product is good.”
Experimentation can change the world
Jack Weallans - MA Innovation in Sound graduate
“That [experimenting] is how ideas are kind of born, right? That’s how we push things forward… I believe in the art world and actually trying to do new things that open up thought processes. It helps people to look at things from different angles. We can get so caught up in our own bubbles and that’s when things start to stagnate, both on a social and a global level, and it’s by realising that things can be different that progress can actually be made.”
Want to push your boundaries as a creative and develop your skills? Check out our courses and visit us to find out more about studying at dBs Institute.