At dBs Institute, we’re always improving to ensure the best possible experience for our game, music and sound students. Find out what we’ve been up to this year!
We’re always on the move at dBs Institue. From expanding our course offerings to include BA (Hons) Game Art, BA (Hons) Game Development: Programming and a Games Development Diploma to installing our state-of-the-art Dolby Atmos mixing suites, our focus is always on improving the experience for our students. 2023 has been a year of change for us and there have been several campus updates that have improved our offerings - find out more here!
The BSc (Hons) Live Sound degree at our Manchester campus is really starting to take shape; particularly as the connection with our neighbours upstairs - New Century - continues to grow.
As part of the venue’s 60th anniversary celebrations, New Century - in partnership with dBs Institute - is offering one deserving student a scholarship for the BSc (Hons) Live Sound degree in Manchester! The scholarship will cover the student’s course fees for the duration of the course starting September 2024. As part of our drive to utilise sound to make the world a better place, we’re particularly keen to hear from potential students who might not have felt able to apply for this course due to personal or financial reasons.
Discussing the scholarship, Abby Moore from New Century said, “We’re really excited to be able to partner with dBs Institute to offer this place - the student community located in our basement is a key part of our ecosystem at New Century, and we are thrilled to be working together to ensure that careers in the live industry are for everyone. In this milestone year, we’re celebrating all the wonderful ways the building and Manchester has developed and grown in the past 60 years with live music and events still at its heart. This scholarship feels like the perfect way to celebrate the city’s incredible live music history, and look ahead to its exciting future.”
Elsewhere on the Live Sound course in Manchester, students will now shadow New Century’s in-house sound engineers on rotation, so every student gets ample opportunity to cut their teeth in a real-world setting, under the tutelage of a seasoned pro. Having access to the knowledge and expertise of veteran engineers in a world-class music venue is invaluable for our students and is proving to be a hugely beneficial development in our course offering.
2023 has been a huge period of change for us at dBs and probably the biggest transformation has been the formal introduction of our Game courses.
This September, we welcomed our very first gaming cohorts to our Bristol and Manchester campuses. These students have already hit the ground running and are collaborating with cohorts from across dBs, including those on our BA (Hons) Sound Design degree whom they are working with on exciting game projects. We can’t wait to see what they come up with over the next three years!
Dolby Atmos mixing is becoming a huge part of the music and sound industry. With music technology behemoths like Apple integrating 3D audio into their hardware, it’s more important than ever that our students learn how to mix in Dolby Atmos so they can broaden their horizons and opportunities when they graduate.
With that firmly in mind, this past year we have installed Dolby Atmos mixing suites into our Bristol, Plymouth and Manchester campuses. This update to our facilities means that our students can stay abreast of the latest technology and learn how to mix and master in a completely new format. These rooms really have to be seen and heard to be believed, so if you want to see them for yourself, book a tour or sign up to one of our forthcoming open days!
As our course offering has grown, so too has our staff! It’s been great to welcome new faces to our team and develop the level of industry knowledge we have in our faculty. Over the past year, we’ve introduced a few new faces to our students, including:
Finally, one of the great experiences we had in Bristol this year was being involved in the city’s modular synth festival Machina Bristronica. Run by our friends at Elevator Sound, the festival featured showcases from some of the best synth manufacturers on the planet, performances, workshops, interviews and panel discussions from industry experts. We're overjoyed that these experts included our very own Phin Head, dBs alumni Dan Legg and current dBs MA Innovation in Sound student Nell Wayman!
Like the sound of all of this? Become a part of the dBs community and apply to one of our degrees or diplomas before the UCAS deadline on January 31st 2024!