Music facilities
Our rich and diverse environment of performance and practice spaces has been designed to support a hive of musical activity.
At the heart of this are three distinct campus venues, each tailored for specific artistic needs: The multi-purpose King's Hall, The Recital Room, and The Band Room.
We have two professional recording studios, multiple digital workstations, and twenty-five practice rooms. These include acoustic pianos, dedicated drum rooms, and a DJ suite.
You can borrow from our extensive collection, including everything from orchestral percussion and professional microphones to world music instruments like Indian tablas.
We also have a specialised collection of early music instruments, including a harpsichord, fortepiano, lutes, and a baroque string quartet, providing unparalleled resources for artistic exploration.
Room booking and equipment hire
You can book out our studios, performance, and practice spaces using our room booking system.
You can also sign out a wide-range of portable technology. Equipment includes digital recorders, ambisonic and conventional recording microphones, looper units, and sound processing equipment. We also have a DJ skills suite in the custom-built Music Studios building.
Performance spaces
King's Hall is where the University orchestra rehearses. It houses our Aubertin organ, two Steinway pianos, and a state-of-the-art PA system.
The Recital Room has its own Steinway piano, as well as a harpsichord, fortepiano, and the Javanese Gamelan orchestra.
The Band Room is a sound-proofed rehearsal and event space with full lighting, digital PA, drums and backline. The Band Room is connected to the two recording studios.
Studios
Studio 1 is our main recording space. It runs ProTools Ultimate and has a Neve 8424 mixing desk. Studio 1 has both digital and analogue platforms, with professional outboard equipment for processing and mixing.
Studio 2 is set up for 7.1 surround sound mixing as well as stereo. Both studios have excellent Genelec sound monitoring.
Practice rooms
There are a total of twenty-five bookable practice rooms, many of which include an acoustic piano and/or digital audio workstations.
We also have a production teaching room with 14 Mac Minis, alongside four drum rooms.
We have several conventional drum kits. These include Tama Star Classic, Yamaha Oak Custom, with Zildjian cymbals, as well as some "silent" practice kits.
Specialist equipment
A full selection of orchestral percussion is available, including a 5-octave Marimba, vibraphones, and sets of both modern pedal timpani and historic hand-tuned timpani.
If you're interested in Baroque and Classical music you can use our harpsichord, a copy of a late-18-century fortepiano, and clavichords.
We also have a collection of early music instruments, including a viol consort, a Moeck recorder consort, crumhorns, lutes, and a Baroque string quartet.
The department owns a complete Javanese Gamelan orchestra, extensive Salsa percussion, and Indian tablas.
There are opportunities for you to learn all of these instruments throughout the year.
