Alisha achieved her degree through UCLan’s Partner institution Spirit Studios, here she talks about her study experiences.
“I was attracted to Spirit Studios due to its location, as I live in Manchester I didn’t want to move away from home. I’ve always been interested in live music, mixing, setting up stages anything related to that so what attracted me to the course was its live features, including the Charlie Jones Live Venue, and the studio up on the top floor which I believe the Stone Roses recorded at a few years ago, so as a fan of the band that was a big selling point.
I was able to go and work on three music festivals doing stage tech work, it was an amazing experience.
The facilities at Spirit Studio were brilliant. I liked how the programme was structured and how you didn’t just learn about live music, but you were also taught how to use the relevant production software as well, such as Dante, S-Link, MIDAS. You also learnt about the design around live music, for example there was one project where I had to design a PA system on the software and portray it, so I picked The Prodigy at the Manchester Arena.
We also learnt how to use SMART which is software that portrays where speakers should be put within a live environment. I also liked the studio as you get to learn how to use this and all the mixing. What opened my eyes was that I thought I’d learnt everything I needed to know at college, but when I got to university, I realised that I hadn’t.
Whilst studying on the programme I got a work opportunity through my live tutor who has several contracts within the industry, one of these is a company called dbnAudile. I was able to go and work on three music festivals with them doing stage tech work, it was an amazing experience.
Spirit Studios will definitely help you with whatever direction you want to work in, I can say this with experience as my tutors provided me with their contacts, which in turn has resulted in me getting my first job within the industry.
The advice I would give to students who are thinking about applying to study on this programme would be not to give up, it is a lot of work, but you have to persevere and put in the time and effort. If someone had told me three years ago, I’d be graduating with this degree I’d have never believed them, so this is a great achievement for me.
