IMW expands with SSL systems

Islington Music Workshop (IMW Studios), a community not-for-profit organisation offering starter up to degree programs in music and sound production, is expanding its educational horizons with Solid State Logic Duality SE, AWS 948, Matrix and Nucleus consoles.

“We have just completed our new campus expansion that includes four studios within two minutes of each other,” said John Dennis, the founding Director of IMW. “We have very successfully used an SSL 4000 series for the past 15 years, so we already knew the SSL brand for its sound quality and reliability. Technology and the way people record and mix music has changed, so we needed to invest in equipment that could provide a pathway that included both traditional and in-the-box recording.”

The educational offerings include the Duality Room (affectionately known as the ‘Full on Studio’), a high-end control room with associated studio room capable of handling a six-piece band. The AWS room is outfitted with 12 Nucleus DAW controllers that feature SuperAnalogue mic pres and monitoring section. The Matrix Room also features 12 Nucleus systems. Both the AWS and Matrix rooms are used as hands-on workshops to familiarise students with audio life out of the box. Two additional studios are oriented for learning DAW programs.

“We took a close look at everything on the market before deciding on SSL,” stated Dennis. “Before we built the new facilities, we were using dedicated controllers in addition to the 4000 Series console, but the controllers did not give us the in depth learning experience or the progression route we wanted to offer our students. The item that really sold us was the Nucleus. Every one of our students now has their own personal Nucleus on their DAW to start on and work their way through the Matrix, and the AWS 948 to the Duality SE.”

Course offerings at IMW include music production, sound engineering, sound for picture and sound for video games, so the new studios needed to be flexible enough to handle a wide range of applications.

“What we are trying to do is give our students the skills and the opportunity to make an informed choice as to what area of media production to follow,” continued Dennis. “We are taking young musicians out of the box and into the real world of audio. They are used to working on a laptop with headphones, or making cheap demos, for example, so they have not really developed their critical listening skills. We take them through the various levels of production to develop a very high level of critical listening in the Duality Room.”

www.imw.co.uk
www.solidstatelogic.com