dBs Recordings

dBs Recordings is a non-profit, student record label. Once a month we team a dBs Music student with a creative audio project and release the results.

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Dephicit - Clef Residue (dBs recordings #2)

Last Summer we teamed artist ‘Dephicit’ with Saxophonist ‘Summer Bright’ and had dBs Music students run a recording session which gave birth to track ‘ Clef Residue’.

Mixed in-house at our commercial studio, students got hands on with each step of the creative process, soaking up vital real world experiences.  The results were outstanding!

Students involved then got to visit Star Delta mastering to put the finishing touches on the track.  It’s now streaming on Dephicits soundcloud and is dropping for release soon on his forthcoming EP.

Enjoy!

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we're now trying a version via the Ampex ATR102 (1975) tape machine and comparing our earlier master..

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Sneak peak via iPhone mic. We've been soaking up pro-tips on topics as broad as composition workflow to aesthetic considerations when mastering.

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right now @ star delta.. sounding huuuuuugggggeeee!!!! Can't wait to share it!

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mastering dBs recordings release 2 tomorrow !!!

Tomorrow we're visiting Star Delta mastering to finish off the Dephicit contribution to dBs Recordings.. two of our lucky students get to come along for the session and soak up first hand experience of a professional mastering session.  We'll be keeping you updated throughout the day.  Stay tuned. 

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releases 2 & 3.. coming soon!

We've got some great releases lined up for works completed in February and March! The mixes are primed for mastering and we'll be sharing them very soon!

In other news we've also started assembling a top class A&R team of students to track down future artists for releases.  These guys will be the labels tastemakers and add some much needed fuel to our mission.

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We've just finished mixing the Dephicit track for our 2nd release.. it's sounding HUGE!!

Dephicit and this months student rep James Stafford spent the day in our commercial studio making use of the NEVE 51 console and other choice outboard.  After a long day of experimenting with distortions and tape saturation the track is sounding round, warm and deep! Look out for James' take on the experience soon.

Now onto mastering, hopefully before the end of the month!

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Dephicit at the NEVE 51 recording Elise Webster's sax skills.

Despite being a little behind schedule, the 2nd dBs Recordings release is shaping up nicely!!

dBs Music students James Stafford and Elise Webster are the label reps behind this months release.  They ran a great studio session for Dephicit, this months artist, experimenting with different mic placement, microphone types and preamp, finally settling on a combination of UA 6176 and a COLE 4038 placed in the reflective end of the live room.

Dephicit was more than happy with the recording session and left with a drive full of brass samples to play with.  We can't wait to hear what he come's up with!

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Coming soon: dBs Recordings #2

We're currently working away at this months release! We can't give to much away, but it's coming together nicely.

In the meantime check out the sounds of Dephicit:

http://soundcloud.com/dephicit_production 

An artist we're hoping to collaborate with very soon!

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Check out the 'in studio' video of The Beacons recording the debut dBs Recordings single 'The Man Who Digs The Ditch'

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Check out the video for dBs Recordings debut single 'The Man Who Digs The Ditch' by The Beacons.

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We recently chatted to Sam Brian, the dBs Music student behind our first release, here's what he had say:

Hey Sam, so what course are you studying at dBs Music? I'm currently studying my second year of a Foundation Degree in "Audio and Music Production" at dBs Music, with a third year at Plymouth University for my BA Hons. Its a great degree that has given me a real grounding in my field with amazing tutors and great work experience opportunities. What was your personal highlight of the process? My personal highlight of the whole process was definitely the Mastering sessions with Lewis Hopkin at Star Delta Mastering studios. I hadn't realised how much of an important stage it was, both creatively and technically. It was a real eye-opener.  Did you learn anything valuable you’d like to share during the process of recording, mixing and mastering the single? I would say that the importance of really making solid decisions before and during the recording process is the most valuable thing I have learned and will take away to use on other projects. As students with a plethora of technology and equipment at our fingertips, its easy to give ourselves too many options which can skew how we really think about what we are hearing. So just listening to what is there and making decisions is a major thing I will take away. How has this experience benefited your studying to become a sound engineer/producer? This experience has benefited me greatly in my studies, having a real professional environment to work and learn in really compliments the academic side of following the engineer/producer route. Having that real world experience and getting to grips with some of the demands like time restraints, creative decisions and making decent cup of tea really gives you things to think about that an education environment can only tell you.  Has the experience informed you about what area of the industry you’d like to work within? The opportunity to take part in this project has certainly reinforced my ideas about which route I want to follow within the industry. Having the chance to be involved in the recording, mixing and mastering of a single from start to finish has made clear to me that engineer/producer is a role that most appeals to me. Real world experience like this coupled with the academic side of my studies has given me a good insight into what a role like this will require, both creatively in terms of production and the technical aspects that a studio demands.

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We are proud to announce the first dBs Recordings release: 'The Man Who Digs The Ditch'

Teaming dBs Music student Sam Brian with up and coming band The Beacons has been a greatly rewarding project with an amazing outcome.  We hope all future releases live up to the great standard set by those involved with our release debut.  Thanks to all those involved!

Check out the single via iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-man-who-digs-ditch-single/id497767596 The tracks also available via all main digital retailers with all profits going straight to the band!

If you'd prefer to just take a listen, the tracks streaming on our new webspace:  dbsmusic.co.uk/recordings