DiGiCo desks on BRIT School curriculum
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To this end, one of its latest investments is the DiGiCo SD12 consoles chosen, says Andrew Smith (technical manager at the school), because they offer a platform that not only makes sense for the range and requirements of the school’s performances, but also because they offer the most relevant experience for students that will soon be looking for a job in the industry.
Situated in Croydon, South London, The Brit School is a state-funded school for ages 14 to 18 and is dedicated to ‘Education and vocational training for the performing arts, media, art and design, and the technologies that make performance possible’, as well as providing a core GCSE study programme. It boasts a list of successful alumni and lays claim to 99 per cent of graduating students going on to find work in the creative industries or enrolling in higher education.
"A really high proportion of students go directly into the industry as riggers, sound engineers and lighting programmers and controllers, all the way through to people taking their study further - maybe at one of the well-known universities operating in our field,” confirms Andrew. “We’re proud of that. We are energised by making sure that people have an awareness of the industry and that they can make a career."
A major emphasis for the course is real-world production practice, with students from the Production Arts course providing lighting and sound requirements for its own productions. The intensity of the School’s performance programme was one of the driving factors that lead to a search for new consoles.
"We have performances going on simultaneously in multiple venues, including our two fully-equipped theatres - the Obie Theatre (named after the late music exec Maurice Oberstein) and the BRIT Theatre,” explains Andrew. “Making a further investment DiGiCo SD consoles made absolute sense. We purchased two SD12s, which means we can train students on a tool that will allow them to work in a broad range of genres.”
The consoles were supplied and installed by HD Pro Audio, which has worked with the school since its inception in 1991. Sales director Andy Huffer notes that the SD12 is particularly suited to its wide-ranging production and learning requirements.
"The school already had a number of SD consoles, so it was familiar with the technology,” says Andy. “The SD12 is a fantastic 'all-rounder', suitable for both bands and theatre work and will mean that graduating students are already familiar with the popular DiGiCo platform when go out into the industry."
(Jim Evans)
