HIGHLAND FLING

The next generation of Scottish music stars are getting a huge boost after the installation of the first professional preamp at the University of the Highlands and Islands Perth, as Headliner recently discovered…

A Neve 1073SPX has been installed at University of the Highlands and Islands Perth, giving students the most modern recording studio at a Scottish university.

The BA (Hons) Popular Music Degree is Scotland’s first four-year course starting as a Higher National Certificate to support students between school, college and university, with the degree starting in the second year.

Since adding the 1073SPX to the project studio, students can produce sound to industry standard.

UHI Perth Programme Leader in Popular Music, Dr Seán McLaughlin is delighted about the significant role the Neve 1073SPX will play for introducing music students to industry standard operations and sound.

McLaughlin explains how musicians and creative practitioners have adapted their creative workflow to sometimes operate individually when tracking vocals and instruments, and this trend has been picked up by students on the BA (Hons) Popular Music Degree:

“There isn’t a better preamp than the 1073,” he says. “The conversation ends at ‘is there a better one than the 1073?’ No one can really make that claim.

“There isn’t going to be any question over the tonality of the recordings. It can be done with cheaper equipment, but it’s not being done to the same standard. Depending on what you’re tracking, if you’re recording through the 1073SPX with us, there is no distinction between a studio that maybe costs £1500 per day. Nobody is going to question the quality of that audio recording, that is why it was important for us to put that in there.”

The 1073SPX adopts the Neve Class A design, three-band EQ and high pass filter – making it a top choice for modern studios.

While studios have returned to full operational capacity, the implications of Covid enabled the development of working collaboratively in different locations. The 1073SPX is used as part of this at UHI Perth to help harness international partnerships, including one with Pop Akademie in Germany. Students can attend the international song writing, band and business camp as part of this partnership, where they are put into bands, write music and perform at the end.

Thanks to the 1073SPX, students can continue to work with band members remotely, and send music across the globe at an excellent quality.

McLaughlin says: “I’m a Neve guy at home. I have a 1073 and I know the students are going through the same process that I did. Once you have a 1073 it changes the way you hear a preamp, and you can’t ever unhear that. You just can’t go back.”

Student success stories are already hailing from the studio as some records have played on BBC Radio 1, with others broadcasted across major radio stations in Scotland.

“Students book the studio space to either record their lead vocal or bass

– it’s actually brilliant for bass guitar,” McLaughlin adds. “But all of the lead vocals coming out of our recording studios are all through the 1073SPX which is great.”

Going forward, the university wants to introduce more 1073 units to the studio so students can learn more about stereo tracking and other key skills. The new course is centered on creative practice with support from companies such as Neve and feedback from students.

“We accept the fact that studying music is about making music, not replicating other people’s music forever,” McLaughlin concludes. “If that was the way we treated music and it was just about replication, there would be no new music and that would be really damaging culturally. We’ve overhauled our programme and it is really centered on creative practice.”

AMS-NEVE.COM