Lisa with her recorder ensemble

We’re pleased to announce we’ll be offering the following group learning experiences in 2012:

• Classical/Contemporary Ensembles (ongoing): Children’s Recorder Ensemble (Lisa Maizey); Piano Ensemble (Elementary); Piano Ensemble (Advancing) (Sarah Gall);
• Jazz/Contemporary Ensembles (ongoing): Adult Guitar Ensemble (Cameron Burridge); Wind & Brass Ensemble (Lisa Maizey);
• Small Group Practical Courses (10 weeks): Contemporary Popular Music for Keyboard (Fundamentals); Contemporary Popular Music for Keyboard (Extension course); Get your accordion out of the cupboard (all ages and abilities);
• Musicianship and Theory Courses: Musicianship (Beginner – 5 weeks, Intermediate – 5 weeks and Advanced – 8 weeks) (Sarah Gall), more courses TBA in 2012.

More information will be up on our website shortly. In the meantime, register your interest by emailing sarah@ecojamming.net

It’s been an eventful three years since we first landed in Browning Street. Our teaching department has expanded rapidly from a handful of teachers working from four studios at 11 Browning Street, to the now expansive teaching department in beautiful “Ashville” (up the road from where we started). We now have more than 15 teachers working from 10 studios, with more than 200 students learning music at Browning Street Studios. After moving our teaching department in 2010 there were some great opportunities for adaptive reuse of the upstairs spaces at our building at no. 11, with downstairs still housing our rehearsal room and Wayne Katz’s drum teaching studio. First we collaborated with Sally of Sally Lindenberg Wind & Brass to open Browning Street Music, a music retail and repairs service. Soon, no. 11 was overrun with music instruments of all shapes and sizes and it was decided that Browning Street Music needed a bigger space. Browning Street Music is now located just around the corner in Boundary Street and continues to serve our students, teachers, and local musicians. In 2011 we were also excited to welcome Cameron Smith, recording engineer of Incremental Records, for what was meant to be a short stay while he built custom recording studios in Coorparoo.

Around this time we returned the upstairs spaces at no. 11 to their original configuration, allowing us to host larger capacity public events. We’ve enjoyed hosting more than 150 performances during the past three years, of course including interstate and international acts but first and foremost showcasing all sorts of local acts. We’ve hosted EP launches in the hot and sweaty rehearsal room, international acts in our beautiful upstairs rooms, large art exhibitions, Brisbane Festival events, comedy and poetry shows, auditions, masterclasses, workshops, and everything in between. It’s been a pleasure to provide affordable, accessible and professional spaces to you, the local music community.

As many of you know, Browning Street Studios is run and managed by its workers, and we’ve been so busy working we’ve realised that we cannot sustain all the diverse aspects of our business in their current form.

In July 2011 we made the difficult decision to end our lease on number 11 Browning Street. We’re still committed to event production, live sound training and promotion of local acts, however our performing, teaching and community outreach programs are just so in-demand we can no longer justify (or sustain) full-time event and rehearsal spaces (for now).

Luckily a little bit of serendipity has seen the rehearsal room, drum studio and performance space getting a new “lease” on life when recording engineer Cameron Smith takes over the lease for his own business in October. Cameron will be naming the spaces “The Waiting Room” – a name not lost on our teachers, students and families who will remember the early days of waiting upstairs at no. 11 for their lessons

Browning Street Studios has always been an incubator for new and emerging businesses, ideas, projects and collaborations. We’re committed to exploring new ways of doing business, of working together for common causes, and for keeping it real in the inner city. We’re proud of our role in bringing a music shop to West End, for establishing a much-loved rehearsal room, and for providing a true community venue committed to showcasing local music, whatever the genre. We will continue to work hard for the rights of musicians in inner-Brisbane, particularly those bands who find themselves “homeless” whether it be because they are under 18, playing louder music, or pushing at the edges of existing genres.

Thanks to each and every one of you for your support over the past three years. I would love you to attend our third-birthday festival, to be held across the weekend of September 23 – 25. And of course, I look forward to working with you over the many years ahead. Watch this space!

Sarah Gall, Director

Browning Street Studios.

“Have P.A., will travel.”

If you haven’t come down to a show at our new, improved performance space at no. 11 Browning Street, you’ve simply been missing out! Keep up to date with what’s happening, and subscribe to our RSS events feed, at http://thestudes.wordpress.com.

The space is also getting a good workout from some of our teachers – John Standen of Kenetik Dance is running open Hip Hop classes every Wednesday from 7pm, and on Friday evenings Dave Ryan’s Live Sound Production students get a chance to run a desk in an actual venue.

I have the pleasure of offering two distinctive pathways to learning about sound: the studio setting or live sound reproduction. Both courses are 8 weeks long, held one day per week at Browning Street Studios in West End. There are no prerequisites to either course besides a basic level of understanding English, and adequate hearing. The premises includes mobility impaired access and upon request, other accessibility issues will be considered.

Below are basic course outlines including the shared components .

Sound 101 (shared components)

Myths & debunking

• Vintage gear is the best
• Tape sounds better
• x brand of soundcard sucks
• Cubase / Protools sounds better
• Monster Cables are the best
• I need a custom guitar
• Putting egg cartons on walls
• we’ll fix it in the mix
• Born with “golden ears”
• X brand mic is the best

Theory of Sound

• Waveform / electrical AC
• Introduction to psychoacoustics
• Frequencies / measurement
• Room acoustics / spatial awareness
• How to trust your ears
• Basic electronics
• Reading a block diagram / schematics

Separate pathway choice: Live or Studio environment.

1. Learning about Live Sound

Equipment used

• Cables and connections
• Getting sound from source to amp
• Mixer & signal pathway / routing
• Microphone polar patterns
• Speaker connections

Amp & reproduction

• Live sound setup
• Environmental factors
• Basic mic techniques
• Methods of amplification
• Room acoustics
• Concept of FOH / FB mixing
• Level matching & using your ears

Common Live FX

• Hardware EQ
• Compressors
• Delay / echo

Sound checks & running a desk

• Level matching revisited
• Tuning & further room acoustics
• Cable management
• DI / run from desk
• Submixing

OH&S

• Hearing protection and health risks
• Stage layout management
• Basic electronics revisited (3phase power / amp bridging)
• Maintaining equipment

Advanced Acoustics

• Room acoustics revisited
• Psychoacoustics re-visited
• Re-addressing space for sonic reproduction
• Advanced sound abatement techniques

Event Management

• Planning Events
• Correspondence with musicians
• Running sheets & changeovers
• Logistics (backline & equipment lists)
• Risk Assessment

2. Learning about Studio Sound

Equipment used

• Digital domain & analogue gear
• Good monitoring speakers
• DAW (Digital Audio Work Station)
• Computer Hardware
• Audio interfaces

Setting up a home studio

• Room acoustics 101
• Creating a workspace
• Thinking hats / self delegation of tasks
• Recording / monitoring space
• Problem solving room tuning
• Where to source gear / reviews / forums

Recording sound

• Microphone choice and placement
• Trusting your ears
• Audio formats / saving digital information
• VU / peak metering
• Signal pathway / software choice

Mixing

• Frequencies revisited
• Level matched mixing
• Applying EQ to recorded takes
• Monitors / head phones
• Importance of treating a room (revisited)
• Concept of reference mix

OH&S

• Hearing protection and health risks
• Basic electronics revisited
• Maintaining equipment
• Listening fatigue

Common Studio FX

• Hardware vs plug-in
• Compressors
• Delay / echo
• EQ

Course Dates & times

Live Sound: First lesson commences final week of June, 2011

Studio Sound: Commencement date TBC. Please contact Dave for expressions of interest & enrolment.

Contact, Enquiries & Enrolment.

Please contact Dave directly by either email (learn at davesmusic.org) or by calling Browning Street Studios on 1300 801 390. The lessons are held on-site @ Browning Street Studios, 11 & 17 Browning Street, South Brisbane.

Thanks for your patience during our soundproofing improvements.

Browning Street Studios Presents… another two exciting shows next month.

Block out these dates:

Friday April 15th features the wonderful ongoing Almost Invisible series… then after a sleep in and a lazy day around West End, swing by in the evening of Saturday 16th to hear a healthy dose of Spine on tour from Adelaide

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