The Spirit Studios Podcast: Recent Episodes
Spirit Studios
In our Spirit Studios Podcast series, Music Producer and Tutor Al Atcheson chats with a range of guests from the industry, covering everything from music business to creative block, as well as talking us through the process of making tracks in his own studio.
Cameron is an artist and producer who releases music under the pseudonym ‘Treks.’ Despite only being in his first year, he’s already made a serious name for himself performing at venues across Manchester, including a sold out gig Academy 3 before he was even studying at Spirit.
Coming to the end of his first year of Music Production with Foundation Entry, Gustavo has been making the most of his time at Spirit, creating his first sample pack, exploring different recording techniques in the studio, and embracing new genres when collaborating with students on compositions.
Tilly is finishing her first year studying Entrepreneurial Audio Production after finding her interest in sound for visual media and post-production. Inspired by the soundtracks of Hans Zimmer, and scores for games like ‘The Last of Us’ she loves how sound design and scores elevate the storytelling, and elicit a particular mood.
If you’re a fan of the Northern grime scene, you’ll likely recognise third year Music Production student, Bradley aka ‘Blizzard.’ Starting out in Manchester grime collective ‘Mayhem’ he’s featured on platforms such as SB:TV, Fire in the Booth, and BBC Radio 1 Xtra. Nearly a decade later Bradley is back in the North West, coming to the end of his degree.
Getting ready for a summer of stage teching at festivals wasn't something Lilly would have expected two years ago. When starting her degree in 2022, she was a self-professed ‘studio kid’ but over the past two years she’s followed a route into live sound, something that’s surprised both herself and everyone else.
Like a lot of our students, Harvey didn’t join us straight after leaving college. It was only in lockdown when he decided it was finally time to pursue his passion in recording and production. But with two years of study under his belt, he now has a huge variety of recording experience including piano and drums, as well as full bands and ensembles.
Follow Harvey's journey: @HarveyBishopMusic
Corey is a Producer and Rapper who releases music under the artist pseudonym ‘Superlative’. Despite still only being in his second year, he’s made a serious name for himself. With his latest release 'The Wave' surpassing 15.5 million Video Views on TikTok in just seven days, the future's certainly looking bright.
Follow Corey: @official_superlative
Coming from a small town, it was no small decision for Sarah to pursue a career in live music - but she’s certainly not looking back. She's no stranger to the world of podcasting, having hosted, edited and promoted a number over the years. We sat down to hear all about her first year as a student at Spirit.
Follow Sarah: @sarahwilliamsaudio
Listen to her podcast: @shoutlouderzine
Find out more about Manchester Punk Fest: @mcrpunkfest
If you’re a lover of the Northern indie-rock scene, you’ll likely know our third year Music Production student, Drew. Frontman for the well-renowned band Rosellas, he’s set for the world stage, having recently sold out a show at Manchester Academy. We managed to sit down with Drew in between tour planning and prepping for the 2023 Degree Show.
Listen to Rosellas' latest track HIDEAWAY on all streaming platforms.
Follow Rosellas: @rosellas.band
Al chats with rapper and producer Corey Brown, aka Superlative. Corey talks about his journey from producing bedroom beats to collaborating with Mr Scruff and touring with renowned hip hop collective The Mouse Outfit.
Links to Corey's work:
https://www.instagram.com/official_superlative/
https://www.sprhub.com/
Tom produces music under the name Whitely and recently released his latest album, A Happy Place. He chats to Al about his production workflow, favourite synthesisers, and the wonders of making dance music with Gameboys.
Listen to Whitely here: https://ptesquad.bandcamp.com/album/a-happy-place
Join Al as he explores the nostalgic sound of Vaporwave, with sugar-coated synthesisers, dreamy reverbs, and surreal sampling techniques.
Get groovy with Al as he makes a Nu-Disco track in Ableton Live, complete with vintage strings, glittering arps, and funky 'chic' guitars.
Get skanking with Al as he creates a dub reggae track in Ableton Live.
WARNING: This episode contains heavy bass, booming drums, and psychedelic spatial effects.
Al chats with producer, engineer and soon-to-be Spirit Studios graduate Ryan Davies. Ryan talks about his experience working in studios and at festivals, collaborating with artists, and developing his own business creating handbuilt plate reverbs. Follow Ryan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rubosound/
Join Al as he combines deep grooves, big bass sounds and chopped up vocal samples to create a banging modern deep house track.
Al chats with drummer and producer Vicky O'Neon who has performed with acts like Clean Bandit, Rachel K Collier and Hans Zimmer. In this episode Vicky talks about her work with non-profit music organisations Girls Rock London and Rock Donna and shares insights into her upcoming YouTube series 'Drumming Through the Decades'.
Follow the link to see more from Vicky:
https://linktr.ee/vickyoneon
Sit back and relax with Al as he uses Ableton Live to create a mellow chillhop track that combines elements of classic hip hop with lush instrumentation and lo-fi production techniques.
Al and David talk with live entertainment promoter Steve Tilley, a director at Kilimanjaro Live with clients including the likes of Ed Sheeran and Catfish and the Bottlemen.
Al and fellow Spirit Studios tutor David chat with music and entertainment lawyer Stephen Kempner, a partner at UK law firm Statham Gill Davies. Stephen gives a legal perspective on areas such as artist contracts, 360 deals, and music sampling.
Al chats with producer Lewis Jones about creative guitar sampling, making music in a shipping container, and flying out to Italy to engineer for Mika.
Join Al as he reworks the contents of a sample pack into a brand new track as part of Spirit Studio's Creative Block campaign.
Download the sample pack here: tinyurl.com/641ly6no
Watch Al's Creative Block video on Youtube here: https://tinyurl.com/jhkwt9fk
Feeling uninspired? Struggling to start a project? Join Al as he reuses, recycles, and repurposes sounds as part of Spirit Studios' new campaign: Creative Block.
Download the sample pack here: tinyurl.com/641ly6no
Join Al as he ditches his instruments and explores found sounds and creative effects processing to make music out of non-musical objects - including cardboard kick drums, elastic bass synths and psychedelic cork risers.
Join Al as he makes a funky disco beat in Ableton Live, featuring groovy basslines, retro synth sounds and percussion layers inspired by 1970s classics.
Al and fellow Spirit Studios tutor David chat with Scott Maclachlan, A&R Director at Warner Music New Zealand. Scott shares his insight into working at a major label, how streaming has impacted music production, and what it was like signing and managing Lorde.
Al chats with Spirit Studios graduate, producer, and Do As You Please label founder Niall Roche. They talk eclectic electronic music, taking inspiration from David Byrne, and how to assemble your first EP. Do As You Please: https://doasyouplease.bandcamp.com/ Listen to Niall's playlist here: https://spoti.fi/31Ihvvu
Al chats with students Mihnea and Alix, winners of Interface 2020 - a collaborative competition between Spirit Studios in Manchester and the Catalyst Institute in Berlin. Together they created a fantastically dark cinematic soundscape titled Metamorphosis which you can view via the link below. https://bit.ly/340aKa4
Al and fellow Spirit Studios' tutor David chat to special guest Ian Huffam, partner at X-ray Touring - an independent global music agency that handles the live careers of artists such as Anderson .Paak, Blur, Eminem and New Order. Ian talks about how he got started, the impact of Covid-19, and shares advice for newcomers to the live industry.
Al and fellow Spirit Studios' tutor David chat to Maddie & Tom about their first year experience studying on the Music Business & Creative Industries degree course.
Get started with synthesisers and join Al as he explores the world of oscillators, ADSR envelopes, filters, LFOs & arpeggiators.
In this episode, Al shares his tips and tricks on how to make a professional-sounding podcast from home.
Al breaks down the beat created for the Spirit Studios Virtual Experience on 1 August 2020. Join him as he chops up some mellow piano, creates time-shifting delay effects, and re-samples his own voice. Link to our Virtual Experience: https://youtu.be/lQNSkCvI7Jg
Make some space and join Al as he explores the fundamentals of reverb. In this episode he offers some mixing tips, compares concert halls with springs and plates, and does some recording in a bathroom.
Al chats with David Cameron-Pryde, head of A&R at MUK Records and Music Business & Creative Industries Tutor at Spirit Studios. They talk about record labels, branding for independent artists, and why Kanye is the new Morrissey. https://bit.ly/3eK1poQ
There's some fantastic free plugins out there! Join Al as he explores some of his favourite effects plugins that won't cost you a penny .
In this episode, Al breaks down essential drum rhythms for five different genres of music - hip hop, house, garage, techno, and drum & bass. Follow the link below to download the MIDI drum patterns. https://bit.ly/38AcgjK
Al goes back to the 80s and creates a Synthwave track from scratch. Get ready for retro arpeggiators, big gated snares, and lots and lots of synths.
Al chats with Andre Pires about his one-man experimental metal project Cut the Berry, self-promotion on a budget, and moving to the UK to study sound engineering.
Andre's playlist: https://spoti.fi/2Z37QgH Illusion by Confusion video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSjrY5AhnoE
Compressors are one of the most useful tools at our disposal when working with sound. In this episode, Al introduces the main functions and controls of a compressor, and explores some creative ways you can apply compression in your mix.
Join Al as he chats with Aaron Haigh, a drummer and producer who plays with Seafret and has toured as a drum tech with artists like the Courteeners, DMA's, and the Chainsmokers.
Link to Aaron's playlist: https://spoti.fi/2U9S6XU
To celebrate the massive Logic Pro update that recently dropped, Al creates a lofi track using its main new features. In this episode he chops things up with the Sampler plugins, gets granular with synthesis, and goes off the grid with Logic's new step sequencer.
Al chats with Spirit Studios alumnus Chris Sherwin, live sound engineer at Manchester venue Night & Day and singer/guitarist in post-rock outfit Bards.
Link to Chris' playlist: https://spoti.fi/3bJ1OpQ
Join Al as he explores the budget-friendly genre of Bedroom Pop & creates a track with harmonised guitar parts, lo-fi synths, and lots of delay plugins.
In the third part of our Production Lockdown series, Al finalises the arrangement, mixes Motown-style vocals, and makes moves with automation.
Full track: https://soundcloud.com/al-atcheson/no-rush
In this episode, Al explores vocal harmonies, retro arpeggiators, and pastes together a guitar solo.
In this episode, Al delves into drum processing, recording percussion elements, and creating your own sample loops from scratch.