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So far Oli Jacobs has created 69 blog entries.

NTS Work In Progress 2020

2019-10-02T12:22:32+01:00

Real World is partnering with NTS on their Work in Progress (NTS WIP) Artist Development Programme for 2020.

NTS WIP 2020 will take 6 artists to the next stage of their careers. The programme aims to support artists from all backgrounds and across all genres globally – anything from experimental club music through to traditional folk, ambient improvisations, garage punk or rap.

Selected artists will receive the following:
Studio Access – including time at Real World Studios
Audio Equipment
Guest NTS Radio Show
Carhartt Clothing
Performance Opportunities
Press Photos
Mentoring
NTS Support and Promotion

NTS WIP 2020 is open for applications now via the NTS application portal. Deadline is 23:59 (UK time) on Friday 1 November 2019.

Full details on the initiative and the application process here

NTS Work In Progress 20202019-10-02T12:22:32+01:00

Berklee College of Music

2019-08-16T13:52:11+01:00

Real World Studios has welcomed staff and students from Berklee College of Music on several occasions. No strangers to working at Real World, producer Ethan Johns and engineer Kevin Killan visited earlier in the year to pass on some of their skills and expertise to the next generation.

Berklee College of Music2019-08-16T13:52:11+01:00

Roger Waters – Us + Them

2019-08-15T16:26:12+01:00

The new live show ‘Us + Them’ from Rogers Waters will premiere at the 76th Venice Film Festival this September. Tickets for the worldwide cinema release on October 2 and 6 are available now from rogerwatersusandthem.com

The music was part-mixed in The Big Room at Real World over several weeks in February/March 2019.

Roger Waters – Us + Them2019-08-15T16:26:12+01:00

Integrated Video System Upgrade

2019-05-04T18:37:24+01:00

We’re always looking to adopt the latest technologies, striving to improve the recording experience for the engineers and musicians who work here. We completed our last major technical installation a few years ago when we moved to a digital foldback system and we’re now excited to reveal a major upgrade to the Studios’ video infrastructure. After trying several options, we have finished installing a new HD video system across the Big Room and Wood Room. The system is based around Blackmagic Design products and allows our ProTools rigs, HD cameras, laptops and a Chromecast to be fed to any video monitor/projector in the facility at the touch of a button. It allows musicians in different rooms to see each other in HD with near-zero latency or to view ProTools screens. We’ve also added several portable monitors that can be placed around the Studios anywhere they are required. 

As far as we know, we are one of only a handful of recording studios to have such a system. The upgrade was designed and installed by our own engineering team.

Integrated Video System Upgrade2019-05-04T18:37:24+01:00

The Breath – Only Stories (Let The Cards Fall Revisited)

2019-04-05T10:58:13+01:00

Recorded in The Wood Room at Real World with a live (but silent) audience, new music from The Breath out now.

Engineer/Mix: Oli Jacobs
Assistant: Katie May

In November 2018, singer Ríoghnach Connolly and guitarist Stuart McCallum embraced, beaming out at an audience that had leapt to their feet at the close of their intimate show in Brighton. They too had felt that something very special had just happened.

Stuart and Rioghnach are the creative heart of The Breath. For this show, they had performed their first duo set, minus their full band, allowing their extraordinary connection to shine through. Stripped bare, they found a new depth and beauty in their unadorned, heartfelt songs that had connected with their audience in such a remarkable way.

A few weeks later, they travelled from Manchester to Real World Studios to re-record eight tracks; five taken from their highly acclaimed 2018 release, Let the Cards Fall. In a set-up that mimicked the gig setting, tracks were recorded in one take, live, immediate and in the moment.

“Whilst feeling a bit daunting at first” says Stuart, “we knew after the Brighton gig that the space in the music allowed for more subtlety, presenting the songs in a new light and really capturing the lyrical narrative and performance nuances in an extremely intimate way. It felt important to go to Real World Studios and revisit these songs in this intimate, raw duo setting.”

The Breath – Only Stories (Let The Cards Fall Revisited)2019-04-05T10:58:13+01:00

Bokanté – Bòd Lanmè Pa Lwen (Duo Version)

2019-01-15T15:59:17+00:00

15 January 2019

Engineer/Mix: Patrick Phillips
Film/Edit: York Tillyer

Ahead of their upcoming tour in the UK and Europe, Bokanté have released a stripped-back version of ‘Bòd Lanmè Pa Lwen’ from their 2018 album What Heat, which was a collaboration with Metropole Orkest and Jules Buckley.

Band members Michael League and Malika Tirolien visited Real World Studios a few months ago and reimagined two of the tracks from their second album as a duo, the first of which is now available. Malika’s impressive vocals take centre stage, with Michael League building a multi-layered rhythmic accompaniment.

In an interview for Real World, Michael League talked about the background to the track:

“This track is a hopeful tune about perseverance, action, and what can happen if we continue to struggle and push forward. Malika is singing about trudging through the desert and finding an oasis (‘We walked, we suffered/But we’ve stood firm and now we’ve arrived’), which is represented musically by a transition from down tempo blues to a heavy up-tempo thing with Moroccan-style percussion; Jamey [Haddad] toured with Berber groups and he loves putting a three feel over grooves in different time signatures. Knowing that made me write it into several songs on the record. The Metropole steams through high-speed linear figures that Malika cooked up. It’s stunning to hear an orchestra with such agility and groove.”

Bokanté – Bòd Lanmè Pa Lwen (Duo Version)2019-01-15T15:59:17+00:00
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