Specialist research facilities at the OU include the following:
Industry standard recording designed with performance analysis in mind.
At the heart of the Open University’s Walton Hall campus in Milton Keynes, the Music Research Studio was purpose-built in 2009 to the exacting specifications of the University’s team of ethnomusicologists. The studio comprises a recital room (“Howard Music Room”), a separate recording booth, a recording control room, and four research pods for audio/video editing and analysis. The acoustic response of the recording rooms is shaped with the use of suspended cubes, curtains, and acoustic panels, thus providing flexible recording conditions.
The recital room is equipped with three remotely controlled digital cameras, two in front and one behind the main performance area; the recording booth is equipped with one more video camera. Recordings can be made at the highest resolution using AVID / Digidesign ProTools HD whilst performances are simultaneously filmed by remote-controlled SD cameras. The video feed is recorded as a “picture in picture” track directly to ProTools and also as discrete files on dedicated video servers. These files are then instantly accessible from our video and audio editing suites.
The control room performs professional recording of up to 24 audio tracks and 5 video signals featuring a Pro Tools workstation, four-track digital video recorder, audio/video recording and monitoring routing system, and EditShare server networked with all workstations. The research pods are connected to the studio servers and provide quiet analysis spaces. There is a wide stock of microphones and every booked session is supported by a qualified and experienced engineer.
The studio is ideal for research on music performance and can be used for a wide range of interdisciplinary research, education and dissemination purposes as well as industry standard recording sessions. The facility is available for external hire – please contact our studio manager Jim Hoyland to discuss your requirements.
Additional Services
The Music Research Studio is also able to offer the following services:
| Location recording | From full 16 track recordings to a simple stereo pair, we can record your concert, conference or performance at virtually any location. |
| Podcast production | Production of professional podcasts (audio only). |
| Audio restoration | Cleaning and editing of your recordings in virtually any format. |
| Post production | Dialogue replacement and dubbing mixing services. |
Acoustics Research Group facilities include two anechoic chambers, a laser laboratory, an ultra high speed camera, a scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometer, professional quality microphones, as well as a wide range of measuring apparatus, recording equipment and high performance computing hardware.
The Music Computing Research Group hosts a Music Computing Lab stocked with a range of music computing software; electronic musical instruments; motion trackers, pitch trackers, sensors, and diverse technologies for gestural control and data capture. In close collaboration with the Pervasive Interaction group we are constructing new musical interfaces using a variety of multi-touch and whole body tracking technologies.