The five-day programme covered a wide range of subjects, with the creative and conceptual workshops staged at The National, whilst the in-depth technical and practical sessions were held at Orbital's headquarters. This year a particular emphasis was given to digital technology, production engineering and sound system design.
Orbital's Simon Whitehorn commented:
"The digital day gave us the opportunity to teach hands-on skills about a variety of emerging kit currently being specified on West End and touring productions. It's the large format digital consoles like the Yamaha PM1D and Digico D5 that students at drama school don't normally get the opportunity to use. Although many schools may have one or two samplers, each student was able to have an Akai sampler in front of them for our samplers and midi class."
Rob Barnard, Head of Sound at The National added:
" Our aim is to help provide more advanced skills in addition to the very good training given at drama schools. It was thoroughly gratifying to see how the course has expanded with students attending from regional drama schools as well as those in London."
To further augment the hands-on approach, Orbital initiated a special project day, which involved the students creating their own performance of the opening scene of The Tempest. This was as much about learning the ‘production process' as the end result, with the students undertaking various key roles in the production,. The performance, staged in Orbital's base in Brixton enabled the students to put theory into practice.
The course was rounded off at Orbital with advice on career paths in the theatre sound industry along with guidance about writing and presentation of CVs.
The five-day programme covered a wide range of subjects, with the creative and conceptual workshops staged at The National, whilst the in-depth technical and practical sessions were held at Orbital's headquarters. This year a particular emphasis was given to digital technology, production engineering and sound system design.
Orbital's Simon Whitehorn commented:
"The digital day gave us the opportunity to teach hands-on skills about a variety of emerging kit currently being specified on West End and touring productions. It's the large format digital consoles like the Yamaha PM1D and Digico D5 that students at drama school don't normally get the opportunity to use. Although many schools may have one or two samplers, each student was able to have an Akai sampler in front of them for our samplers and midi class."
Rob Barnard, Head of Sound at The National added:
" Our aim is to help provide more advanced skills in addition to the very good training given at drama schools. It was thoroughly gratifying to see how the course has expanded with students attending from regional drama schools as well as those in London."
To further augment the hands-on approach, Orbital initiated a special project day, which involved the students creating their own performance of the opening scene of The Tempest. This was as much about learning the ‘production process' as the end result, with the students undertaking various key roles in the production,. The performance, staged in Orbital's base in Brixton enabled the students to put theory into practice.
The course was rounded off at Orbital with advice on career paths in the theatre sound industry along with guidance about writing and presentation of CVs.