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BSU Music Facilities Receive Rockstar Treatment

Friday, 27 June, 2025

In June, BSU launched its brand-new music facilities, located on the Newton Park campus. This sizable investment of £2.5 million will offer students the chance to experiment with top-of-the-range music technology and equipment, in spaces specifically designed to enhance their technical and professional skills. 

The renovation is the culmination of the long-term ambitions of the Creative Music Technology and Commercial Music teams.

Lead technician and BSU Commercial Music graduate Tom Turner spoke of hopeful conversations stretching back to the very launch of the Commercial Music course back in 2004, noting that:

 “An investment of this scale is near unheard of in todays’ cultural environment.”

With resources being sourced from music retailers across Bristol and Bath, the renovation was designed and planned by the BSU community for BSU students and staff.  

The heart of the new renovation, which covers over 50 rooms across Compton, are the two central studios: The Arc, a critical listening and analysis space, and The Hive, a vintage-inspired collaborative recording studio, complete with key archival equipment.  

THE ARC 

The Arc is a new audiovisual and sound design space built with top-of-the-range sound proofing, speakers in the walls and ceilings, and a large cinema screen. This room is designed to allow students to integrate sound with media; for instance, for film scoring, foley sound, music production, and so on. All light and sound is fully synchronised to allow deep audiovisual analysis, and the Dolby Atmos rig within this room is one of the very first in the UK. 

Speaking further on this, Tom said:

“The whole point of this is to teach students more industry-focused stuff... with the awareness that [the students] might not have access to this equipment for some time after graduating, so it’s good for them to learn to be experts now.”

Much of the equipment in this room and throughout the music facilities surpass industry standards, giving students access to top-tier tools and helping them develop outstanding technical skills for their future careers.

THE HIVE 

The Hive is BSU’s vintage-inspired recording studio, complete with a wide array of instruments and musical equipment. Encased in 60 tonnes of steel, it is fully sound-proofed and designed with audio optimisation in mind. 

The design of the Hive is unique as students will be able to experience everything in one space: live recording, producing, and mixing, all at once. Its vintage styling is a deliberate nod to iconic studios throughout music history, like Abbey Road, Sound City in Los Angeles, and Columbia Studios. As such, according to Tom, the space is as much an archival space as it is a technical one, curated to preserve the history of music, right at the centre of BSU’s Newton Park campus. 

Three female and one male student stood in the new music room, with two of the female students holding guitars

The star of the Hive is the custom made, specially designed Rupert Neve sound desk, which is the only one of its kind in an educational institution in the UK. Similar equipment was commonly used by the Beatles, Aerosmith and even Nirvana in their heydays.  

Beyond this, the space is also home to iconic archival pieces, like the organ that UK-based band Rudimental recorded their last album on, an original LinnDrum sound mixer (only one of 5000 ever made), and replica drum kits modelled after the Beatles and Led Zeppelin, amongst a treasure trove of other technology and instruments. All equipment in both spaces will be completely open for students to use. 

Speaking on the strong focus on experimentation in this space, Tom further noted:

“Performance is key... it is all about collaboration and performance. The more you can encourage that, the better.”

All the newly renovated spaces are currently in the beta-testing phase and will be open officially for student use in September. 

Do you have a passion for music and experimenting with new sound? Find out more about our Music and Sound courses or visit us at an Open Day.

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