On Thursday 5 June, we were delighted to welcome Ben Webster (2021) back to Loughborough Schools Music to work with our Music Technology students. Ben has just graduated from the prestigious ‘Tonmeister’ course at the University of Surrey. This course creates the sound engineers of the future, and graduates of the course work at institutions like Abbey Road, the BBC and even the Royal Navy.

Ben started his day giving project breakdowns to the Year 12 Music Technology A Level students, showing his Pro Tools project files for a range of recording projects. He showed heavy metal, jazz, folk and pop projects, talking through the processing for each one. He discussed some of the difficulties of recording in large live rooms, such as spill from different microphones and how he used that to his advantage. The students were constantly asking questions, keen to find out more about the real world application of recording musicians, and they were particularly interested to hear how Ben managed the singers, making them feel important and special.

After lunch, Ben spoke to a Recital Hall full of pupils interested in the wider world of Music Technology, sharing a broader overview of his journey into Music Technology so far, and some of the highlights of his time at university. Louis, Y12 said “I thought hearing about his time in the studio in Belgium was really interesting.”

Our two Music Technology teachers were thrilled with the visit. Mr Abba said “it was a wonderful insight into the world of further study and professional recording practice.” Mr Connolley said “it was delightful to see Ben come back and hear his stories. I especially enjoyed hearing about his year abroad and seeing pictures of the amazing facilities he had to work with.”