Rocklab History | Rocklab | Somerset PA & Mixing | Chard - Girls Rock-on
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Baseline studio also runs workshops called Rocklab which give bands a chance to pick tutors brains for a weekend. These aim to teach, any instrument or vocals, plus stage craft, studio work and how to approach the music industry, in fact everything you need to know to get going but can’t find it in a book !

We have a regular team of experienced tutors, so this event gets bigger each time we do it.

Our first experience of this type of working with young bands, was down to Herbie Flowers when we took a couple of bands down to Ashford Kent to attend one of his Rockshops. That was the Create Festival, on the green in Ashford which took over a local private school for accommodation and rehearsal rooms. We were so impressed by the idea that we decided to do a similar project locally rather than taking a mini bus of bands on a long drive !

Since then it has grown from 30 young people to 70+, We now have to have 2 guitar, 2 Bass, 2 drummers, 2 vocalists, tutors plus 2 engineering type people, myself as one and even then we will probably need more next time.All bands that attend, have so many questions for us all and are so focused, it’s difficult for us, as tutors to spend all the time required, but it’s ace fun and very, very rewarding !

They will either come with songs to work on all day on Saturday, either their own or a cover, with breaks for more formal, tuition throughout the day, on subjects like Stage Craft, Recording, and how to approach the industry, packing of product, ( not only the CD’s, but the band as well).Plenty of time to rehearse, with tutors floating in and out to assist with whatever is needed.

Sunday is all about the Show that evening when all friends, family etc, etc can come, so sound checks and more rehearsals, to make as polished performance as possible.

We get together a decent PA for their live event on the Sunday evening, with compare, etc so it’s ‘pro’ to give them a taste of the real world of entertainment.

This type of idea of course has spilled over into other areas of my work like the ‘Girls Rock on Project’, not so big but the similar approach to teaching young up and coming bands. I now also do small PA and mixing tutorials at various youth clubs and schools for Somerset County Council.