Djanogly City Academy has some seriously talented music students who (unfortunately) rehearse right next to an exam hall. With GCSEs just round the corner, we gave a group of students from years 8 to 13 a crash course on the JamHub silent practice mixer so they'd be able to keep the noise down during exam season. Read on to find out how they got on...

...or check out our "Jammin' at Djanolgy" video.

1. The setup

To ensure the students had plenty to practise on, we took along some of our favourite electronic instruments - a Roland JUNO-Di synthesiser (chosen for its wide range of presets and battery-powered portability), TD-4K2 drum kit (which we like because it's so fast and responsive to play), and a HandSonic percussion pad. As we knew there were some guitarists in the Djanogly group, we also took along a Boss ME25 effects pedal, but left the rest of the JamHub's inputs free so students could add their own instruments or mics. Finally we added an external recorder, so students would be able to play back the session later.

2. The training

Once everything was set up, our Creative Consultant Rob Williams gave the students a crash course in how to connect their instruments and adjust their own levels within the mixer. He helped them get everything evenly balanced to begin with, but after ten minutes they were all happy adjusting their own mixes.

Teacher Ivan Turner was really impressed. "It's very easy to use, very simple and straightforward," he said. "And what's good about it is that different genres of music tend to have different mix levels, so rock music tends to have the bass guitar and the drums low down in the mix, while in more beat-based music the drums and the bass and the vocals are the main priority. So when we've got a group of people with mixed preferences then obviously they can set it accordingly."

3. The jam

We had more musicians in the group than there were inputs to the mixer, so while one group played, the others fired up the classroom computers and got on with some composition work, and another group rehearsed the old-fashioned way.

After we'd exhausted the group's supply of bands, we were left with a bit of a dilemma - our remaining students were a drummer and keyboard player who wanted to run through one song, while a guitarist and bassist from another band needed to rehearse another. However, thanks to JamHub's individual mixers, we were able to let the four students phase one another out, so they could play as two completely separate pairs.

4. The feedback

Ivan was keen to try out the JamHub with some of his younger students.
"I think it'd be really useful for Key Stage 3 in particular, because it can get quite noisy and chaotic in the class when you have five different groups all practising at once," he explained. "JamHub enables students to maximise their listening experience in terms of hearing what they want to hear, and getting a mix that's just right for them."

However, Djanogly's A-Level students were impressed, too.
"I think we could use one of these all the time, really," said Lewis Gillett, one of the group's guitarists. "We're right next to an exam hall, so a lot of the time we can't play because we'll disturb the exam that's going on. With this we'd be able to play silently and still do something. Also, I think you could easily record your exam piece through it. A lot of the time you have to have a backing track, but it's best to have your bandmates to play along with." All in all, a resounding (if extremely quiet) success for the JamHub!

For more information about the JamHub or about any of our audio in education solutions, give us a call on 03332 409 300 or email us at learning@Jigsaw24.com.

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Tags: JamHub